By: Patrick, et al. S.B. No. 1724
(In the Senate - Filed March 8, 2013; March 11, 2013, read
first time and referred to Committee on Education; March 25, 2013,
reported adversely, with favorable Committee Substitute by the
following vote: Yeas 9, Nays 0; March 25, 2013, sent to printer.)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1724 By: Patrick
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to end-of-course assessment instruments administered to
public high school students and other measures of secondary-level
performance.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 29.081, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsections (b-1), (b-2), and (b-3) to read as follows:
(b-1) Each district shall offer additional accelerated
instruction to each student in any subject in which that student has
failed an end-of-course assessment that the student is required to
pass in order to graduate before the next scheduled test
administration without any cost to the student.
(b-2) A district which is required to provide accelerated
instruction under Subsection (b-1) shall separately budget
sufficient funds, including funds under Section 42.152, for that
purpose. A district may not budget funds received under Section
42.152 for any other purpose until it has adopted a budget to
support additional accelerated instruction under Subsection (b-1).
(b-3) A district shall evaluate the effectiveness of
accelerated instruction programs under Subsection (b-1) and hold a
public hearing once each year to consider the results.
SECTION 2. Subsections (c) and (c-3), Section 39.023,
Education Code, are amended to read as follows:
(c) The agency shall also adopt end-of-course assessment
instruments for secondary-level courses in Algebra I,[Algebra II,
geometry,] biology, [chemistry, physics,] English I, English II,
[English III, world geography, world history,] and United States
history. The Algebra I [, Algebra II, and geometry] end-of-course
assessment instrument [instruments] must be administered with the
aid of technology. The English I and English II end-of-course
assessment instruments must each assess essential knowledge and
skills in both reading and writing in the same assessment
instrument. A school district shall comply with State Board of
Education rules regarding administration of the assessment
instruments listed in this subsection [and shall adopt a policy
that requires a student's performance on an end-of-course
assessment instrument for a course listed in this subsection in
which the student is enrolled to account for 15 percent of the
student's final grade for the course. If a student retakes an
end-of-course assessment instrument for a course listed in this
subsection, as provided by Section 39.025, a school district is not
required to use the student's performance on the subsequent
administration or administrations of the assessment instrument to
determine the student's final grade for the course]. If a student
is in a special education program under Subchapter A, Chapter 29,
the student's admission, review, and dismissal committee shall
determine whether any allowable modification is necessary in
administering to the student an assessment instrument required
under this subsection. The State Board of Education shall
administer the assessment instruments. The State Board of
Education shall adopt a schedule for the administration of
end-of-course assessment instruments that complies with the
requirements of Subsection (c-3).
(c-3) In adopting a schedule for the administration of
assessment instruments under this section, the State Board of
Education shall require:
(1) assessment instruments administered under
Subsection (a) to be administered on a schedule so that the first
assessment instrument is administered at least two weeks later than
the date on which the first assessment instrument was administered
under Subsection (a) during the 2006-2007 school year; and
(2) the spring administration of end-of-course
assessment instruments under Subsection (c) to occur in each school
district not earlier than the first full week in May, except that
the spring administration of the end-of-course assessment
instruments in English I and[,] English II[, and English III] must
be permitted to occur at an earlier date.
SECTION 3. Subsections (a), (a-1), (a-2), (b), and (b-2),
Section 39.025, Education Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) The commissioner shall adopt rules requiring a student
[participating] in the foundation [recommended or advanced] high
school program under Section 28.025 to be administered each
end-of-course assessment instrument listed in Section 39.023(c)
[and requiring a student participating in the minimum high school
program to be administered an end-of-course assessment instrument
listed in Section 39.023(c) only for a course in which the student
is enrolled and for which an end-of-course assessment instrument is
administered]. A student is required to achieve[, in each subject
in the foundation curriculum under Section 28.002(a)(1), a
cumulative score that is at least equal to the product of the number
of end-of-course assessment instruments administered to the
student in that subject and] a scale score that indicates
satisfactory performance, as determined by the commissioner under
Section 39.0241(a), on each end-of-course assessment instrument
listed under Section 39.023(c). [A student must achieve a minimum
score as determined by the commissioner to be within a reasonable
range of the scale score under Section 39.0241(a) on an
end-of-course assessment instrument for the score to count towards
the student's cumulative score. For purposes of this subsection, a
student's cumulative score is determined using the student's
highest score on each end-of-course assessment instrument
administered to the student.] A student may not receive a high
school diploma until the student has performed satisfactorily on
the end-of-course assessment instruments in the manner provided
under this subsection. This subsection does not require a student
to demonstrate readiness to enroll in an institution of higher
education.
(a-1) The commissioner by rule shall determine a method by
which a student's satisfactory performance on an advanced placement
test, international baccalaureate examination, an SAT Subject
Test, or another assessment instrument determined by the
commissioner to be at least as rigorous as an end-of-course
assessment instrument adopted under Section 39.023(c) may be used
as a factor in determining whether the student satisfies the
requirements of Subsection (a)[, including the cumulative score
requirement of that subsection]. The commissioner by rule may
determine a method by which a student's satisfactory performance on
a Preliminary Scholastic Assessment Test (PSAT) [assessment] or a
preliminary American College Test (ACT) [assessment] may be used as
a factor in determining whether the student satisfies the
requirements of Subsection (a).
(a-2) In addition to the [cumulative] score requirements on
the end-of-course assessment instruments required for graduation
under Subsection (a), to graduate under the foundation high school
program with a distinguished achievement endorsement, a student
must achieve a scale score on an advanced placement test, an
international baccalaureate examination, the Scholastic Assessment
Test (SAT), an SAT Subject Test, the American College Test (ACT), or
another nationally recognized assessment instrument that indicates
readiness to enroll in an institution of higher education, as
determined by the commissioner. The commissioner may not permit
the use of performance on an end-of-course assessment instrument
adopted under Section 39.023(c) to satisfy the requirement under
this subsection [meets or exceeds the score determined by the
commissioner under Section 39.0241(a) for English III and Algebra
II end-of-course assessment instruments to graduate under the
recommended high school program].
(b) Each time an end-of-course assessment instrument
adopted under Section 39.023(c) is administered, a student who
failed to achieve a [minimum] score requirement under Subsection
(a) may [shall] retake the assessment instrument. [A student who
fails to perform satisfactorily on an Algebra II or English III
end-of-course assessment instrument under the college readiness
performance standard, as provided under Section 39.024(b), may
retake the assessment instrument.] Any other student may retake an
end-of-course assessment instrument for any reason. A student is
not required to retake a course as a condition of retaking an
end-of-course assessment instrument.
(b-2) If a school district determines that a student, on
completion of grade 11, is unlikely to achieve the [cumulative]
score requirement under this section [requirements] for one or more
end-of-course assessment instruments [subjects] prescribed under
[by] Subsection (a) for receiving a high school diploma, the
district shall require the student to enroll in a corresponding
content-area college preparatory course for which an end-of-course
assessment instrument has been adopted, if available. A student
who enrolls in a college preparatory course described by this
subsection shall be administered an end-of-course assessment
instrument for the course, with the end-of-course assessment
instrument scored on a scale as determined by the commissioner [not
to exceed 20 percent of the cumulative score requirements required
to graduate as determined under Subsection (a)]. A student may use
the student's score on the end-of-course assessment instrument for
the college preparatory course towards satisfying the [cumulative]
score requirement under this section [requirements prescribed by
Subsection (a)].
SECTION 4. The following sections of the Education Code are
repealed:
(1) Subsections (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), (h), and
(i), Section 39.024;
(2) Subsection (a-2), Section 39.0241;
(3) Section 39.0242;
(4) Subsection (a-3), Section 39.025; and
(5) Subsection (q-1), Section 51.3062.
SECTION 5. Section 39.025, Education Code, as amended by
this Act, as related to reducing end-of-course testing
requirements, applies only to students who have entered or will
enter the ninth grade during the 2011-2012 school year or a later
school year.
SECTION 6. This Act applies beginning with the 2013-2014
school year.
SECTION 7. (a) Subject to Subsection (b) of this section,
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, 2013.
(b) This Act takes effect as provided by Subsection (a) of
this section only if Senate Bill No. 3, Acts of the 83rd
Legislature, Regular Session, 2013, becomes law. If that bill does
not become law, this Act has no effect.
* * * * *