Mississippi § 37-28-29 - Charter contract to include performance framework; performance standards used to guide authorizer’s charter school evaluations; annual performance targets.

§ 37-28-29. Charter contract to include performance framework; performance standards used to guide authorizer’s charter school evaluations; annual performance targets.

The performance provisions within a charter contract must be based on a performance framework that clearly sets forth the academic and operational performance indicators, measures and metrics that will guide the authorizer’s evaluations of the charter school. The performance framework must include indicators, measures and metrics, at a minimum, for the following: Student academic proficiency; Student academic growth; Achievement gaps in both proficiency and growth between major student subgroups; Attendance; Recurrent enrollment from year to year; In-school and out-of-school suspension rates and expulsion rates; For charter high schools, postsecondary readiness, including the percentage of graduates submitting applications to postsecondary institutions, high school completion, postsecondary admission and postsecondary enrollment or employment; Financial performance and sustainability; and Board performance and stewardship, including compliance with all applicable laws, regulations and terms of the charter contract. The charter contract of each charter school serving Grades 9-12 must include a provision ensuring that graduation requirements meet or exceed those set by the Mississippi Department of Education for a regular high school diploma. Nothing in this section shall preclude competency-based satisfaction of graduation requirements. Annual performance targets must be set by each charter school in conjunction with the authorizer and must be designed to help each school meet applicable federal, state and authorizer expectations. The performance framework must allow the inclusion of additional rigorous, valid and reliable indicators proposed by a charter school to augment external evaluations of its performance; however, the authorizer must approve the quality and rigor of any indicators proposed by a charter school, which indicators must be consistent with the purposes of this chapter. The performance framework must require the disaggregation of all student performance data by major student subgroups (gender, race, poverty status, special education status, English learner status and gifted status). The authorizer shall collect, analyze and report all data from state assessments in accordance with the performance framework for each charter school. Multiple schools overseen by a single governing board must report their performance as separate, individual schools, and each school must be held independently accountable for its performance. Information needed by the authorizer from the charter school governing board for the authorizer’s reports must be required and included as a material part of the charter contract.