Bill Text: TX HB948 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to the Texas High Performance Schools Consortium.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 7)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-03-02 - Referred to Public Education [HB948 Detail]

Download: Texas-2015-HB948-Introduced.html

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84R397 KKA-D
By: Rinaldi H.B. No. 948

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the Texas High Performance Schools Consortium.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 7.0561, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a), (b), (d), (i), and (j) and adding
Subsections (j-1), (j-2), (j-3), (j-4), (k), (l), (m), and (m-1) to
read as follows:
(a) In this section:
(1) "Consortium"[, "consortium"] means the Texas High
Performance Schools Consortium established under this section.
(2) "Participant campus" means a school district
campus or open-enrollment charter school that has been selected for
and is participating in the consortium.
(3) "Participant district" means a school district
that has one or more campuses participating in the consortium.
(4) "Readiness standards" means the standards
identified by the agency that are essential for success.
(b) The Texas High Performance Schools Consortium is
established to inform the governor, legislature, State Board of
Education, and commissioner concerning methods for transforming
public schools in this state by improving student learning through
the development of innovative, next-generation learning standards
and assessment and accountability systems.
(d) The number of students initially enrolled in
participant campuses [consortium participants] may not be greater
than a number equal to five percent of the total number of students
enrolled in public schools in this state according to the most
recent agency data. With approval of the commissioner, a
participant district may add one or more district campuses to the
consortium.
(i) To cover the costs of administering the consortium, the
commissioner may charge a fee to a school district or
open-enrollment charter school participating in the consortium.
The commissioner may also charge a fee to a participating school
district or open-enrollment charter school for use of
state-provided assessment items or other costs associated with
Subsection (l), and the commissioner may collect and use that fee
for purposes of administering the consortium.
(j) The [With the assistance of the] school districts and
open-enrollment charter schools participating in the consortium[,
the commissioner] shall submit reports concerning the performance
and progress of the consortium to the governor, [and] the
legislature, the State Board of Education, and the commissioner not
later than December 1 of[,] 2012, [and not later than December 1,]
2014, 2016, and 2018.
(j-1) The report submitted under Subsection (j) not later
than December 1, 2012, must include any recommendation by the
commissioner concerning legislative authorization for the
commissioner to waive a prohibition, requirement, or restriction
that applies to a [consortium] participant campus or district.
That report must also include a plan for an effective and efficient
accountability system for participant campuses and districts
[consortium participants] that balances academic excellence and
local values to inspire learning and, at the state level,
contingent on any necessary waiver of federal law, may incorporate
use of a stratified random sampling of students or other objective
methodology to hold participant campuses and districts [consortium
participants] accountable while attempting to reduce the number of
state assessment instruments that are required to be administered
to students. The commissioner shall seek a federal waiver, to any
extent necessary, to prepare for implementation of the plan if
enacted by the legislature.
(j-2) The report submitted under Subsection (j) not later
than December 1, 2016, must include an update on the effectiveness
with which participant campuses are closing gaps in achievement on
readiness standards, an evaluation of teaching fewer high-priority
learning standards in depth, and any recommendations for
legislation. The report must address the effectiveness of the use
of methods, including focus on high-priority standards; digital
learning, such as blended learning, personalized learning, flipped
classrooms, adaptive learning, and virtual learning; the use of
multiple assessments that provide more precise, useful, and timely
information; and reliance on local control that enables greater
community and parental involvement.
(j-3) The report submitted under Subsection (j) not later
than December 1, 2018, must include an update on the effectiveness
with which participant campuses are addressing closing gaps in
achievement on readiness standards, an evaluation of teaching fewer
high-priority learning standards in depth, and any recommendations
for legislation.
(j-4) Subsections (j), (j-1), (j-2), and (j-3) and this
[This] subsection expire [expires] January 1, 2020 [2018].
(k) At least annually, the school board or governing body of
each participant district or open-enrollment charter school shall
hold a public hearing to discuss the district's or school's goals
and work in the consortium and to provide for parental and community
input.
(l) Notwithstanding Chapter 39 or any other law, a
participant campus shall be evaluated for accountability purposes
and administer assessment instruments only as follows:
(1) beginning with the 2015-2016 school year:
(A) for each assessment instrument administered
under this subsection, a participant campus shall be evaluated:
(i) by the independent evaluation under
Subsection (m) on disaggregated data by student group, with an
emphasis on closing achievement gaps; and
(ii) by the agency on a report-only basis,
with the scores not otherwise used for accountability purposes,
including interventions and sanctions under Subchapter E, Chapter
39;
(B) for each assessment instrument administered
under Chapter 39, a participant campus shall be evaluated under
Subsection (m) on readiness standards to allow teaching with depth
and the evaluation of the effects of teaching with depth;
(C) students in grades three through eight who
are not taking secondary-level courses shall be administered and
students in grades three through eight who are taking
secondary-level courses may, at the option of the district or
charter school participating in the consortium, be administered
only the assessment instruments under Section 39.023 in mathematics
annually in grades three through seven without the aid of
technology, mathematics in grade eight with the aid of technology
on any assessment instrument that includes algebra, reading
annually, and science in grades five and eight, and may be
administered an assessment instrument described by Section
39.0261(a)(1) in eighth grade instead of the assessment instruments
or may be administered fewer assessment instruments if allowed by
federal law or a waiver of federal law; and
(D) students taking secondary-level courses
shall be assessed on end-of-course assessment instruments
administered under Section 39.023(c) only for the 10th grade level
course in English in which they are currently enrolled or shall be
administered an assessment instrument described by Section
39.0261(a)(2) for 10th grade in the same subject if allowed by
federal law or a waiver of federal law, at the option of the
district or open-enrollment charter school participating in the
consortium;
(2) beginning with the 2016-2017 school year or as
soon as possible following receipt of a waiver from federal law or a
change in the federal law that requires annual testing of every
student:
(A) students shall be administered:
(i) assessment instruments under Section
39.023(a) for reading in grade three, mathematics in grade four,
science in grade five, reading in grade six, and mathematics in
grade seven;
(ii) in prekindergarten through 12th grade,
locally approved or developed assessment instruments that are
aligned to readiness standards or high-priority learning standards
under Subsection (f), that may include limited numbers of
state-provided assessment items, and that may have results that can
be accessed by the agency for monitoring and reporting purposes, or
other satisfactory secondary-level performance demonstrated under
Section 39.025(a-1); and
(iii) assessment instruments described by
Section 39.0261(a); and
(B) a participant campus shall be evaluated on
community-established measures that include academic achievement
and college and career readiness;
(3) beginning not later than the 2015-2016 school
year, students in a special education program shall be administered
appropriate assessments, including assessments developed or
adopted under Section 39.023(b) and other assessments developed or
adopted for significantly cognitively disabled students; and
(4) beginning with the 2015-2016 school year, students
of limited English proficiency, as defined by Section 29.052:
(A) shall be administered appropriate
assessments, including assessments approved by the commissioner
that measure linguistic and academic growth as determined by the
student's language proficiency assessment committee established by
Section 29.063; and
(B) if a waiver from federal law is obtained,
shall participate in appropriate assessments the first five years
the students are enrolled in schools in the United States as
participation-only unless the student attains an English
proficiency rating equivalent to advanced high performance during
this period, in which case the student's data will be aggregated
into campus and district performance reports.
(m) The consortium shall receive independent evaluation
from one or more external evaluation teams, including an
institution of higher education in this state.
(m-1) An evaluation conducted under Subsection (m) must be
included in the reports required under Subsection (j). This
subsection expires January 1, 2020.
SECTION 2. Section 29.0822(a), Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) Notwithstanding Section 25.081 or 25.082, a school
district may apply to the commissioner to provide a flexible school
day program for students who:
(1) have dropped out of school or are at risk of
dropping out of school as defined by Section 29.081;
(2) attend a campus that is implementing an innovative
redesign of the campus, including a campus in the high performance
schools consortium under Section 7.0561, or an early college high
school under a plan approved by the commissioner; or
(3) as a result of attendance requirements under
Section 25.092, will be denied credit or a final grade for one or
more classes in which the students have been enrolled.
SECTION 3. Section 39.025(d), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(d) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), the commissioner by
rule shall adopt one or more alternative nationally recognized norm
referenced assessment instruments under this section to administer
to a student to qualify for a high school diploma if the student
enrolls after January 1 of the school year in which the student is
otherwise eligible to graduate:
(1) for the first time in a public school in this
state; [or]
(2) after an absence of at least four years from any
public school in this state; or
(3) in a public school in this state that does not
participate in the high performance schools consortium under
Section 7.0561 after the student has been enrolled in a public
school participating in the consortium during high school.
SECTION 4. 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, 2015.