Sec. 1280.

(1) The board of a school district that does not want to be subject to the measures described in this section shall ensure that each public school within the school district is accredited.

(2) As used in subsection (1), and subject to subsection (6), "accredited" means certified by the superintendent of public instruction as having met or exceeded standards established under this section for 6 areas of school operation: administration and school organization, curricula, staff, school plant and facilities, school and community relations, and school improvement plans and student performance. The building-level evaluation used in the accreditation process shall include, but is not limited to, school data collection, self-study, visitation and validation, determination of performance data to be used, and the development of a school improvement plan.

(3) The department shall develop and distribute to all public schools proposed accreditation standards. Upon distribution of the proposed standards, the department shall hold statewide public hearings for the purpose of receiving testimony concerning the standards. After a review of the testimony, the department shall revise and submit the proposed standards to the superintendent of public instruction. After a review and revision, if appropriate, of the proposed standards, the superintendent of public instruction shall submit the proposed standards to the senate and house committees that have the responsibility for education legislation. Upon approval by these committees, the department shall distribute to all public schools the standards to be applied to each school for accreditation purposes. The superintendent of public instruction shall review and update the accreditation standards annually using the process prescribed under this subsection.

(4) The superintendent of public instruction shall develop and distribute to all public schools standards for determining that a school is eligible for summary accreditation under subsection (6). The standards shall be developed, reviewed, approved, and distributed using the same process as prescribed in subsection (3) for accreditation standards, and shall be finally distributed and implemented not later than December 31, 1994.

(5) The standards for accreditation or summary accreditation under this section shall include as criteria pupil performance on Michigan education assessment program (MEAP) tests and on the Michigan merit examination under section 1279g and, until the Michigan merit examination has been fully implemented, the percentage of pupils achieving state endorsement under section 1279, but shall not be based solely on pupil performance on MEAP tests or the Michigan merit examination or on the percentage of pupils achieving state endorsement under section 1279. The standards shall also include as criteria multiple year change in pupil performance on MEAP tests and the Michigan merit examination and, until after the Michigan merit examination is fully implemented, multiple year change in the percentage of pupils achieving state endorsement under section 1279. If it is necessary for the superintendent of public instruction to revise accreditation or summary accreditation standards established under subsection (3) or (4) to comply with this subsection, the revised standards shall be developed, reviewed, approved, and distributed using the same process as prescribed in subsection (3).

(6) If the superintendent of public instruction determines that a public school has met the standards established under subsection (4) or (5) for summary accreditation, the school is considered to be accredited without the necessity for a full building-level evaluation under subsection (2).

(7) If the superintendent of public instruction determines that a school has not met the standards established under subsection (4) or (5) for summary accreditation but that the school is making progress toward meeting those standards, or if, based on a full building-level evaluation under subsection (2), the superintendent of public instruction determines that a school has not met the standards for accreditation but is making progress toward meeting those standards, the school is in interim status and is subject to a full building-level evaluation as provided in this section.

(8) If a school has not met the standards established under subsection (4) or (5) for summary accreditation and is not eligible for interim status under subsection (7), the school is unaccredited and subject to the measures provided in this section.

(9) Beginning with the 2002-2003 school year, if at least 5% of a public school's answer sheets from the administration of the Michigan educational assessment program (MEAP) tests are lost by the department or by a state contractor and if the public school can verify that the answer sheets were collected from pupils and forwarded to the department or the contractor, the department shall not assign an accreditation score or school report card grade to the public school for that subject area for the corresponding year for the purposes of determining state accreditation under this section. The department shall not assign an accreditation score or school report card grade to the public school for that subject area until the results of all tests for the next year are available.

(10) Subsection (9) does not preclude the department from determining whether a public school or a school district has achieved adequate yearly progress for the school year in which the answer sheets were lost for the purposes of the no child left behind act of 2001, Public Law 107-110. However, the department shall ensure that a public school or the school district is not penalized when determining adequate yearly progress status due to the fact that the public school's MEAP answer sheets were lost by the department or by a state contractor, but shall not require a public school or school district to retest pupils or produce scores from another test for this purpose.

(11) The superintendent of public instruction shall annually review and evaluate for accreditation purposes the performance of each school that is unaccredited and as many of the schools that are in interim status as permitted by the department's resources.

(12) The superintendent of public instruction shall, and the intermediate school district to which a school district is constituent, a consortium of intermediate school districts, or any combination thereof may, provide technical assistance, as appropriate, to a school that is unaccredited or that is in interim status upon request of the board of the school district in which the school is located. If requests to the superintendent of public instruction for technical assistance exceed the capacity, priority shall be given to unaccredited schools.

(13) A school that has been unaccredited for 3 consecutive years is subject to 1 or more of the following measures, as determined by the superintendent of public instruction:

(a) The superintendent of public instruction or his or her designee shall appoint at the expense of the affected school district an administrator of the school until the school becomes accredited.

(b) A parent, legal guardian, or person in loco parentis of a child who attends the school may send his or her child to any accredited public school with an appropriate grade level within the school district.

(c) The school, with the approval of the superintendent of public instruction, shall align itself with an existing research-based school improvement model or establish an affiliation for providing assistance to the school with a college or university located in this state.

(d) The school shall be closed.

(14) The superintendent of public instruction shall evaluate the school accreditation program and the status of schools under this section and shall submit an annual report based upon the evaluation to the senate and house committees that have the responsibility for education legislation. The report shall address the reasons each unaccredited school is not accredited and shall recommend legislative action that will result in the accreditation of all public schools in this state.

(15) Beginning with the 2008-2009 school year, a high school shall not be accredited by the department unless the department determines that the high school is providing or has otherwise ensured that all pupils have access to all of the elements of the curriculum required under sections 1278a and 1278b. If it is necessary for the superintendent of public instruction to revise accreditation or summary accreditation standards established under subsection (3) or (4) to comply with the changes made to this section by the amendatory act that added this subsection, the revised standards shall be developed, reviewed, approved, and distributed using the same process as prescribed in subsection (3).

History: Add. 1990, Act 25, Eff. Apr. 13, 1990 ;-- Am. 1993, Act 335, Imd. Eff. Dec. 31, 1993 ;-- Am. 1995, Act 289, Eff. July 1, 1996 ;-- Am. 1997, Act 180, Imd. Eff. Dec. 30, 1997 ;-- Am. 2003, Act 275, Imd. Eff. Jan. 8, 2004 ;-- Am. 2006, Act 123, Imd. Eff. Apr. 20, 2006 Popular Name: Act 451