Title: Student Assessments

Summary: Requires parent to provide written consent for student to participate in district-required local assessments & statewide assessment program; provides requirements for schools, school districts, & students not participating in such assessments.

Full Text:
An act relating to student assessments; amending s. 1008.22, F.S.; requiring parents to provide written consent for student participation in the statewide assessment program and district-required local assessments; prohibiting a student from being penalized for not participating in such assessments; requiring school districts to provide other means for such students to demonstrate mastery of such subjects; providing graduation requirements for such students; amending s. 1008.25, F.S.; requiring public schools to provide other means for students to demonstrate reading level for promotion to grade 4; providing an effective date. Be It Enacted by the Legisl ature of the State of Florida: Section 1. Subsection (3) and paragraph (e) of subsection (7) of section 1008.22, Florida Statutes, are amended, to read: 1008.22 Student assessment program for public schools.-(3) STATEWIDE, STANDARDIZED ASSESSMENT PROGRAM.-The Commissioner of Education shall design and implement a statewide, standardized assessment program aligned to the core curricular content established in the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards. The commissioner also must develop or select HB 2020 and implement a common battery of assessment tools that will be used in all juvenile justice education programs in the state. These tools must accurately measure the core curricular content established in the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards. Participation in the assessment program is mandatory for all school districts and all students attending public schools, including adult students seeking a standard high school diploma under s. 1003.4282 and students in Department of Juvenile Justice education programs, except as otherwise provided by law. However, the parent of a student attending a public school must provide written consent for his or her student to participate in the assessment program. If a parent does not provide written consent, the stude nt may not participate in any statewide, standardized assessment. A student may not be penalized for not participating in the assessment program and the school district must provide other means for such student to demonstrate learning gains or mastery of the subjects of such assessments. A student who does not participate in the grade English Language Arts (ELA) assessment or the Algebra end-of-course (EOC) assessment must meet the concordant and comparative scores under subsections (9) and (10), respe ctively, for such assessments to fulfill the graduation requirements in s. 1003.4282(3)(a) and (b)1. If a student does not participate in the assessment program, the school district must notify the student's parent and provide the parent with information HB 2020 regarding the implications of such nonparticipation. The statewide, standardized assessment program shall be designed and implemented as follows: (a) Statewide, standardized comprehensive assessments.-The statewide, standardized Reading assessment shall be administered annually in grades through 10. The statewide, standardized Writing assessment shall be administered annually at least once at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. When the Reading and Writing assessments are replaced by ELA English Language Arts (ELA) assessments, ELA assessments shall be administered to students in grades through 10. Retake opportunities for the grade Reading assessment or, upon implementation, the grade ELA assessment must be provided. Students taking the ELA assessments shall not take the statewide, standardized assessments in Reading or Writing. Reading passages and writing prompts for ELA assessments shall incorporate grade-level core curricula content from social studies. The statewide, standardized Mathematics assessments shall be administered annually in grades through 8. Students taking a revised Mathematics assessment shall not take the discontinued assessment. The statewide, standardized Science assessment shall be administered annually at leas tonce at the elementary and middle grades levels. In order to earn a standard high school diploma, a student who has not earned a passing score on the grade Reading assessment or, upon HB 2020 implementation, the grade ELA assessment must earn a passing score on the assessment retake or earn a concordant score as authorized under subsection (9). (b) EOC End-of-course (EOC) assessments.-EOC assessments must be statewide, standardized, and developed or approved by the Department of Education as follows: 1. EOC assessments for Algebra I, Geometry, Biology I, United States History, and Civics shall be administered to students enrolled in such courses as specified in the course code directory. 2. Students enrolled in a course, as specified in the course code directory, with an associated statewide, standardized EOC assessment must take the EOC assessment for such course and may not take the corresponding subject or grade level statewide, standardized assessment pursuant to paragraph (a). Sections 1003.4156 an d1003.4282 govern the use of statewide, standardized EOC assessment results for students. 3. The commissioner may select one or more nationally developed comprehensive examinations, which may include examinations for a College Board Advanced Placement course, International Baccalaureate course, or Advanced International Certificate of Education course, or industry-approved examinations to earn national industry certifications identified in the CAPE Industry Certification Funding List, for use as EOC assessments under this paragraph if the commissioner determines HB 2020 that the content knowledge and skills assessed by the examinations meet or exceed the grade-level expectations for the core curricular content established for the course in the Next Generation Sun shine State Standards. Use of any such examination as an EOC assessment must be approved by the state board in rule. 4. Contingent upon funding provided in the General Appropriations Act, including the appropriation of funds received through federal gran ts, the commissioner may establish an implementation schedule for the development and administration of additional statewide, standardized EOC assessments that must be approved by the state board in rule. If approved by the state board, student performance on such assessments constitutes percent of a student's final course grade. 5. All statewide, standardized EOC assessments must be administered online except as otherwise provided in paragraph (c). 6. A student enrolled in an Advanced Placement (AP),International Baccalaureate (IB), or Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) course who takes the respective AP, IB, or AICE assessment and earns the minimum score necessary to earn college credit, as identified in s. 1007.27(2), meets the requirements of this paragraph and does not have to take the EOC assessment for the corresponding course. HB 2020 (c) Students with disabilities; Florida Alternate Assessment.-1. Each district school board must provide instruction to prepare students with disabilities in the core content knowledge and skills necessary for successful grade-to-grade progression and high school graduation. 2. A student with a disability, as defined in s. 1007.02, for whom the individual education plan (IEP) team determines that the statewide, standardized assessments under this section cannot accurately measure the student's abilities, taking into consideration all allowable accommodations, shall have assessment results waived for the purpose of receiving a course grade and a standard high school diploma. Such waiver shall be designated on the student's transcript. The statement of waiver shall be limited to a statement that performance on an assessment was waived for the purpose of receiving a course grade or a standard high school diploma, as applicable. 3. The State Board of Education shall adopt rules, based upon recommendations of the commissioner, for the provision of assessment accommodations for students with disabilities and for students who have limited English prof iciency. a. Accommodations that negate the validity of a statewide, standardized assessment are not allowed during the administration of the assessment. However, instructional accommodations are allowed in the classroom if identified in a HB 2020 student's IEP. Students using instructional accommodations in the classroom that are not allowed on a statewide, standardized assessment may have assessment results waived if the IEP team determines that the assessment cannot accurately measure the student's abilities. b. If a student is provided with instructional accommodations in the classroom that are not allowed as accommodations for statewide, standardized assessments, the district must inform the parent in writing and provide the parent with information regarding the impact on the student's ability to meet expected performance levels. A parent must provide signed consent for a student to receive classroom instructional accommodations that would not be available or permitted on a statewide, standardized assessment and acknowledge in writing that he or she understands the implications of such instructional accommodations. c. If a student's IEP states that online administration of a statewide, standardized assessment will significantly impair the student's ability to perform, the assessment shall be administered in hard copy. 4. For students with significant cognitive disabilities, the Department of Education shall provide for implementation of the Florida Alternate Assessment to accurately measure the core curricular content established in the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards. HB 2020 (d) Implementation schedule.-1. The Commissioner of Education shall establish and publish on the department's website an implementation schedule to transition from the statewide, standardized Reading and Writing assessments to the ELA assessments and to the revised Mathematics assessments, including the Algebra I and Geometry EOC assessments. The schedule must take into consideration funding, sufficient field and baseline data, ac cess to assessments, instructional alignment, and school district readiness to administer the assessments online. All such assessments must be delivered through computer-based testing, however, the following assessments must be delivered in a computer-based format, as follows: the grade Mathematics assessment beginning in the 2016-2017 school year; the grade 189 ELA assessment, beginning in the 2015-2016 school year; and the grade Mathematics assessment, beginning in the 2016-2017 school year. Notwithstan ding the requirements of this subparagraph, statewide, standardized ELA and mathematics assessments in grades through must be delivered only in a paper-based format, beginning with the 2017-2018 school year, and all such assessments must be paper-based no later than the 2018-2019 school year. 2. The Department of Education shall publish minimum and recommended technology requirements that include specifications for hardware, software, networking, security, and broadband HB 2020 capacity to facilitate school district compliance with the requirements of this section. (e) Assessment scores and achievement levels.-1. All statewide, standardized EOC assessments and ELA, mathematics, and Science assessments shall use scaled scores and achievement levels. Achiev ement levels shall range from 206 through 5, with level being the lowest achievement level, level being the highest achievement level, and level 208 indicating satisfactory performance on an assessment. 2. The state board shall designate by rule a passin gscore for each statewide, standardized assessment. 3. If the commissioner seeks to revise a statewide, standardized assessment and the revisions require the state board to modify performance level scores, including the passing score, the commissioner shall provide a copy of the proposed scores and implementation plan to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives at least days before submission to the state board for review. Until the state board adopts the modificatio ns by rule, the commissioner shall use calculations for scoring the assessment that adjust student scores on the revised assessment for statistical equivalence to student scores on the former assessment. The state board shall adopt by rule the passing scor efor the revised assessment that is statistically equivalent to the passing score on the discontinued assessment for a student who is required to attain HB 2020 a passing score on the discontinued assessment. The commissioner may, with approval of the state board,discontinue administration of the former assessment upon the graduation, based on normal student progression, of students participating in the final regular administration of the former assessment. If the commissioner revises a statewide, standardized as sessment and the revisions require the state board to modify the passing score, only students taking the assessment for the first time after the rule is adopted are affected. (f) Prohibited activities.-A district school board shall prohibit each public school from suspending a regular program of curricula for purposes of administering practice assessments or engaging in other assessment-preparation activities for a statewide, standardized assessment. However, a district school board may authorize a public school to engage in the following assessment-preparation activities: 1. Distributing to students sample assessment books and answer keys published by the Department of Education. 2. Providing individualized instruction in assessment taking strategies, without suspending the school's regular program of curricula, for a student who scores Level or Level on a prior administration of an assessment. 3. Providing individualized instruction in the content knowledge and skills assessed, without suspendin gthe school's regular program of curricula, for a student who scores Level 250 HB 2020 or Level on a prior administration of an assessment or a student who, through a diagnostic assessment administered by the school district, is identified as having a deficiency in the content knowledge and skills assessed. 4. Administering a practice assessment or engaging in other assessment-preparation activities that are determined necessary to familiarize students with the organization of the assessment, the format of asses sment items, and the assessment directions or that are otherwise necessary for the valid and reliable administration of the assessment, as set forth in rules adopted by the State Board of Education with specific reference to this paragraph. (g) Contracts for assessments.-1. The commissioner shall provide for the assessments to be developed or obtained, as appropriate, through contracts and project agreements with private vendors, public vendors, public agencies, postsecondary educational institutions, or school districts. The commissioner may enter into contracts for the continued administration of the assessments authorized and funded by the Legislature. Contracts may be initiated in 270 fiscal year and continue into the next fiscal year and may be paid from the appropriations of either or both fiscal years. The commissioner may negotiate for the sale or lease of tests, scoring protocols, test scoring services, and related materials developed pursuant to law. HB 2020 2. A student's performance results on statew ide, standardized assessments, EOC assessments, and Florida Alternative Assessments administered pursuant to this subsection must be provided to the student's teachers and parents by the end of the school year, unless the commissioner determines that extenuating circumstances exist and reports the extenuating circumstances to the State Board of Education. This subparagraph does not apply to existing contracts for such assessments, but shall apply to new contracts and any renewal of existing contracts for su ch assessments. 3. If liquidated damages are applicable, the department shall collect liquidated damages that are due in response to the administration of the spring 2015 computer-based assessments of the department's Florida Standards Assessment contrac twith American Institutes for Research, and expend the funds to reimburse parties that incurred damages. (7) ASSESSMENT SCHEDULES AND REPORTING OF RESULTS.-(e) A school district may not schedule more than percent of a student's total school hours i na school year to administer statewide, standardized assessments and district-required local assessments. The parent of a student attending a public school within the school district must provide written consent for his or her student to participate in th eschool district's assessment program. If a parent does not provide written consent, the student may not participate in any district-level HB 2020 assessments. A student may not be penalized for not participating in such assessments and the school district must provide other means for such student to demonstrate learning gains or mastery of the subjects of such assessments. The district must secure written consent from a student's parent before administering district-required local assessments that, after applicab le statewide, standardized assessments are scheduled, exceed the percent test administration limit for that student under this paragraph. The percent test administration limit for a student under this paragraph may be exceeded as needed to provide test accommodations that are required by an IEP or are appropriate for an English language learner who is currently receiving services in a program operated in accordance with an approved English language learner district plan pursuant to s. 1003.56. Notwithst anding this paragraph, a student may choose within a school year to take an examination or assessment adopted by State Board of Education rule pursuant to this section and ss. 1007.27, 1008.30, and 1008.44. Section 2. Paragraph (b) of subsection (5) of section 1008.25, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 1008.25 Public school student progression; student support; reporting requirements.-(5) READING DEFICIENCY AND PARENTAL NOTIFICATION.-(b)1. To be promoted to grade 4, a student must score a HB 2020 Level or higher on the statewide, standardized English Language Arts (ELA) assessment required under s. 1008.22 for grade 3. If a student's reading deficiency is not remedied by the end of grade 3, as demonstrated by scoring Level or higher on the statew ide, standardized assessment required under s. 1008.22 for grade 3, the student must be retained. 2. If a parent does not provide written consent for his or her student to participate in the ELA assessment under s. 1008.22(3), the school must provide other means for such student to demonstrate that he or she is performing at least at Level 335 on the statewide, standardized ELA assessment, including establishing a portfolio as provided in subparagraph (6)(b)4. Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2020.