82R13380 GCB-F
By: Seliger S.B. No. 1403
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the administration to public school students in certain
grades of state-administered assessment instruments.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 39.023, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a) and (a-1) and adding Subsections (a-2),
(a-3), (a-4), (a-5), (a-6), and (a-7) to read as follows:
(a) The agency shall adopt or develop appropriate
criterion-referenced assessment instruments designed to assess
essential knowledge and skills in reading, writing, mathematics,
social studies, and science. All students, except students
assessed under Subsection (b) or (l) or exempted under Section
39.027, shall be assessed in:
(1) mathematics, [annually] in grades three and five
[through seven] without the aid of technology and in grade eight
with the aid of technology on any assessment instrument that
includes algebra;
(2) reading, [annually] in grades three, five, and
[through] eight;
(3) writing, including spelling and grammar, in grades
five and eight [four and seven];
(4) social studies, in grade eight; and
(5) science, in grades five and eight[; and
[(6) any other subject and grade required by federal
law].
(a-1) The agency shall develop assessment instruments
required under Subsections (a), (a-2), (a-3), and (a-4) [Subsection
(a)] in a manner that allows, to the extent practicable:
(1) the score a student receives to provide reliable
information relating to a student's satisfactory performance for
each performance standard under Section 39.0241; and
(2) an appropriate range of performances to serve as a
valid indication of growth in student achievement.
(a-2) A student shall be assessed in grade four in a subject
for which an assessment instrument is administered under Subsection
(a) in grade three if, on the final assessment instrument in that
subject administered under Subsection (a) to the student in grade
three during the preceding school year, the student did not achieve
a scale score equal to or greater than the sum of the scale score
that indicates satisfactory performance on that assessment
instrument, as determined by the commissioner under Section
39.0241(a), plus 100 scale score points.
(a-3) A student shall be assessed in grade six in a subject
for which an assessment instrument is administered under Subsection
(a) in grade five if, on the final assessment instrument in that
subject administered under Subsection (a) to the student in grade
five during the preceding school year, the student did not achieve a
scale score equal to or greater than the sum of the scale score that
indicates satisfactory performance on that assessment instrument,
as determined by the commissioner under Section 39.0241(a), plus
100 scale score points.
(a-4) A student shall be assessed in grade seven in a
subject for which an assessment instrument was administered under
Subsection (a-3) to the student in grade six if, on the final
assessment instrument in that subject administered to the student
in grade six during the preceding school year, the student did not
achieve a scale score equal to or greater than the sum of the scale
score that indicates satisfactory performance on that assessment
instrument, as determined by the commissioner under Section
39.0241(a), plus 100 scale score points.
(a-5) A student assessed in mathematics under Subsection
(a-2), (a-3), or (a-4) shall be assessed without the aid of
technology.
(a-6) A school district or open-enrollment charter school
may, for its own use in determining whether students are performing
at a satisfactory level, administer to a student at the appropriate
grade level, other than a student required to be assessed, an
assessment instrument developed for purposes of Subsection (a-2),
(a-3), or (a-4). At the request of a school district or
open-enrollment charter school, the agency shall provide, allow for
the administration of, and score each assessment instrument
administered under this subsection in the same manner and at the
same cost as for assessment instruments required to be administered
under the applicable subsection. The results of an assessment
instrument administered under this subsection may not be included
as an indicator of student achievement under Section 39.054 or any
other provision.
(a-7) If there is a conflict between this section and
federal law as a result of forgoing under this section certain
administration of assessment instruments to students who have
recently performed successfully on assessment instruments
assessing the same subject, the commissioner shall seek a waiver
from the application of conflicting federal law. In seeking a
waiver, the commissioner shall submit all relevant data, including
data relating to:
(1) the likelihood that a student who achieves a scale
score on an assessment instrument equal to or greater than the sum
of the scale score that indicates satisfactory performance on the
assessment instrument plus 100 scale score points will, in
subsequent years, perform satisfactorily on assessment instruments
in the same subject;
(2) the costs associated with ongoing assessment of
students who have proven likely to perform successfully on
subsequent assessment instruments; and
(3) the benefit of redirecting resources from
assessment of students who have proven likely to perform
successfully on subsequent assessment instruments toward enabling
lower performing students to perform successfully on assessment
instruments after one school year.
SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 2011-2012
school year.
SECTION 3. 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.