84R9832 CAE-D
By: Miller of Fort Bend H.B. No. 3583
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a pilot program in certain school districts exempting
those districts from administering standard assessment instruments
and authorizing alternative assessment instruments.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 39, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 39.042 to read as follows:
Sec. 39.042. ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENTS PILOT
PROGRAM. (a) The commissioner by rule shall develop and implement
a pilot program under which participating school districts are
exempt from administering assessment instruments under Section
39.023 and administer alternative assessment instruments.
(b) A school district may apply to the commissioner to
participate in the pilot program established under this section.
The commissioner shall select for participation in the pilot
program one school district located in each of the regional
education service center areas. To be eligible to apply for the
pilot program under this section, a school district must have a
student enrollment of 70,000 or more. If a regional education
service center area does not have a school district with student
enrollment of 70,000 or more, the commissioner shall select the
district in the area with the highest student enrollment that has
applied for participation in the pilot program.
(c) A school district selected by the commissioner as a
participant in the Texas High Performance Schools Consortium under
Section 7.0561 may not participate in the pilot program established
under this section.
(d) The commissioner by rule shall adopt procedures to
designate alternative assessment instruments that may be used by a
school district participating in the pilot program to evaluate
student achievement. The procedures adopted by the commissioner
must provide that the following assessment instruments may be
administered by a participating school district as an alternative
assessment instrument:
(1) ACT Plan;
(2) Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS);
(3) National Assessment of Educational Progress
(NAEP);
(4) Program for International Student Assessment
(PISA);
(5) PSAT; and
(6) Texas Success Initiative (TSI Diagnostic Test).
(e) From funds appropriated for that purpose, the
commissioner by rule shall establish a grant program under which
participating school districts receive grants to implement the
pilot program to administer alternative assessment instruments.
(f) A school district that receives a grant under this
section may use grant funds to implement an alternative system of
student assessment using commissioner-approved alternative
assessment instruments.
(g) Each participating school district shall report to the
agency student performance on alternative assessment instruments
the district administers under the pilot program.
(h) The commissioner shall adopt rules as necessary to
administer this section.
SECTION 2. The commissioner of education shall establish
the pilot program under Section 39.042, Education Code, as added by
this Act, not later than September 1, 2015.
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, 2015.