Such application shall include a description of the innovative assessment system, the experience the applicant has in implementing any components of the innovative assessment system, and the timeline over which the State or consortium proposes to exercise the demonstration authority. In addition, the application shall include each of the following:
(A)
A demonstration that the innovative assessment system will—
(ii)
be aligned to the challenging State academic standards and address the depth and breadth of such standards;
(iii)
express student results or student competencies in terms consistent with the State’s aligned academic achievement standards under
section 6311(b)(1) of this title;
(v)
be developed in collaboration with—
(I)
stakeholders representing the interests of children with disabilities, English learners, and other vulnerable children;
(II)
teachers, principals, and other school leaders;
(III)
local educational agencies;
(IV)
parents; and
(V)
civil rights organizations in the State;
(vi)
be accessible to all students, such as by incorporating the principles of universal design for learning;
(vii)
provide teachers, principals, other school leaders, students, and parents with timely data, disaggregated by each subgroup of students described in
section 6311(b)(2)(B)(xi) of this title, to inform and improve instructional practice and student supports;
(viii)
identify which students are not making progress toward the challenging State academic standards so that teachers can provide instructional support and targeted interventions to all students;
(x)
generate an annual, summative achievement determination, based on the aligned State academic achievement standards under
section 6311(b)(1) of this title and based on annual data, for each individual student; and
(xi)
allow the State educational agency to validly and reliably aggregate data from the innovative assessment system for purposes of—
(I)
accountability, consistent with the requirements of
section 6311(c) of this title; and
(II)
reporting, consistent with the requirements of
section 6311(h) of this title.
(B)
A description of how the State educational agency will—
(i)
continue use of the statewide academic assessments required under
section 6311(b)(2) of this title if such assessments will be used for accountability purposes for the duration of the demonstration authority period;
(ii)
identify the distinct purposes for each assessment that is part of the innovative assessment system;
(iii)
provide support and training to local educational agency and school staff to implement the innovative assessment system described in this subsection;
(iv)
inform parents of students in participating local educational agencies about the innovative assessment system at the beginning of each school year during which the innovative assessment system will be implemented;
(v)
engage and support teachers in developing and scoring assessments that are part of the innovative assessment system, including through the use of high-quality professional development, standardized and calibrated scoring rubrics, and other strategies, consistent with relevant nationally recognized professional and technical standards, to ensure inter-rater reliability and comparability;
(vi)
acclimate students to the innovative assessment system;
(viii)
if the State is proposing to administer the innovative assessment system initially in a subset of local educational agencies, scale up the innovative assessment system to administer such system statewide, or with additional local educational agencies, in the State’s proposed demonstration authority period;
(ix)
gather data, solicit regular feedback from teachers, principals, other school leaders, and parents, and assess the results of each year of the program of demonstration authority under this section, and respond by making needed changes to the innovative assessment system; and
(x)
report data from the innovative assessment system annually to the Secretary, including—
(I)
demographics of participating local educational agencies, if such system is not statewide, and additional local educational agencies if added to the system during the course of the State’s demonstration authority period or 2-year extension, except that such data shall not reveal any personally identifiable information, including a description of how the inclusion of additional local educational agencies contributes to progress toward achieving high-quality and consistent implementation across demographically diverse local educational agencies throughout the demonstration authority period;
(II)
the performance of all participating students, and for each subgroup of students defined in
section 6311(c)(2) of this title, on the innovative assessment, consistent with the requirements in
section 6311(h) of this title, except that such data shall not reveal any personally identifiable information;
(III)
feedback from teachers, principals, other school leaders, and parents about their satisfaction with the innovative assessment system; and
(IV)
if such system is not statewide, a description of the State’s progress in scaling up the innovative assessment system to additional local educational agencies during the State’s demonstration authority period, as described in clause (viii).
(C)
A description of the State educational agency’s plan to—
(i)
ensure that all students and each of the subgroups of students defined in
section 6311(c)(2) of this title participating in the innovative assessment system receive the instructional support needed to meet State aligned academic achievement standards;
(ii)
ensure that each local educational agency has the technological infrastructure to implement the innovative assessment system; and
(iii)
hold all schools in the local educational agencies participating in the program of demonstration authority accountable for meeting the State’s expectations for student achievement.
(D)
If the innovative assessment system will initially be administered in a subset of local educational agencies—
(i)
a description of the local educational agencies within the State educational agency that will participate, including what criteria the State has for approving any additional local educational agencies to participate during the demonstration authority period;
(ii)
assurances from such local educational agencies that such agencies will comply with the requirements of this subsection;
(iii)
a description of how the State will—
(I)
ensure that the inclusion of additional local educational agencies contributes to progress toward achieving high-quality and consistent implementation across demographically diverse local educational agencies during the demonstration authority period; and
(II)
ensure that the participating local educational agencies, as a group, will be demographically similar to the State as a whole by the end of the State’s demonstration authority period; and
(iv)
a description of the State educational agency’s plan to hold all students and each of the subgroups of students, as defined in
section 6311(c)(2) of this title, to the same high standard as other students in the State.