H.B. No. 2349
AN ACT
relating to public school assessment, performance standards, and
course requirements.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 28.025(c-5), Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(c-5) A student may earn a performance acknowledgment on the
student's diploma and transcript by satisfying the requirements for
that acknowledgment adopted by the State Board of Education by
rule. An acknowledgment under this subsection may be earned:
(1) for outstanding performance:
(A) in a dual credit course;
(B) in bilingualism and biliteracy;
(C) on a college advanced placement test or
international baccalaureate examination; [or]
(D) on an established, valid, reliable, and
nationally norm-referenced preliminary college preparation
assessment instrument used to measure a student's progress toward
readiness for college and the workplace; or
(E) on an established, valid, reliable, and
nationally norm-referenced assessment instrument used by colleges
and universities as part of their undergraduate admissions process
[the PSAT, the ACT-Plan, the SAT, or the ACT]; or
(2) for earning a state recognized or nationally or
internationally recognized business or industry certification or
license.
SECTION 2. Section 39.023, Education Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (e-1) to read as follows:
(e-1) The agency may defer releasing assessment instrument
questions and answer keys as required by Subsection (e) to the
extent necessary to develop additional assessment instruments.
SECTION 3. Subchapter B, Chapter 39, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 39.02315 to read as follows:
Sec. 39.02315. REPORTING RESULTS OF ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENTS
FOR OUT-OF-STATE TRANSFER STUDENTS. (a) For assessment
instruments required to be administered under Section 39.023, the
agency shall adopt procedures to ensure that the results of the
assessment instruments administered to students who transfer from a
school district in another state to a school district in this state
are reported to each school district separately from the results of
assessment instruments administered to other students.
(b) The commissioner by rule shall:
(1) ensure that the results of assessment instruments
administered to students who transfer from a school district in
another state to a school district in this state reported under
Subsection (a) are properly identified in agency systems that
report and track academic performance of students; and
(2) adopt procedures for reporting and tracking data
relating to students who transfer from a school district in another
state to a school district in this state.
SECTION 4. Sections 39.025(a), (f), and (g), Education
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) The commissioner shall adopt rules requiring a student
in the foundation high school program under Section 28.025 to be
administered an [each] 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 a scale score that
indicates satisfactory performance, as determined by the
commissioner under Section 39.0241(a), on each end-of-course
assessment instrument administered to the student [listed under
Section 39.023(c)]. For each scale score required under this
subsection that is not based on a 100-point scale scoring system,
the commissioner shall provide for conversion, in accordance with
commissioner rule, of the scale score to an equivalent score based
on a 100-point scale scoring system. A student may not receive a
high school diploma until the student has performed satisfactorily
on 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.
(f) The commissioner shall by rule adopt a transition plan
to implement the amendments made by Chapter 1312 (S.B. No. 1031),
Acts of the 80th Legislature, Regular Session, 2007, replacing
general subject assessment instruments administered at the high
school level with end-of-course assessment instruments. The rules
must provide for the end-of-course assessment instruments adopted
under Section 39.023(c) to be administered beginning with students
entering the ninth grade during the 2011-2012 school year. During
the period under which the transition to end-of-course assessment
instruments is made:
(1) for students entering a grade above the ninth
grade during the 2011-2012 school year, the commissioner shall
retain, administer, and use for purposes of accreditation and other
campus and district accountability measures under this chapter the
assessment instruments required by Section 39.023(a) or (c), as
that section existed before amendment by Chapter 1312 (S.B.
No. 1031), Acts of the 80th Legislature, Regular Session, 2007; and
(2) a student subject to Subdivision (1) may not
receive a high school diploma unless the student has performed
satisfactorily on each required assessment instrument administered
under Section 39.023(c) as that section existed before amendment by
Chapter 1312 (S.B. No. 1031), Acts of the 80th Legislature, Regular
Session, 2007[; and
[(3) the agency may defer releasing assessment
instrument questions and answer keys as required by Section
39.023(e) to the extent necessary to develop additional assessment
instruments].
(g) Rules adopted under Subsection (f) must require that
each student who will be subject to the requirements of Subsection
(a) is entitled to notice of the specific requirements applicable
to the student. Notice under this subsection must be provided not
later than the date the student enters the eighth grade.
[Subsection (f) and this subsection expire September 1, 2015.]
SECTION 5. The following provisions of the Education Code
are repealed:
(1) Section 39.023(o);
(2) Section 39.0233(c); and
(3) Section 39.025(b-2).
SECTION 6. This Act applies beginning with the 2015-2016
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 on the 91st day after the last day of the
legislative session.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 2349 was passed by the House on May
11, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 135, Nays 0, 1 present, not
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
No. 2349 on May 29, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 144, Nays 2,
2 present, not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 2349 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 27, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays
0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor