SB3803 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB097 19790 RPM 65875 b

97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2011 and 2012
SB3803

Introduced 2/10/2012, by Sen. Kimberly A. Lightford

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act

Creates the College Completion Report Card Act. Provides that within 3 months after the effective date of this Act, the Illinois P-20 Council shall collaborate with the Board of Higher Education, the Illinois Community College Board, and a consortia of private colleges and universities to convene a committee headed by the chairperson of the Joint Educational Leadership Committee, whose purpose shall be to advise the Illinois P-20 Council on the development of a template for a college completion report card. Provides that after development, the Board of Higher Education and the Illinois Community College Board shall collaborate to collect data annually and publicly report college completion metrics, as well as report to and advise the Illinois P-20 Council on progress. Provides that the report card must be (i) clearly linked to performance funding metrics and the goals of the Public Agenda and (ii) simple to read and clearly indicative of minority and low-income student access, student progress, and progress towards increasing college completion. Provides that on or before September 30, 2014 and on or before September 30 of each year thereafter, the Board of Higher Education and the Illinois Community College Board shall prepare a State report card and completion report cards for each institution that enrolls one or more students who receive Monetary Award Program grants. Provides that the committee shall provide to the Illinois P-20 Council and the longitudinal data system recommendations for more detailed data report cards that shall be publicly available for use by college, university, and agency leaders to identify solutions to improving certificate or degree completion. Effective immediately.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

STATE MANDATES ACT MAY REQUIRE REIMBURSEMENT

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning education.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the College Completion Report Card Act.

Section 5. College completion report card.

(a) Within 3 months after the effective date of this Act, the Illinois P-20 Council shall collaborate with the Board of Higher Education, the Illinois Community College Board, and a consortia of private colleges and universities to convene a committee headed by the chairperson of the Illinois P-20 Council's Joint Educational Leadership Committee, whose purpose shall be to advise the P-20 Council on the development of a template for a college completion report card. The chairperson of the Joint Educational Leadership Committee shall be responsible for selecting members of the committee. The template for the report card shall be completed on or before January 1, 2014. After development, the Board of Higher Education and the Illinois Community College Board shall collaborate to collect data annually and publicly report college completion metrics, as well as report to and advise the Illinois P-20 Council on progress.

The report card must be (i) clearly linked to performance funding metrics and the goals of the Public Agenda and (ii) simple to read and clearly indicative of minority and low-income student access, student progress, and progress towards increasing college completion. The report card template may include, but need not be limited to, the following:

(1) student and institutional demographics, including gender, age, race, full or part-time status, average class size, and number of students in each level of education;

(2) tuition and fees, as well as average cost after financial aid and average educational loan burden;

(3) the results of each postsecondary educational institution's performance funding metrics from the previous year or equivalent metrics for private educational institutions;

(4) leading indicators or momentum points, which, based on 2 or more existing research studies, can be reasonably considered predictors of student certificate or degree completion, such as the following:

(A) term to term persistence;

(B) course pass rate;

(C) students who complete remedial coursework in their first year of study;

(D) students who complete remedial coursework in their second year of study;

(E) number of credit hours completed in their first and second years; and

(F) students who passed gatekeeper English or mathematics courses by their year of study; and

(5) other measures of student success, which shall be identified by the committee, such as licensure rates in relevant programs and General Educational Development passage rates.

The data shall be collected from the colleges and universities in such a way that allows the metrics to be disaggregated by age, gender, income, and race and ethnicity.

(b) On or before September 30, 2014 and on or before September 30 of each year thereafter, the Board of Higher Education and the Illinois Community College Board shall prepare a State report card and completion report cards for each institution that enrolls one or more students who receive Monetary Award Program grants under Section 35 of the Higher Education Student Assistance Act. On or before November 30 of each year, report cards must be made easily accessible from each institution's Internet website, if any, and updated versions must be made available via the Illinois Student Assistant Commission's Internet website. Updated community college report cards must be easily accessible through the Illinois Community College Board's and Board of Higher Education's Internet websites. Updated report cards for colleges and universities under the authority of the Board of Higher Education must be easily accessible through the Board of Higher Education's Internet website. Updated report cards must be provided to all potential students when they apply.

(c) The committee shall provide to the Illinois P-20 Council and the longitudinal data system recommendations for more detailed data report cards that shall be publicly available for use by college, university, and agency leaders to identify solutions to improving certificate or degree completion. These dashboards may include additional data to help institutions and policymakers develop effective policies to improve completion, such as, but not limited to, average time to obtain a degree, average number of developmental courses taken, completion rates of students by courses taken, majors, certificates, and degrees. Where possible and useful, data shall also be disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and income. It shall be the responsibility of the longitudinal data system to identify which data is immediately available and make recommendations for future collection of the most useful data that is not currently available. The Board of Higher Education and the Illinois Community College Board may require institutions to implement additional data collection, if necessary and useful and by the most economic means, to better understand barriers to certificate or degree completion. The Board of Higher Education and the Illinois Community College Board shall be responsible for developing detailed report cards and making them publicly available and easily accessible through the Board of Higher Education's and the Illinois Community College Board's Internet websites.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.