TITLE: Relating to the administration to public school students in certain grades of state-administered assessment instruments.

SUMMARY: Relating to the administration to public school students in certain grades of state-administered assessment instruments.

FULL TEXT:
AN ACT relating to the administration to public school students in certain grades of state-administered assessment instruments. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Section 39.023, Education Code, is amended by amending Subsections (a) and (a-1) and adding Subsections (a-2), (a-3), (a-4), (a-5), (a-6), and (a-7) to read as follows: (a) The agency shall adopt or develop appropriate criterion-referenced assessment instruments designed to assess essential knowledge and skills in reading, writing, mathematics, social studies, and science. All students, except students assessed under Subsection (b) or (l) or exempted under Section 39.027, shall be assessed in: (1) mathematics, [annually] in grades three and five [through seven] without the aid of technology and in grade eight with the aid of technology on any assessment instrument that includes algebra; (2) reading, [annually] in grades three,five, and [through] eight; (3) writing, including spelling and grammar, in grades five and eight [four and seven];(4) social studies, in grade eight; and (5) science, in grades five and eight [; and [(6) any other subject and grade required by federal law].(a-1) The agency shall develop assessment instruments required under Subsections (a), (a-2), (a-3), and (a-4) [Subsection (a)] in a manner that allows, to the extent practicable: (1) the score a student receives to provide reliable information relating to a student's satisfactory performance for each performance standard under Section 39.0241; and (2) an appropriate range of performances to serve as a valid indication of growth in student achievement. (a-2) A student shall be assessed in grade four in a subject for which an assessment instrument is administered under Subsection (a) in grade three if, on the final assessment instrument in that subject administered under Subsection (a) to the student in grade three during the preceding school year, the student did not achieve a scale score equal to or greater than the sum of the scale score that indicates satisfactory performance on that assessment instrument, as determined by the commissioner under Section 39.0241(a), plus 100 scale score points. (a-3) A student shall be assessed in grade six in a subject for which an assessment instrument is administered under Subsection (a) in grade five if, on the final assessment instrument in that subject administered under Subsection (a) to the student in grade five during the preceding school year, the student did not achieve a scale score equal to or greater than the sum of the scale score that indicates satisfactory performance on that assessment instrument, as determined by the commissioner under Section 39.0241(a), plus 100 scale score points. (a-4) A student shall be assessed in grade seven in a subject for which an assessment instrument was administered under Subsection (a-3) to the student in grade six if, on the final assessment instrument in that subject administered to the student in grade six during the preceding school year, the student did not achieve a scale score equal to or greater than the sum of the scale score that indicates satisfactory performance on that assessment instrument, as determined by the commissioner under Section 39.0241(a), plus 100 scale score points. (a-5) A student assessed in mathematics under Subsection (a-2), (a-3), or (a-4) shall be assessed without the aid of technology. (a-6) A school district or open-enrollment charter school may, for its own use in determining whether students are performing at a satisfactory level, administer to a student at the appropriate grade level, other than a student required to be assessed, an assessment instrument developed for purposes of Subsection (a-2), (a-3), or (a-4). At the request of a school district or open-enrollment charter school, the agency shall provide, allow for the administration of, and score each assessment instrument administered under this subsection in the same manner and at the same cost as for assessment instruments required to be administered under the applicable subsection. The results of an assessment instrument administered under this subsection may not be included as an indicator of student achievement under Section 39.054 or any other provision. (a-7) If there is a conflict between this section and federal law as a result of forgoing under this section certain administration of assessment instruments to students who have recently performed successfully on assessment instruments assessing the same subject, the commissioner shall seek a waiver from the application of conflicting federal law. In seeking a waiver, the commissioner shall submit all relevant data, including data relating to: (1) the likelihood that a student who achieves a scale score on an assessment instrument equal to or greater than the sum of the scale score that indicates satisfactory performance on the assessment instrument plus 100 scale score points will, in subsequent years, perform satisfactorily on assessment instruments in the same subject; (2) the costs associated with ongoing assessment of students who have proven likely to perform successfully on subsequent assessment instruments; and (3) the benefit of redirecting resources from assessment of students who have proven likely to perform successfully on subsequent assessment instruments toward enabling lower performing students to perform successfully on assessment instruments after one school year. SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 2011-2012 school year. 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.