SB 24-070

Senate Bill 24-070, which has been approved and is now in effect, requires the Colorado Department of Education to create policies for remote testing of students enrolled full-time in online schools. These policies will cover various aspects like qualifications for test administrators, monitoring procedures, and technical requirements to ensure secure and valid assessments. The bill also allocates $440,000 from the state education fund to implement these new policies starting in the 2024-25 school year. This affects students taking online classes and their educators who will need to follow the new guidelines for testing.

Official Summary

The act requires the department of education (department) to develop, review, and update state assessment administration and security policies (policies) for home-based, virtual administration of computer-based state assessments (assessments) for students enrolled full time in online schools or online programs. The policies must include, but are not limited to: Testing personnel qualifications; Maximum ratio of students to virtual administrator; Tester verification; Remote setting requirements, including restriction to other devices or people with or without internet capabilities; Monitoring of the test-taker and testing environment; Device and network requirements; Parental consent agreements; and Eligibility for schools to conduct assessments. The department's policies must support the collection of evidence and evaluation of assessment results in order to administer assessments in the 2024-25 school year, with the expectation of full implementation of assessments no later than the 2025-26 school year that result in valid scores. To establish the validity of assessments in the 2024-25 school year, the department shall conduct validation activities, gather data, and evaluate the comparability of home-based, virtual state assessments and school-based, in-person administered state assessments. To encourage student and educator participation in validation activities, the department may provide incentives. The act appropriates $440,000 to the department from the state education fund to implement the act. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2024 EFFECTIVE June 5, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

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