Texas 2015 - 84th Regular

Texas Senate Bill SB1798 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	84R397 KKA-D
2	2	By: Seliger S.B. No. 1798
3	3
4	4
5	5	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
6	6	AN ACT
7	7	relating to the Texas High Performance Schools Consortium.
8	8	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
9	9	SECTION 1. Section 7.0561, Education Code, is amended by
10	10	amending Subsections (a), (b), (d), (i), and (j) and adding
11	11	Subsections (j-1), (j-2), (j-3), (j-4), (k), (l), (m), and (m-1) to
12	12	read as follows:
13	13	(a) In this section:
14	14	(1) "Consortium"[, "consortium"] means the Texas High
15	15	Performance Schools Consortium established under this section.
16	16	(2) "Participant campus" means a school district
17	17	campus or open-enrollment charter school that has been selected for
18	18	and is participating in the consortium.
19	19	(3) "Participant district" means a school district
20	20	that has one or more campuses participating in the consortium.
21	21	(4) "Readiness standards" means the standards
22	22	identified by the agency that are essential for success.
23	23	(b) The Texas High Performance Schools Consortium is
24	24	established to inform the governor, legislature, State Board of
25	25	Education, and commissioner concerning methods for transforming
26	26	public schools in this state by improving student learning through
27	27	the development of innovative, next-generation learning standards
28	28	and assessment and accountability systems.
29	29	(d) The number of students initially enrolled in
30	30	participant campuses [consortium participants] may not be greater
31	31	than a number equal to five percent of the total number of students
32	32	enrolled in public schools in this state according to the most
33	33	recent agency data. With approval of the commissioner, a
34	34	participant district may add one or more district campuses to the
35	35	consortium.
36	36	(i) To cover the costs of administering the consortium, the
37	37	commissioner may charge a fee to a school district or
38	38	open-enrollment charter school participating in the consortium.
39	39	The commissioner may also charge a fee to a participating school
40	40	district or open-enrollment charter school for use of
41	41	state-provided assessment items or other costs associated with
42	42	Subsection (l), and the commissioner may collect and use that fee
43	43	for purposes of administering the consortium.
44	44	(j) The [With the assistance of the] school districts and
45	45	open-enrollment charter schools participating in the consortium[,
46	46	the commissioner] shall submit reports concerning the performance
47	47	and progress of the consortium to the governor, [and] the
48	48	legislature, the State Board of Education, and the commissioner not
49	49	later than December 1 of[,] 2012, [and not later than December 1,]
50	50	2014, 2016, and 2018.
51	51	(j-1) The report submitted under Subsection (j) not later
52	52	than December 1, 2012, must include any recommendation by the
53	53	commissioner concerning legislative authorization for the
54	54	commissioner to waive a prohibition, requirement, or restriction
55	55	that applies to a [consortium] participant campus or district.
56	56	That report must also include a plan for an effective and efficient
57	57	accountability system for participant campuses and districts
58	58	[consortium participants] that balances academic excellence and
59	59	local values to inspire learning and, at the state level,
60	60	contingent on any necessary waiver of federal law, may incorporate
61	61	use of a stratified random sampling of students or other objective
62	62	methodology to hold participant campuses and districts [consortium
63	63	participants] accountable while attempting to reduce the number of
64	64	state assessment instruments that are required to be administered
65	65	to students. The commissioner shall seek a federal waiver, to any
66	66	extent necessary, to prepare for implementation of the plan if
67	67	enacted by the legislature.
68	68	(j-2) The report submitted under Subsection (j) not later
69	69	than December 1, 2016, must include an update on the effectiveness
70	70	with which participant campuses are closing gaps in achievement on
71	71	readiness standards, an evaluation of teaching fewer high-priority
72	72	learning standards in depth, and any recommendations for
73	73	legislation. The report must address the effectiveness of the use
74	74	of methods, including focus on high-priority standards; digital
75	75	learning, such as blended learning, personalized learning, flipped
76	76	classrooms, adaptive learning, and virtual learning; the use of
77	77	multiple assessments that provide more precise, useful, and timely
78	78	information; and reliance on local control that enables greater
79	79	community and parental involvement.
80	80	(j-3) The report submitted under Subsection (j) not later
81	81	than December 1, 2018, must include an update on the effectiveness
82	82	with which participant campuses are addressing closing gaps in
83	83	achievement on readiness standards, an evaluation of teaching fewer
84	84	high-priority learning standards in depth, and any recommendations
85	85	for legislation.
86	86	(j-4) Subsections (j), (j-1), (j-2), and (j-3) and this
87	87	[This] subsection expire [expires] January 1, 2020 [2018].
88	88	(k) At least annually, the school board or governing body of
89	89	each participant district or open-enrollment charter school shall
90	90	hold a public hearing to discuss the district's or school's goals
91	91	and work in the consortium and to provide for parental and community
92	92	input.
93	93	(l) Notwithstanding Chapter 39 or any other law, a
94	94	participant campus shall be evaluated for accountability purposes
95	95	and administer assessment instruments only as follows:
96	96	(1) beginning with the 2015-2016 school year:
97	97	(A) for each assessment instrument administered
98	98	under this subsection, a participant campus shall be evaluated:
99	99	(i) by the independent evaluation under
100	100	Subsection (m) on disaggregated data by student group, with an
101	101	emphasis on closing achievement gaps; and
102	102	(ii) by the agency on a report-only basis,
103	103	with the scores not otherwise used for accountability purposes,
104	104	including interventions and sanctions under Subchapter E, Chapter
105	105	39;
106	106	(B) for each assessment instrument administered
107	107	under Chapter 39, a participant campus shall be evaluated under
108	108	Subsection (m) on readiness standards to allow teaching with depth
109	109	and the evaluation of the effects of teaching with depth;
110	110	(C) students in grades three through eight who
111	111	are not taking secondary-level courses shall be administered and
112	112	students in grades three through eight who are taking
113	113	secondary-level courses may, at the option of the district or
114	114	charter school participating in the consortium, be administered
115	115	only the assessment instruments under Section 39.023 in mathematics
116	116	annually in grades three through seven without the aid of
117	117	technology, mathematics in grade eight with the aid of technology
118	118	on any assessment instrument that includes algebra, reading
119	119	annually, and science in grades five and eight, and may be
120	120	administered an assessment instrument described by Section
121	121	39.0261(a)(1) in eighth grade instead of the assessment instruments
122	122	or may be administered fewer assessment instruments if allowed by
123	123	federal law or a waiver of federal law; and
124	124	(D) students taking secondary-level courses
125	125	shall be assessed on end-of-course assessment instruments
126	126	administered under Section 39.023(c) only for the 10th grade level
127	127	course in English in which they are currently enrolled or shall be
128	128	administered an assessment instrument described by Section
129	129	39.0261(a)(2) for 10th grade in the same subject if allowed by
130	130	federal law or a waiver of federal law, at the option of the
131	131	district or open-enrollment charter school participating in the
132	132	consortium;
133	133	(2) beginning with the 2016-2017 school year or as
134	134	soon as possible following receipt of a waiver from federal law or a
135	135	change in the federal law that requires annual testing of every
136	136	student:
137	137	(A) students shall be administered:
138	138	(i) assessment instruments under Section
139	139	39.023(a) for reading in grade three, mathematics in grade four,
140	140	science in grade five, reading in grade six, and mathematics in
141	141	grade seven;
142	142	(ii) in prekindergarten through 12th grade,
143	143	locally approved or developed assessment instruments that are
144	144	aligned to readiness standards or high-priority learning standards
145	145	under Subsection (f), that may include limited numbers of
146	146	state-provided assessment items, and that may have results that can
147	147	be accessed by the agency for monitoring and reporting purposes, or
148	148	other satisfactory secondary-level performance demonstrated under
149	149	Section 39.025(a-1); and
150	150	(iii) assessment instruments described by
151	151	Section 39.0261(a); and
152	152	(B) a participant campus shall be evaluated on
153	153	community-established measures that include academic achievement
154	154	and college and career readiness;
155	155	(3) beginning not later than the 2015-2016 school
156	156	year, students in a special education program shall be administered
157	157	appropriate assessments, including assessments developed or
158	158	adopted under Section 39.023(b) and other assessments developed or
159	159	adopted for significantly cognitively disabled students; and
160	160	(4) beginning with the 2015-2016 school year, students
161	161	of limited English proficiency, as defined by Section 29.052:
162	162	(A) shall be administered appropriate
163	163	assessments, including assessments approved by the commissioner
164	164	that measure linguistic and academic growth as determined by the
165	165	student's language proficiency assessment committee established by
166	166	Section 29.063; and
167	167	(B) if a waiver from federal law is obtained,
168	168	shall participate in appropriate assessments the first five years
169	169	the students are enrolled in schools in the United States as
170	170	participation-only unless the student attains an English
171	171	proficiency rating equivalent to advanced high performance during
172	172	this period, in which case the student's data will be aggregated
173	173	into campus and district performance reports.
174	174	(m) The consortium shall receive independent evaluation
175	175	from one or more external evaluation teams, including an
176	176	institution of higher education in this state.
177	177	(m-1) An evaluation conducted under Subsection (m) must be
178	178	included in the reports required under Subsection (j). This
179	179	subsection expires January 1, 2020.
180	180	SECTION 2. Section 29.0822(a), Education Code, is amended
181	181	to read as follows:
182	182	(a) Notwithstanding Section 25.081 or 25.082, a school
183	183	district may apply to the commissioner to provide a flexible school
184	184	day program for students who:
185	185	(1) have dropped out of school or are at risk of
186	186	dropping out of school as defined by Section 29.081;
187	187	(2) attend a campus that is implementing an innovative
188	188	redesign of the campus, including a campus in the high performance
189	189	schools consortium under Section 7.0561, or an early college high
190	190	school under a plan approved by the commissioner; or
191	191	(3) as a result of attendance requirements under
192	192	Section 25.092, will be denied credit or a final grade for one or
193	193	more classes in which the students have been enrolled.
194	194	SECTION 3. Section 39.025(d), Education Code, is amended to
195	195	read as follows:
196	196	(d) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), the commissioner by
197	197	rule shall adopt one or more alternative nationally recognized norm
198	198	referenced assessment instruments under this section to administer
199	199	to a student to qualify for a high school diploma if the student
200	200	enrolls after January 1 of the school year in which the student is
201	201	otherwise eligible to graduate:
202	202	(1) for the first time in a public school in this
203	203	state; [or]
204	204	(2) after an absence of at least four years from any
205	205	public school in this state; or
206	206	(3) in a public school in this state that does not
207	207	participate in the high performance schools consortium under
208	208	Section 7.0561 after the student has been enrolled in a public
209	209	school participating in the consortium during high school.
210	210	SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
211	211	a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
212	212	provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
213	213	Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
214	214	Act takes effect September 1, 2015.