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DESE explains cleanup bill changes: grade‑inflation metric removed, ESSA index reporting remains
Summary
Deputy Commissioner Ivy Pfeffer and DESE counsel told the committee that 2017’s Act 930 overhauled accountability; a 2019 cleanup removed reporting tied to the old grade‑inflation calculation and Act 757 clarifications align reporting with the ESSA school index. Remediation rates and composite GPA remain reported; lawmakers asked for a methodological brief.
Deputy Commissioner Ivy Pfeffer and Courtney Salas Ford, legal counsel for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, briefed the committee on statutory and reporting changes arising from a recent cleanup bill (referred to in discussion as Act 757).
Pfeffer told members that the substantive accountability changes occurred under Act 930 (2017), which moved Arkansas away from the older ACTTAP-style, course‑by‑course accountability into a broader ESSA school index. As a result, the state repealed the statute that computed a course‑level grade‑inflation metric (Ark. Code cited in committee discussion) because newer assessments and federal ESSA reporting approaches no longer supported the old methodology.
Salas Ford said the 2019 cleanup bill corrected reporting sections that were overlooked during repeal of the prior accountability regime. DESE staff reiterated that the state still reports remediation rates and composite GPA in the ESSA school index and that the department can provide the committee a brief outlining how long each measure has been calculated, how it is calculated and what recent data show. Pfeffer noted that COVID‑related testing cancellations have interrupted consistent longitudinal comparisons for the most recent year of data.
Lawmakers raised concerns about losing year‑to‑year comparability and about how remediation data are collected and used by higher education. Representative Lowery urged that the committee identify a consistent metric to track remediation over time and to consider whether higher‑education reporting could help restore continuity for longitudinal comparisons. DESE agreed to provide an explanatory update on the ESSA index methodology and the available remediation and GPA data.
The briefing clarified that removal of the prior grade‑inflation calculation did not mean DESE stopped reporting measures relevant to student readiness; rather, the department has shifted to ESSA‑aligned indicators that allow subgroup analysis and composite views of GPA, remediation and college‑readiness measures.
