By: Farrar, Flores H.B. No. 4091
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to bilingual education, English as a second language, and
other special language programs and to an intensive reading
improvement program for public school students of limited English
proficiency.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 29.062, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 29.062. COMPLIANCE. (a) The legislature recognizes
that compliance with this subchapter is an imperative public
necessity. Therefore, in accordance with the policy of the state,
the agency shall evaluate the effectiveness of programs under this
subchapter based on the following data, disaggregated by campus and
school district or open-enrollment charter school, which each
district and open-enrollment charter school shall collect and
provide to the agency:
(1) the academic excellence indicators adopted under
Section 39.051(a), including the results of assessment
instruments;
(2) the difference in grade-level retention rates
between students of limited English proficiency and students who
are not students of limited English proficiency;
(3) any significant difference in performance on
assessment instruments required under Sections 39.023(a), (c), and
(l), as applicable, between students of limited English proficiency
at the campus or in the district or open-enrollment charter school
being evaluated and the state average performance on those
assessment instruments of students who are not students of limited
English proficiency; and
(4) any significant difference in the dropout rate for
grade levels 9 through 12 between students of limited English
proficiency at the campus or in the district or open-enrollment
charter school being evaluated and the state average dropout rate
of students who are not students of limited English proficiency.
(b) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), for a campus with fewer
than 30 students enrolled in bilingual education or English as a
second language or other special language programs, the agency
shall evaluate information specified under Subsection (a) only at
the district level.
(b-1) The agency may combine but may not replace evaluations
under this section with federal accountability measures concerning
students of limited English proficiency.
(b-2) Each person considered by the agency to be the lead
monitor evaluating the effectiveness of programs under this
subchapter must be appropriately certified by the State Board for
Educator Certification as provided for under Section 29.061 for
English as a second language. An emergency endorsement issued
under Section 29.061(a) is not considered appropriate
certification for purposes of this subsection.
[(b) The areas to be monitored shall include:
[(1) program content and design;
[(2) program coverage;
[(3) identification procedures;
[(4) classification procedures;
[(5) staffing;
[(6) learning materials;
[(7) testing materials;
[(8) reclassification of students for either entry
into regular classes conducted exclusively in English or reentry
into a bilingual education or special education program; and
[(9) activities of the language proficiency
assessment committees.]
(c) If, as a result of an evaluation under Subsection (a),
the agency determines that a school district, campus, or
open-enrollment charter school program under this chapter is
ineffective, the agency shall intervene in the program [Not later
than the 30th day after the date of an on-site monitoring
inspection, the agency shall report its findings to the school
district or open-enrollment charter school and to the division of
accreditation].
(d) The agency shall notify a school district, and if
applicable, a campus, or an open-enrollment charter school [found
in noncompliance] in writing of an intervention under Subsection
(c)[,] not later than the 30th day after the first day [date] of the
intervention [on-site monitoring. The district or open-enrollment
charter school shall take immediate corrective action].
(d-1) The school district, campus, or open-enrollment
charter school with a program determined under this section to be
ineffective shall immediately review the following to evaluate
program effectiveness further:
(1) procedures for identification of students of
limited English proficiency;
(2) procedures for placement of students in a program
under this subchapter;
(3) student assessment procedures, including
assessment of:
(A) English language proficiency; and
(B) academic achievement in, as defined by
commissioner rule, core content areas;
(4) provision of instruction under the program,
including assessment of the quality of instruction and whether the
program is being implemented as designed;
(5) credentials of instructional staff, including:
(A) appropriate certification of teachers
providing English language development or content area instruction
to students of limited English proficiency; and
(B) the amount of instruction provided by
teachers who hold emergency endorsements or who are teaching
outside the teacher's area of specialization;
(6) professional development provided to content area
teachers serving students of limited English proficiency;
(7) curricular materials used in providing
instruction;
(8) district-level program evaluation procedures,
including procedures for:
(A) ongoing district-level monitoring to
identify program components needing improvement and implementing
identified improvements; and
(B) identifying and closing any academic
achievement gap between students of limited English proficiency and
students who are not students of limited English proficiency;
(9) a rate of parental denial of approval of a
student's entry into or placement in a program under this
subchapter that is at least 150 percent greater than the state
average rate of parental denial;
(10) any variance of greater than 20 percent between
the percentage of students identified as students of limited
English proficiency and the percentage of students who speak a
language other than English at home, as determined by the home
language survey administered to all students new to a campus,
district, or open-enrollment charter school as provided by Section
29.056(a)(1); and
(11) reclassification of students for either entry
into regular classes conducted exclusively in English or reentry
into a bilingual education or special education program.
(d-2) On completion of the review under Subsection (d-1),
the campus, district, or open-enrollment charter school shall
designate annual program improvement goals that:
(1) are designed to improve academic achievement in
the core content areas by students of limited English proficiency;
and
(2) are based on the extent of any academic
achievement gap identified under Subsection (d-1)(8)(B), with
incremental improvement goals established according to the size of
the achievement gap.
(d-3) The agency shall review annual improvement in a
program under this subchapter as measured by the goals designated
under Subsection (d-2). The agency shall take appropriate
corrective action for a campus, school district, or open-enrollment
charter school program that fails to meet one or more annual
improvement goals for two or more consecutive school years.
(e) If a campus, school district, or open-enrollment
charter school program under this subchapter fails to satisfy
appropriate standards adopted by the commissioner for purposes of
Subsection (d-3) [(a)], the agency shall apply sanctions, which may
include the removal of accreditation, loss of foundation school
funds, or both.
(f) The commissioner shall adopt rules consistent with this
section as necessary to administer this section.
SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 29, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 29.069 to read as follows:
Sec. 29.069. OPTIONAL INTENSIVE READING IMPROVEMENT
PROGRAM. (a) A school district may provide to students of limited
English proficiency, in accordance with this section, a reading
improvement program that is designed to:
(1) enable students to read proficiently; and
(2) increase the likelihood that students will
graduate from high school.
(b) A program under this section must:
(1) include a research-based curriculum designed to
guide students toward reading proficiency;
(2) include assessments that are approved by the
agency and designed to measure growth in a student's vocabulary and
reading comprehension;
(3) provide individualized, intensive, and
accelerated instruction;
(4) be aligned with the required curriculum under
Section 28.002;
(5) include a comprehensive system of support for
teachers that includes in-person training, access to online
professional development, and ongoing consultation throughout the
school year; and
(6) include teacher training materials and other
teacher training resources, including resource guides, to assist
teachers in enabling students of limited English proficiency to
meet state performance expectations, including performance
expectations on assessment instruments administered under
Subchapter B, Chapter 39.
(c) The results of assessments required under Subsection
(b)(2) must be accessible through an Internet data management
system:
(1) to appropriate teachers and administrators; and
(2) to the parent of a student participating in the
program.
(d) A program under this section may include computer-based
instruction that makes available additional reading practice for
students participating in the program.
(e) A school district providing a program under this section
shall begin providing instruction under the program to a student of
limited English proficiency before the student enters the seventh
grade.
(f) A school district providing a program under this section
shall begin providing instruction under the program to a student of
limited English proficiency within six weeks of receipt of Notice
of Grant Award (NOGA).
(g) Not later than January 31 and June 1 of each school year,
beginning in June 2010, a school district providing a program under
this section shall submit to the agency a written report on the
progress in reading of students participating in the district's
program. The commissioner by rule may specify the format of and
information to be provided in the report. The agency also may
collect information from each district providing a program under
this section to evaluate program effectiveness.
SECTION 3. Section 39.024(e), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(e) The commissioner shall retain a portion of the total
amount of funds allotted under Section 42.152(a) that the
commissioner considers appropriate to finance activities under
Subsection [Subsections] (c) and may retain a portion for
activities under Section 29.069 [Subsection (d)] and for other
intensive programs of instruction for students of limited English
proficiency offered by school districts and shall reduce each
district's allotment proportionately.
SECTION 4. Section 42.006, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (f) to read as follows:
(f) The commissioner shall adopt rules to ensure that,
through the Public Education Information Management System, the
agency collects and maintains data regarding:
(1) whether a student is or while enrolled in a public
school in this state has ever been classified as a student of
limited English proficiency;
(2) the school year in which a student first entered
ninth grade; and
(3) a student's status as:
(A) a continuing student;
(B) a high school graduate;
(C) a recipient of a high school equivalency
certificate; or
(D) a dropout.
SECTION 5. This Act does not make an appropriation. A
provision in this Act that creates a new governmental program,
creates a new entitlement, or imposes a new duty on a governmental
entity is not mandatory during a fiscal period for which the
legislature has not made a specific appropriation to implement the
provision.
SECTION 6. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
section, this Act applies beginning with the 2009-2010 school year.
(b) Section 29.062, Education Code, as amended by this Act,
and Section 42.006(f), Education Code, as added by this Act, apply
beginning with the 2010-2011 school year.
SECTION 7. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2009.