Bill Text: IL SB3556 | 2019-2020 | 101st General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the School Code. With regard to State assessments, provides that the State Board of Education shall develop a process for the State's final accountability assessment that allows a school district to apply to the State Board to utilize the nationally recognized and locally selected assessment option of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. Requires that the State Board adopt technical criteria under specified federal law and rule to evaluate the proposed assessment. Provides that a nationally recognized and locally selected assessment adopted by another state that meets certain requirements under the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and that demonstrates, through a third-party study, alignment to the Illinois Learning Standards is deemed to meet the State Board's technical criteria and shall be approved by the State Board. Requires the State Board to reimburse a school district for costs associated with the administration of the nationally recognized and locally selected assessment option of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2021-01-13 - Session Sine Die [SB3556 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2019-SB3556-Introduced.html

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101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2019 and 2020 SB3556 Introduced 2/13/2020, by Sen. John F. Curran SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
105 ILCS 5/2-3.64a-5
Amends the School Code. With regard to State assessments, provides that the State Board of Education shall develop a process for the State's final accountability assessment that allows a school district to apply to the State Board to utilize the nationally recognized and locally selected assessment option of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. Requires that the State Board adopt technical criteria under specified federal law and rule to evaluate the proposed assessment. Provides that a nationally recognized and locally selected assessment adopted by another state that meets certain requirements under the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and that demonstrates, through a third-party study, alignment to the Illinois Learning Standards is deemed to meet the State Board's technical criteria and shall be approved by the State Board. Requires the State Board to reimburse a school district for costs associated with the administration of the nationally recognized and locally selected assessment option of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. Effective immediately.
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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY
A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning education.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Section
2-3.64a-5 as follows:
(105 ILCS 5/2-3.64a-5)
Sec. 2-3.64a-5. State goals and assessment.
(a) For the assessment and accountability purposes of this
Section, "students" includes those students 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.
(b) The State Board of Education shall establish the
academic standards that are to be applicable to students who
are subject to State assessments under this Section. 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

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well-publicized period of public comment and opportunities to
file written comments.
(c) Beginning no later than the 2014-2015 school year, the
State Board of Education shall annually assess all students
enrolled in grades 3 through 8 in English language arts and
mathematics.
Beginning no later than the 2017-2018 school year, the
State Board of Education shall annually assess all students in
science at one grade in grades 3 through 5, at one grade in
grades 6 through 8, and at one grade in grades 9 through 12.
The State Board of Education shall annually assess schools
that operate a secondary education program, as defined in
Section 22-22 of this Code, in English language arts and
mathematics. The State Board of Education shall administer no
more than 3 assessments, per student, of English language arts
and mathematics for students in a secondary education program.
One of these assessments shall be recognized by this State's
public institutions of higher education, as defined in the
Board of Higher Education Act, for the purpose of student
application or admissions consideration. The assessment
administered by the State Board of Education for the purpose of
student application to or admissions consideration by
institutions of higher education must be administered on a
school day during regular student attendance hours.
The State Board of Education shall develop a process for
the State's final accountability assessment that allows a

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school district to apply to the State Board to utilize the
nationally recognized and locally selected assessment option
of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. The State Board of
Education shall adopt technical criteria as specified under 20
U.S.C. 6311(b)(2)(H) and 34 CFR 200.3 to evaluate proposed
assessments. A nationally recognized and locally selected
assessment adopted by another state that meets the requirements
under Section 1111(b)(2)(H) of the federal Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) and
that demonstrates, through a third-party study, alignment to
the Illinois Learning Standards is deemed to meet the technical
criteria and shall be approved by the State Board. The State
Board shall reimburse a school district for costs associated
with the administration of the nationally recognized and
locally selected assessment option of the federal Every Student
Succeeds Act.
Students who do not take the State's final accountability
assessment or its approved alternate assessment may not receive
a regular high school diploma unless the student is exempted
from taking the State assessments under subsection (d) of this
Section because the student is enrolled in a program of adult
and continuing education, as defined in the Adult Education
Act, or the student is identified by the State Board of
Education, through rules, as being exempt from the assessment.
The State Board of Education shall not assess students
under this Section in subjects not required by this Section.

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Districts shall inform their students of the timelines and
procedures applicable to their participation in every yearly
administration of the State assessments. The State Board of
Education shall establish periods of time in each school year
during which State assessments shall occur to meet the
objectives of this Section.
(d) Every individualized educational program as described
in Article 14 shall identify if the State assessment or
components thereof require accommodation for the student. The
State Board of Education shall develop rules governing the
administration of an alternate assessment that may be available
to students for whom participation in this State's regular
assessments is not appropriate, even with accommodations as
allowed under this Section.
Students receiving special education services whose
individualized educational programs identify them as eligible
for the alternative State assessments nevertheless shall have
the option of also taking this State's regular final
accountability assessment, which shall be administered in
accordance with the eligible accommodations appropriate for
meeting these students' respective needs.
All students determined to be English learners shall
participate in the State assessments. The scores of those
students who have been enrolled in schools in the United States
for less than 12 months may not be used for the purposes of
accountability. Any student determined to be an English learner

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shall receive appropriate assessment accommodations, including
language supports, which shall be established by rule. Approved
assessment accommodations must be provided until the student's
English language skills develop to the extent that the student
is no longer considered to be an English learner, as
demonstrated through a State-identified English language
proficiency assessment.
(e) The results or scores of each assessment taken under
this Section shall be made available to the parents of each
student.
In each school year, the scores attained by a student on
the final accountability assessment must be placed in the
student's permanent record pursuant to rules that the State
Board of Education shall adopt for that purpose in accordance
with Section 3 of the Illinois School Student Records Act. In
each school year, the scores attained by a student on the State
assessments administered in grades 3 through 8 must be placed
in the student's temporary record.
(f) All schools shall administer the State's academic
assessment of English language proficiency to all children
determined to be English learners.
(g) 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 academic assessments under
the National Assessment of Educational Progress carried out

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under Section 411(b)(2) of the federal National Education
Statistics Act of 1994 (20 U.S.C. 9010) if the U.S. Secretary
of Education pays the costs of administering the assessments.
(h) (Blank).
(i) For the purposes of this subsection (i), "academically
based assessments" means assessments consisting of questions
and answers that are measurable and quantifiable to measure the
knowledge, skills, and ability of students in the subject
matters covered by the assessments. All assessments
administered pursuant to this Section must be academically
based assessments. The scoring of academically based
assessments shall be reliable, valid, and fair and shall meet
the guidelines for assessment development and use prescribed by
the American Psychological Association, the National Council
on Measurement in Education, and the American Educational
Research Association.
The State Board of Education shall review the use of all
assessment item types in order to ensure that they are valid
and reliable indicators of student performance aligned to the
learning standards being assessed and that the development,
administration, and scoring of these item types are justifiable
in terms of cost.
(j) The State Superintendent of Education shall appoint a
committee of no more than 21 members, consisting of parents,
teachers, school administrators, school board members,
assessment experts, regional superintendents of schools, and

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citizens, to review the State assessments administered by the
State Board of Education. The Committee shall select one of its
members as its chairperson. The Committee shall meet on an
ongoing basis to review the content and design of the
assessments (including whether the requirements of subsection
(i) of this Section have been met), the time and money expended
at the local and State levels to prepare for and administer the
assessments, the collective results of the assessments as
measured against the stated purpose of assessing student
performance, and other issues involving the assessments
identified by the Committee. The Committee shall make periodic
recommendations to the State Superintendent of Education and
the General Assembly concerning the assessments.
(k) The State Board of Education may adopt rules to
implement this Section.
(Source: P.A. 99-30, eff. 7-10-15; 99-185, eff. 1-1-16; 99-642,
eff. 7-28-16; 100-7, eff. 7-1-17; 100-222, eff. 8-18-17;
100-863, eff. 8-14-18; 100-1046, eff. 8-23-18.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.