I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3204 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to reduce 

the testing requirements for part A of title I of such Act, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 23, 2015 

Mr. ISRAEL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

of 1965 to reduce the testing requirements for part A 

of title I of such Act, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Tackling Excessive 

5 Standardized Testing Act of 2015’’ or the ‘‘TEST Act of 

6 2015’’. 

7 SEC. 2. ESEA AMENDMENTS. 

8 (a) ACADEMIC ASSESSMENTS.—Section 

9 1111(b)(3)(C) of the Elementary and Secondary EduVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 Jul 28, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3204.IH H3204

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1 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311(b)(3)(C)) is amend2 ed— 

3 (1) in clause (v)(I), by striking ‘‘clause vii’’ and 

4 inserting ‘‘clause (vii) and as otherwise provided 

5 under clause (xvi)’’; 

6 (2) in clause (vii), by inserting ‘‘except as oth7 erwise provided under clause (xvi),’’ before ‘‘begin8 ning’’; 

9 (3) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of clause (xiv); 

10 (4) by striking the period at the end of clause 

11 (xv); and 

12 (5) by adding at the end the following new 

13 clause: 

14 ‘‘(xvi) beginning with the first full 

15 school year after the date of enactment of 

16 the TEST Act of 2015, in lieu of the re17 quirements of clause (vii)— 

18 ‘‘(I) authorize any public elemen19 tary school or public secondary school 

20 to administer the academic assess21 ments in mathematics required under 

22 clause (vii) in each of grades 4, 6, and 

23 8; 

24 ‘‘(II) authorize any public ele25 mentary school or public secondary 


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1 school to administer the academic as2 sessments in reading or language arts 

3 required under clause (vii) in each of 

4 grades 3, 5, and 7; 

5 ‘‘(III) authorize a public elemen6 tary schools or public secondary 

7 school at the 15th percentile or above 

8 for mathematics in the State (based 

9 on the achievement of students for the 

10 preceding school year in each of 

11 grades 4, 6, and 8 on the academics 

12 assessments in mathematics required 

13 under clause (vii)), to, for the school 

14 year following the administration of 

15 such assessments, administer the aca16 demic assessments in mathematics re17 quired under clause (vii) in each of 

18 grades 4 and 8; 

19 ‘‘(IV) authorize a public elemen20 tary school or public secondary school 

21 at the 15th percentile or above for 

22 reading or language arts in the State 

23 (based on the achievement of students 

24 for the preceding school year in each 

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1 demics assessments in reading or lan2 guage arts required under clause 

3 (vii)), to, for the school year following 

4 the administration of such assess5 ments, administer the academic as6 sessments in reading or language arts 

7 required under clause (vii) in each of 

8 grades 3 and 7; 

9 ‘‘(V) authorize a public elemen10 tary school or public secondary school 

11 whose students do not meet the aca12 demic achievement requirements of 

13 subclause (III) of this clause, but 

14 which has demonstrated such level of 

15 progress with respect to the achieve16 ment of students on academic assess17 ments in mathematics required under 

18 clause (vii), as determined appropriate 

19 by the Secretary to be authorized to 

20 administer assessments in mathe21 matics in accordance with subclause 

22 (III) of this clause, to administer such 

23 assessments in mathematics in ac24 cordance with such subclause (III); 

25 and 


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1 ‘‘(VI) authorize a public elemen2 tary school or public secondary school 

3 whose students do not meet the aca4 demic achievement requirements of 

5 subclause (IV) of this clause, but 

6 which has demonstrated such level of 

7 progress with respect to the achieve8 ment of students on academic assess9 ments in reading or language arts re10 quired under clause (vii), as deter11 mined appropriate by the Secretary to 

12 be authorized to administer assess13 ments in reading or language arts in 

14 accordance with subclause (IV) of this 

15 clause, to administer such assess16 ments in reading or language arts in 

17 accordance with such subclause 

18 (IV).’’. 

19 (b) LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENT STUDENTS.— 

20 Section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v) of the Elementary and Sec21 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

22 6311(b)(2)(C)(v)) is amended in the matter following item 

23 (dd), by inserting before the semicolon the following: ‘‘and 

24 that the achievement of a student with limited English 

25 proficiency shall not be considered for purposes of such 


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1 definition for the first 12 months that the student is en2 rolled in a public elementary school or public secondary 

3 school’’. 

4 (c) APPLICATION TO WAIVERS.—Section 9401 of the 

5 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

6 U.S.C. 7861) is amended— 

7 (1) in subsection (c)— 

8 (A) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of para9 graph (9)(C); 

10 (B) by striking the period at the end of 

11 paragraph (10) and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

12 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(11) the requirement under section 

14 1111(b)(2)(C)(v) that a student with limited English 

15 proficiency be excluded from the definition of ade16 quate yearly progress for the first 12 months that 

17 the student is enrolled in a public elementary school 

18 or public secondary school.’’; and 

19 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub20 section: 

21 ‘‘(h) OPTIONS FOR CERTAIN ACADEMIC ASSESS22 MENTS.—A waiver awarded under this section shall not 

23 prohibit a State educational agency from administering 

24 academic assessments in accordance with clause (xvi) of 


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1 section 1111(b)(3)(C) in lieu of the requirements of clause 

2 (vii) of section 1111(b)(3)(C).’’. 

Æ 


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