CS/HB 7117 - School Accountability Summary

• Revises Florida's school grading system beginning in 2014-2015, basing grades on student achievement scores in English Language Arts, mathematics, science, and social studies; student learning gains; and improvement of lowest-performing students.

• Requires the Department of Education to develop a district report card including district grades, student achievement gap information, learning gains data, and measures of school transition success (elementary to middle, middle to high school, and high school to postsecondary).

• Modifies alternative school ratings to use "Improving," "Maintaining," and "Declining" designations instead of previous ratings, based on student learning gains comparisons to home school performance.

• Authorizes teacher-selected or principal-selected assessments as local assessment options and defines "child with medical complexity" to allow exemption from statewide standardized assessments with proper medical documentation and superintendent approval.

• Establishes transition provisions protecting schools from sanctions based on 2014-2015 grades during the shift to new assessments, while maintaining compliance verification processes for Hillsborough County School District's performance evaluation system exemption.