Sec. 30-3.8. Approval process for student assessments

(a) Approval of student assessments for the evaluation of classroom teachers and building principals.

An assessment provider who seeks to place an assessment on the list of approved student assessments under this section shall submit to the commissioner a written application in a form and within the time prescribed by the commissioner.

(b) The commissioner shall evaluate a student assessment(s) for inclusion on the department’s list(s) of approved student assessments for use in the required and/or optional subcomponents of the student performance category based on the criteria outlined in the RFQ or request for proposal (RFP); provided, however, that assessments utilized as an alternative assessment for calculating transition scores and ratings for educators whose original evaluations are based, in whole or in part, on the grades 3 through 8 ELA and mathematics State assessments approved by the commissioner on or before April 12, 2019, shall be included on the department’s approved list.

(c) Termination of approval.

Approval shall be withdrawn for good cause, including, but not limited to, a determination by the commissioner that:

(1) the assessment does not comply with one or more of the criteria for approval set forth in Subpart or in the RFQ or RFP;

(2) the department determines that the assessment is not identifying meaningful and/or observable differences in performance levels across schools and classrooms; and/or

(3) high quality academic research calls into question the correlation between high performance on the assessment and positive student learning outcomes.