By: Van de Putte S.B. No. 1348
(In the Senate - Filed March 9, 2011; March 22, 2011, read
first time and referred to Committee on Higher Education;
April 26, 2011, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 5, Nays 2; April 26, 2011,
sent to printer.)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1348 By: Watson
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to higher education curriculum review teams to review
public school curriculum standards for college readiness purposes.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 28, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 28.0024 to read as follows:
Sec. 28.0024. HIGHER EDUCATION CURRICULUM REVIEW TEAMS.
(a) For each subject undergoing a review for the purpose of
identifying and adopting the essential knowledge and skills of a
subject of the required curriculum under Section 28.002, the
commissioner of higher education shall appoint a higher education
curriculum review team to review and make recommendations to the
State Board of Education concerning the essential knowledge and
skills to ensure that proposed essential knowledge and skills:
(1) are factually accurate and aligned with
contemporary scholarship;
(2) serve to prepare students for college; and
(3) serve appropriate instructional purposes.
(b) Each higher education curriculum review team shall
consist of not fewer than five and not more than 10 faculty members
of institutions of higher education or private or independent
institutions of higher education, as defined by Section 61.003.
Each member appointed to a team must have:
(1) at least five years of higher education teaching
experience in the subject under review and a terminal degree in that
subject; or
(2) at least five years of higher education teaching
experience in the field of education and a doctoral degree in
education.
(c) For each higher education curriculum review team, a
public institution of higher education or private or independent
institution of higher education may nominate one faculty member
qualified under Subsection (b). A nomination made under this
subsection must be submitted to the commissioner of higher
education together with a document of not more than one page
detailing the faculty member's experience, including specific
experience with the subject under review by the team.
(d) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, in
collaboration with the commissioner of education, shall develop and
post on the board's Internet website a blind scoring system,
including the criteria on which the scoring is based, for ranking
nominations made under Subsection (c).
(e) The commissioner of higher education, based on the
system developed under Subsection (d), shall make the appointments
to each higher education curriculum review team from among persons
nominated by institutions of higher education or private or
independent institutions of higher education under this section.
(f) Notwithstanding Subsections (c) and (e), if the subject
under review by a higher education curriculum review team is career
and technical education, at least one member of the team must be
selected from each of the following institutions:
(1) Texas State Technical College System; and
(2) Lamar Institute of Technology.
(g) In selecting appointees for a higher education
curriculum review team, the commissioner of higher education shall
attempt to achieve a balanced combination of educational
perspectives.
(h) Each higher education curriculum review team shall,
before final identification and adoption of the essential knowledge
and skills by the State Board of Education, make recommendations to
the State Board of Education concerning the essential knowledge and
skills.
(i) The agency shall post on the agency's Internet website
the recommendations of each higher education curriculum review
team.
(j) The commissioner of higher education shall coordinate
with the State Board of Education as necessary for the
administration of this section.
SECTION 2. 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, 2011.
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