Bill to restore school assessment reports passes

SALT LAKE CITY — A bill that reinstates the reporting of assessment results for public schools passed the House Wednesday and awaits the governor's signature.

Sponsored by Howard Stephenson, R- Draper, SB115 restores the state's U-PASS reporting system — which gives citizens an at-a-glance view of how students at schools in Utah are doing on their state standardized tests.

Stephenson said U-PASS reporting was inadvertently suspended for two years by legislation last session. At that time, lawmakers opted to suspend the Utah Basic Skills Competency Test, an assessment tenth graders had to pass in order to graduate, due to budget constraints. Part of that bill included suspending U-PASS reports.

Stephenson told the House Education Committee his legislation is simple and is an effort to bring back the accountability U-PASS provides.

At a State Board of Education meeting last month, State Superintendent Larry Shumway said his staff is already working to compile the data. Stephenson's bill will make assessment reports available for the 2010-2011 school year.

— Molly Farmer