March 5, 2015
The Honorable Virginia M. Barry
Commissioner of Education
New Hampshire Department of Education
101 Pleasant Street
Concord, NH 03301
Dear Commissioner Barry:
I am writing in response to the New Hampshire Department of Education’s (NHDOE) request on November 21, 2014, to pilot the Performance Assessment of Competency Education (PACE) with four local educational agencies (LEAs) in the State, in transition to a new Statewide assessment system. In this transitional pilot, the four LEAs, comprising approximately 8,000 students, or four percent of the students in the State, will administer and report results for locally developed performance tasks and common performance tasks in grades K-12 for reading/language arts, mathematics, and science. These tasks align to the State’s academic content standards as well as the State’s graduation competencies and each LEA’s K-12 course and grade competencies map to the State’s graduation competencies. The pilot LEAs will continue to administer, once each in elementary, middle, and high school, high-quality Statewide assessments. The pilot LEAs will also make accountability determinations based on the reading/language arts and mathematics assessments administered in grades 3 through 8 and high school. NHDOE believes this research-based pilot is an important component of the State’s plans to move toward full implementation of a Statewide assessment to be administered to all students in the State that best meets the needs of parents, educators, and students in the State.
I appreciate the work NHDOE and the four pilot LEAs have undertaken since 2013 to prepare for the launch of PACE this spring. There has been considerable time and energy spent defining the State’s competency-based model and providing the training and resources necessary to support the creation of high-quality, locally developed performance tasks aligned to the competencies. We also know that there is work still to be done to refine and improve PACE this year and for the future. We look forward to working with you throughout this process.
Pursuant to my authority under section 9401 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended (ESEA), I am pleased to grant a two-year waiver, for the 2014−2015 and 2015−2016 school years, of the following statutory requirements under Title I, Part A of the ESEA and their associated regulatory provisions:
This waiver is granted to NHDOE on the condition that it will do the following:
This waiver is granted based on NHDOE’s commitment to continue to report results to parents for every student in the State, including students participating in the transitional PACE pilot. NHDOE will make annual accountability determinations for the schools in the pilot LEAs based on the assessments, which are aligned with the State standards, administered during the transitional pilot. NHDOE is still required to provide accommodations for students on its assessment, including the PACE assessments, as appropriate. NHDOE must also administer an alternate assessment based on alternate academic achievement standards for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities and an assessment of English language proficiency in the pilot LEAs.
Finally, this waiver is also granted based on NHDOE’s intent to move to a single Statewide system in which all LEAs are administering the same assessment system to all students in each grade, within a timeframe identified by NHDOE and approved by ED. If the transitional pilot proves impracticable to continue or expand (or ED determines it must withdraw approval of the waiver), NHDOE will require the pilot LEAs to administer the Statewide assessments to all students.
Thank you for your commitment to enhancing education for all of New Hampshire’s students, including your continued focus on developing new and innovative assessments to improve outcomes for students. I appreciate the challenging and time-consuming work you and your pilot LEAs have undertaken to date and look forward to continuing to work with you and learn from this pilot. I am excited to hear all of the great information you will have to share and to help problem-solve the inevitable challenges that such complex work will bring. If you or your staff have any questions, please contact me directly, or have your staff contact Danielle Smith at (202) 453-5546 or Collette Roney at (202) 401-5245 or by e-mail at: OSS.NewHampshire@ed.gov.
Sincerely,
/s/
Deborah S. Delisle
Assistant Secretary
Last Modified: 03/06/2015
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