A. The "school support and accountability system" is created in the department. The department, in consultation with school districts, charter schools, school personnel, tribal nations and the legislative education study committee, shall promulgate rules to carry out the provisions of the School Support and Accountability Act through the system.

B. The system shall:

(1) differentiate Title 1 support to public schools in the state using the metrics identified in Paragraphs (2) and (3) of this subsection to assign, for each public school, a designation of targeted support, comprehensive support or more rigorous intervention to comply with the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965;

(2) include indicators of academic achievement that shall be afforded substantial weight and, in the aggregate, much greater weight than the indicators described in Paragraph (3) of this subsection, including:

(a) student proficiency on the New Mexico standards-based assessments pursuant to Subsection B of Section 22-2C-4 NMSA 1978;

(b) student growth, which will comprise a substantial part of the weighting of academic achievement indicators both for all students at the public school and disaggregated by quartile on the New Mexico standards-based assessments;

(c) progress of English language learners toward English language proficiency as measured by an assessment determined by the department; and

(d) for high schools, the four-year, five-year and six-year adjusted cohort graduation rates; and

(3) include indicators of school quality and student success that are valid, reliable, comparable and statewide, including:

(a) chronic absenteeism;

(b) college, career and civic readiness; and

(c) the educational climate of the school.

C. The department shall include in the system student data disaggregated by each major racial and ethnic group, economically disadvantaged students, English learner status, children with disabilities, gender and migrant status; provided that ethnicity and race shall be reported using the following categories:

(1) Caucasian, non-Hispanic;

(2) Hispanic;

(3) African American;

(4) American Indian or Alaska Native;

(5) Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander;

(6) Asian;

(7) two or more races; and

(8) other; provided that if the sample of students in any category enumerated in Paragraphs (1) through (7) of this subsection is so small that a student in the sample may be personally identifiable in violation of the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, the report may combine that sample into the "other" category.

D. The department shall provide the technological platform for a dashboard for each public school. The dashboard shall provide school and student information to school stakeholders and policymakers in a transparent manner, including the following indicators:

(1) the results of each indicator included in Paragraphs (2) and (3) of Subsection B and in Subsection C of this section;

(2) designations of school quality and student success for any school meeting a specific standard set by the department for any indicator included in Paragraphs (2) and (3) of Subsection B of this section;

(3) designations of excellence for any school scoring in the ninetieth percentile for any indicator included in Paragraphs (2) and (3) of Subsection B of this section;

(4) designations of school quality and student success for any school meeting a specific standard set by the department for American Indian or Hispanic students for any indicator included in Paragraphs (2) and (3) of Subsection B of this section;

(5) designations of excellence for any school scoring in the ninetieth percentile for American Indian or Hispanic students for any indicator included in Paragraphs (2) and (3) of Subsection B of this section;

(6) the designation of support for schools that meet the criteria for traditional support, targeted support, comprehensive support or more rigorous intervention;

(7) the demographics of the students and staff of the school; and

(8) indicators of opportunity to learn standards, including:

(a) a survey of relevant and engaging curriculum and instruction;

(b) educational resources, including total school-level expenditures and total instructional expenditures per student; and

(c) qualified and competent school staff, including the percentage of teachers with three or more years of experience, the percentage of teachers who are fully licensed and endorsed in the field they teach, the types of degrees held by staff, information from the highly objective, uniform state standards of evaluation for teachers and the percentage of national board-certified teachers.

E. The dashboard shall include each school's mission, vision and goals and provide for optional comments from the local school board about the strengths, opportunities for improvement and programmatic offerings corresponding to any of the reported indicators in the dashboard. For local school boards that do not provide this information, the department shall populate this section of the dashboard with information from the public school's educational plan for student success.

F. The department shall ensure that a local school board prioritizes the resources of a public school that has received a designation of targeted support, comprehensive support or more rigorous intervention toward improving student performance using evidence-based programs and a continuous improvement plan based on the indicators in Paragraphs (2) and (3) of Subsection B of this section identified through a school-level needs assessment until the public school no longer holds that designation.

History: Laws 2019, ch. 249, § 3.

Effective dates. — Laws 2019, ch. 249 contained no effective date provision, but, pursuant to N.M. Const., art. IV, § 23, was effective June 14, 2019, 90 days after the adjournment of the legislature.

Applicability. — Laws 2019, ch. 249, § 5 provided that Laws 2019, ch. 249 applies to the 2019-2020 and succeeding school years.