Bill Text: IL HB0497 | 2013-2014 | 98th General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Amends the School Code. Makes a technical change in a Section concerning recomputation of State aid claims.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Failed) 2014-12-03 - Session Sine Die [HB0497 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2013-HB0497-Amended.html

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Rep. La Shawn K. Ford

Filed: 3/22/2013

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AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 497
AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 497 by replacing
everything after the enacting clause with the following:
"Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Section
2-3.64 as follows:
(105 ILCS 5/2-3.64) (from Ch. 122, par. 2-3.64)
Sec. 2-3.64. State goals and assessment.
(a) Beginning in the 1998-1999 school year, the State Board
of Education shall establish standards and periodically, in
collaboration with local school districts, conduct studies of
student performance in the learning areas of fine arts and
physical development/health.
Beginning with the 1998-1999 school year until the
2004-2005 school year, the State Board of Education shall
annually test: (i) all pupils enrolled in the 3rd, 5th, and 8th
grades in English language arts (reading, writing, and English

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grammar) and mathematics; and (ii) all pupils enrolled in the
4th and 7th grades in the biological and physical sciences and
the social sciences (history, geography, civics, economics,
and government). Unless the testing required to be implemented
no later than the 2005-2006 school year under this subsection
(a) is implemented for the 2004-2005 school year, for the
2004-2005 school year, the State Board of Education shall test:
(i) all pupils enrolled in the 3rd, 5th, and 8th grades in
English language arts (reading and English grammar) and
mathematics and (ii) all pupils enrolled in the 4th and 7th
grades in the biological and physical sciences. The maximum
time allowed for all actual testing required under this
paragraph shall not exceed 25 hours, as allocated among the
required tests by the State Board of Education, across all
grades tested.
Beginning no later than the 2005-2006 school year, the
State Board of Education shall annually test: (i) all pupils
enrolled in the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades in
reading and mathematics and (ii) all pupils enrolled in the 4th
and 7th grades in the biological and physical sciences. In
addition, the State Board of Education shall test (1) all
pupils enrolled in the 5th and 8th grades in writing during the
2006-2007 school year; (2) all pupils enrolled in the 5th, 6th,
and 8th grades in writing during the 2007-2008 school year; and
(3) all pupils enrolled in the 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 8th grades in
writing during the 2008-2009 school year and each school year

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thereafter. After the addition of grades and change in subjects
as delineated in this paragraph and including whatever other
tests that may be approved from time to time no later than the
2005-2006 school year, the maximum time allowed for all State
testing in grades 3 through 8 shall not exceed 38 hours across
those grades.
Beginning with the 2004-2005 school year, the State Board
of Education shall not test pupils under this subsection (a) in
physical development and health, fine arts, and the social
sciences (history, geography, civics, economics, and
government). The State Board of Education shall not test pupils
under this subsection (a) in writing during the 2005-2006
school year.
The State Board of Education shall establish the academic
standards that are to be applicable to pupils who are subject
to State tests under this Section beginning with the 1998-1999
school year. However, the State Board of Education shall not
establish any such standards in final form without first
providing opportunities for public participation and local
input in the development of the final academic standards. Those
opportunities shall include a well-publicized period of public
comment, public hearings throughout the State, and
opportunities to file written comments. Beginning with the
1998-99 school year and thereafter, the State tests will
identify pupils in the 3rd grade or 5th grade who do not meet
the State standards.

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If, by performance on the State tests or local assessments
or by teacher judgment, a student's performance is determined
to be 2 or more grades below current placement, the student
shall be provided a remediation program developed by the
district in consultation with a parent or guardian. Such
remediation programs may include, but shall not be limited to,
increased or concentrated instructional time, a remedial
summer school program of not less than 90 hours (with an
emphasis on reading and mathematics if the student has
performed below grade level for 2 consecutive school years),
improved instructional approaches, tutorial sessions,
retention in grade, and modifications to instructional
materials. Each pupil for whom a remediation program is
developed under this subsection shall be required to enroll in
and attend whatever program the district determines is
appropriate for the pupil. Districts may combine students in
remediation programs where appropriate and may cooperate with
other districts in the design and delivery of those programs.
The parent or guardian of a student required to attend a
remediation program under this Section shall be given written
notice of that requirement by the school district a reasonable
time prior to commencement of the remediation program that the
student is to attend. The State shall be responsible for
providing school districts with the new and additional funding,
under Section 2-3.51.5 or by other or additional means, that is
required to enable the districts to operate remediation

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programs for the pupils who are required to enroll in and
attend those programs under this Section. Every individualized
educational program as described in Article 14 shall identify
if the State test or components thereof are appropriate for
that student. The State Board of Education shall develop rules
and regulations governing the administration of alternative
tests prescribed within each student's individualized
educational program which are appropriate to the disability of
each student.
All pupils who are in a State approved transitional
bilingual education program or transitional program of
instruction shall participate in the State tests. The time
allotted to take the State tests, however, may be extended as
determined by the State Board of Education by rule. Any student
who has been enrolled in a State approved bilingual education
program less than 3 cumulative academic years may take an
accommodated Limited English Proficient student academic
content assessment, as determined by the State Board of
Education, if the student's lack of English as determined by an
English language proficiency test would keep the student from
understanding the regular State test. If the school district
determines, on a case-by-case individual basis, that a Limited
English Proficient student academic content assessment would
likely yield more accurate and reliable information on what the
student knows and can do, the school district may make a
determination to assess the student using a Limited English

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Proficient student academic content assessment for a period
that does not exceed 2 additional consecutive years, provided
that the student has not yet reached a level of English
language proficiency sufficient to yield valid and reliable
information on what the student knows and can do on the regular
State test.
Reasonable accommodations as prescribed by the State Board
of Education shall be provided for individual students in the
testing procedure. All test procedures prescribed by the State
Board of Education shall require: (i) that each test used for
State and local student testing under this Section identify by
name the pupil taking the test; (ii) that the name of the pupil
taking the test be placed on the test at the time the test is
taken; (iii) that the results or scores of each test taken
under this Section by a pupil of the school district be
reported to that district and identify by name the pupil who
received the reported results or scores; and (iv) that the
results or scores of each test taken under this Section be made
available to the parents of the pupil. In addition, in each
school year the scores attained by a student on the Prairie
State Achievement Examination administered under subsection
(c) of this Section and any Prairie State Achievement Awards
received by the student shall become part of the student's
permanent record and shall be entered on the student's
transcript pursuant to regulations that the State Board of
Education shall promulgate for that purpose in accordance with

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Section 3 and subsection (e) of Section 2 of the Illinois
School Student Records Act. Beginning with the 1998-1999 school
year and in every school year thereafter, scores received by
students on the State assessment tests administered in grades 3
through 8 shall be placed into students' temporary records.
The State Board of Education shall establish a period of
time, to be referred to as the State test window, in each
school year for which State testing shall occur to meet the
objectives of this Section. However, if the schools of a
district are closed and classes are not scheduled during any
week that is established by the State Board of Education as the
State test window, the school district may (at the discretion
of the State Board of Education) move its State test window one
week earlier or one week later than the established State test
window, so long as the school district gives the State Board of
Education written notice of its intention to deviate from the
established schedule by December 1 of the school year in which
falls the State test window established by the State Board of
Education for the testing.
(a-5) All tests administered pursuant to this Section shall
be academically based. For the purposes of this Section
"academically based tests" shall mean tests consisting of
questions and answers that are measurable and quantifiable to
measure the knowledge, skill, and ability of students in the
subject matters covered by tests. The scoring of academically
based tests shall be reliable, valid, unbiased and shall meet

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the guidelines for test development and use prescribed by the
American Psychological Association, the National Council of
Measurement and Evaluation, and the American Educational
Research Association. Academically based tests shall not
include assessments or evaluations of attitudes, values, or
beliefs, or testing of personality, self-esteem, or
self-concept. Nothing in this amendatory Act is intended, nor
shall it be construed, to nullify, supersede, or contradict the
legislative intent on academic testing expressed during the
passage of HB 1005/P.A. 90-296. Nothing in this Section is
intended, nor shall it be construed, to nullify, supersede, or
contradict the legislative intent on academic testing
expressed in the preamble of this amendatory Act of the 93rd
General Assembly.
The State Board of Education shall monitor the use of short
answer questions in the math and reading assessments or in
other assessments in order to demonstrate that the use of short
answer questions results in a statistically significant
improvement in student achievement as measured on the State
assessments for math and reading or on other State assessments
and is justifiable in terms of cost and student performance.
(b) It shall be the policy of the State to encourage school
districts to continuously test pupil proficiency in the
fundamental learning areas in order to: (i) provide timely
information on individual students' performance relative to
State standards that is adequate to guide instructional

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strategies; (ii) improve future instruction; and (iii)
complement the information provided by the State testing system
described in this Section. To assist school districts in
testing pupil proficiency in reading in the primary grades, the
State Board shall make optional reading inventories for
diagnostic purposes available to each school district that
requests such assistance. Districts that administer the
reading inventories may develop remediation programs for
students who perform in the bottom half of the student
population. Those remediation programs may be funded by moneys
provided under the School Safety and Educational Improvement
Block Grant Program established under Section 2-3.51.5.
(c) Beginning with the 2000-2001 school year, each school
district that operates a high school program for students in
grades 9 through 12 shall annually administer the Prairie State
Achievement Examination established under this subsection to
its students as set forth below. The Prairie State Achievement
Examination shall be developed by the State Board of Education
to measure student performance in the academic areas of
reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social sciences.
Beginning with the 2004-2005 school year, however, the State
Board of Education shall not test a student in the social
sciences (history, geography, civics, economics, and
government) as part of the Prairie State Achievement
Examination unless the student is retaking the Prairie State
Achievement Examination in the fall of 2004. In addition, the

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State Board of Education shall not test a student in writing as
part of the Prairie State Achievement Examination during the
2005-2006 school year. The State Board of Education shall
establish the academic standards that are to apply in measuring
student performance on the Prairie State Achievement
Examination including the minimum examination score in each
area that will qualify a student to receive a Prairie State
Achievement Award from the State in recognition of the
student's excellent performance. Each school district that is
subject to the requirements of this subsection (c) shall afford
all students one opportunity to take the Prairie State
Achievement Examination beginning as late as practical during
the spring semester of grade 11, but in no event before March
1. The State Board of Education shall annually notify districts
of the weeks during which this test administration shall be
required to occur. Every individualized educational program as
described in Article 14 shall identify if the Prairie State
Achievement Examination or components thereof are appropriate
for that student. Each student, exclusive of a student whose
individualized educational program developed under Article 14
identifies the Prairie State Achievement Examination as
inappropriate for the student, shall be required to take the
examination in grade 11. For each academic area the State Board
of Education shall establish the score that qualifies for the
Prairie State Achievement Award on that portion of the
examination. Districts shall inform their students of the

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timelines and procedures applicable to their participation in
every yearly administration of the Prairie State Achievement
Examination. Students receiving special education services
whose individualized educational programs identify the Prairie
State Achievement Examination as inappropriate for them
nevertheless shall have the option of taking the examination,
which shall be administered to those students in accordance
with standards adopted by the State Board of Education to
accommodate the respective disabilities of those students. A
student who successfully completes all other applicable high
school graduation requirements but fails to receive a score on
the Prairie State Achievement Examination that qualifies the
student for receipt of a Prairie State Achievement Award shall
nevertheless qualify for the receipt of a regular high school
diploma. In no case, however, shall a student receive a regular
high school diploma without taking the Prairie State
Achievement Examination, unless the student is exempted from
taking the Prairie State Achievement Examination under this
subsection (c) because (i) the student's individualized
educational program developed under Article 14 of this Code
identifies the Prairie State Achievement Examination as
inappropriate for the student, (ii) the student is exempt due
to the student's lack of English language proficiency under
subsection (a) of this Section, (iii) the student is enrolled
in a program of Adult and Continuing Education as defined in
the Adult Education Act, (iv) the school district is not

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required to test the individual student for purposes of
accountability under federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
requirements, or (v) the student is otherwise identified by the
State Board of Education through rules as being exempt from the
assessment.
(d) Beginning with the 2002-2003 school year, all schools
in this State that are part of the sample drawn by the National
Center for Education Statistics, in collaboration with their
school districts and the State Board of Education, shall
administer the biennial State academic assessments of 4th and
8th grade reading and mathematics under the National Assessment
of Educational Progress carried out under Section 411(b)(2) of
the National Education Statistics Act of 1994 (20 U.S.C. 9010)
if the Secretary of Education pays the costs of administering
the assessments.
(e) Beginning no later than the 2005-2006 school year,
subject to available federal funds to this State for the
purpose of student assessment, the State Board of Education
shall provide additional tests and assessment resources that
may be used by school districts for local diagnostic purposes.
These tests and resources shall include without limitation
additional high school writing, physical development and
health, and fine arts assessments. The State Board of Education
shall annually distribute a listing of these additional tests
and resources, using funds available from appropriations made
for student assessment purposes.

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(f) For the assessment and accountability purposes of this
Section, "all pupils" includes those pupils enrolled in a
public or State-operated elementary school, secondary school,
or cooperative or joint agreement with a governing body or
board of control, a charter school operating in compliance with
the Charter Schools Law, a school operated by a regional office
of education under Section 13A-3 of this Code, or a public
school administered by a local public agency or the Department
of Human Services.
(g) The State Board of Education shall conduct a study on
the impact and effectiveness of standardized testing. The study
shall report on (i) the cost of tests, (ii) the results of
tests by race, gender, and zip code, and (iii) school board
action plans for students not meeting State benchmarks and for
those students exceeding State benchmarks.
(Source: P.A. 96-430, eff. 8-13-09; 96-1000, eff. 7-2-10;
97-86, eff. 1-1-12.)".