Bill Text: TX HB515 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: Relating to assessment of public school students and providing accelerated instruction and eliminating performance requirements based on performance on certain assessment instruments.

Sponsorship: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 16-7)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2017-05-27 - Senate appoints conferees-reported [HB515 Detail]

Download: Texas-2017-HB515-Comm_Sub.html

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By: VanDeaver, et al. H.B. No. 515
(Senate Sponsor - Taylor of Galveston)
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 5, 2017;
May 11, 2017, read first time and referred to Committee on
Education; May 23, 2017, reported adversely, with favorable
Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 10, Nays 0;
May 23, 2017, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 515 By: Taylor of Galveston

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to assessment of public school students and providing
accelerated instruction and eliminating performance requirements
based on performance on certain assessment instruments.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 28, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 28.018 to read as follows:
Sec. 28.0128. REVIEW AND REPORT ON SOCIAL STUDIES
CURRICULUM. (a) The State Board of Education shall review the
alignment and coursework included in the required social studies
curriculum provided to students in grades 8 through 12 to ensure
that all students graduating from public high school have a
sufficient understanding of:
(1) United States history;
(2) civics;
(3) the operation of federal and state governments;
and
(4) the free enterprise system.
(b) If, in conducting the review, the State Board of
Education determines that the required social studies curriculum is
not sufficient, the board shall develop recommendations to realign
coursework and curriculum.
(c) Not later than September 1, 2018, the State Board of
Education shall submit to the governor, the lieutenant governor,
the speaker of the house of representatives, and the standing
legislative committees with primary jurisdiction over primary and
secondary education a report on the results of the review conducted
under Subsection (a) and any recommendations developed under
Subsection (b).
(d) This section expires September 1, 2019.
SECTION 2. Section 39.023(e), Education Code, as effective
September 1, 2017, is amended to read as follows:
(e) At least [Under rules adopted by the State Board of
Education,] every third year, the agency shall release the
questions and answer keys to each assessment instrument
administered under Subsection (a), (b), (c), (d), or (l), excluding
any assessment instrument administered to a student for the purpose
of retaking the assessment instrument, after the last time the
instrument is administered for that school year. To ensure a valid
bank of questions for use each year, the agency is not required to
release a question that is being field-tested and was not used to
compute the student's score on the instrument. The agency shall
also release[, under board rule,] each question that is no longer
being field-tested and that was not used to compute a student's
score. [During the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 school years, the
agency shall release the questions and answer keys to assessment
instruments as described by this subsection each year.]
SECTION 3. Section 39.025, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (c-1) and (f) and adding Subsection (f-1) to
read as follows:
(c-1) A school district may not administer a general subject
[an] assessment instrument required for graduation administered
under this section as this section existed before September 1, 2007
[1999]. A school district may administer to a student who failed to
perform satisfactorily on an assessment instrument described by
this subsection an alternate assessment instrument designated by
the commissioner as required by Subsection (f)(2). The
commissioner shall determine the level of performance considered to
be satisfactory on an alternate assessment instrument. [The
district may not administer to the student an assessment instrument
or a part of an assessment instrument that assesses a subject that
was not assessed in an assessment instrument required for
graduation administered under this section as this section existed
before September 1, 1999.] The commissioner shall make available
to districts information necessary to administer the alternate
assessment instrument authorized by this subsection. The
commissioner's determination regarding designation of an
appropriate alternate assessment instrument under this subsection
and the performance required on the assessment instrument is final
and may not be appealed.
(f) The commissioner shall by rule adopt a transition plan
to implement the amendments made by Chapter 1312 (S.B. No. 1031),
Acts of the 80th Legislature, Regular Session, 2007, replacing
general subject assessment instruments administered at the high
school level with end-of-course assessment instruments. The rules
must provide for the end-of-course assessment instruments adopted
under Section 39.023(c) to be administered beginning with students
enrolled in [entering] the ninth grade for the first time during the
2011-2012 school year. During the period under which the
transition to end-of-course assessment instruments is made:
(1) for students entering a grade above the ninth
grade during the 2011-2012 school year, the commissioner shall may
retain, administer, and use for purposes of accreditation and other
campus and district accountability measures under this chapter the
assessment instruments required by Section 39.023(a) or (c), as
that section existed before amendment by Chapter 1312 (S.B.
No. 1031), Acts of the 80th Legislature, Regular Session, 2007; and
(2) a student subject to Subdivision (1) may not
receive a high school diploma unless the student has performed
satisfactorily, as determined by the commissioner under Subsection
(f-1), on an assessment instrument designated by the commissioner
which must include, to the extent feasible, the SAT, the ACT, or the
Texas Success Initiative (TSI) diagnostic assessment, or the
assessment or assessments currently administered for graduation
purposes. [each required assessment instrument administered under
Section 39.023(c) as that section existed before amendment by
Chapter 1312 (S.B. No. 1031), Acts of the 80th Legislature, Regular
Session, 2007]. The district shall determine the assessment to be
administered.
(f-1) The commissioner shall determine the level of
performance considered to be satisfactory on an assessment
instrument designated by the commissioner which must include, to
the extent feasible, the SAT, the ACT, the Texas Success Initiative
(TSI) diagnostic assessment, and or the assessment or assessments
currently administered for graduation purposes for a student
described by Subsection (f)(1) to qualify for a high school
diploma. In determining satisfactory performance, the
commissioner shall ensure that the level of performance determined
under this subsection as satisfactory is equivalent to the level of
performance required under Subsection (a) for satisfactory
performance on an end-of-course assessment instrument.
Notwithstanding Subsection (f), the commissioner is not required to
retain, administer, or use assessment instruments described by
Subsection (f)(1) after September 1, 2017.
SECTION 4. Section 51.3062(q-1), Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(q-1) A student who has demonstrated the performance
standard for college readiness as provided by Section 28.008 on the
postsecondary readiness assessment instruments adopted under
Section 39.0238 for Algebra II and English III, as that section
existed before repeal by H.B. 515, Acts of the 85th Legislature,
Regular Session, 2017, is exempt from the requirements of this
section with respect to those content areas. The commissioner of
higher education by rule shall establish the period for which an
exemption under this subsection is valid.
SECTION 5. The following provision of the Education Code is
repealed:
(1) Section 39.0238.
SECTION 6. This Act applies beginning with the 2017-2018
school year.
SECTION 7. 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. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
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