Bill Text: TX SB215 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to limiting certain state-required assessment instruments administered to public school students in certain grades to assessments required by federal law.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-01-25 - Referred to Education [SB215 Detail]

Download: Texas-2017-SB215-Introduced.html

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85R2445 GCB-F
By: Menéndez S.B. No. 215

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to limiting certain state-required assessment instruments
administered to public school students in certain grades to
assessments required by federal law.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 39.023(a), Education Code, as effective
September 1, 2017, is amended to read as follows:
(a) The agency shall adopt or develop appropriate
criterion-referenced assessment instruments designed to assess
essential knowledge and skills in subjects for which assessment is
required by federal law [reading, writing, mathematics, social
studies, and science]. Except as provided by Subsection (a-2), all
students, other than students assessed under Subsection (b) or (l)
or exempted under Section 39.027, shall be assessed in[:
[(1) mathematics, annually in grades three through
seven without the aid of technology and in grade eight with the aid
of technology on any assessment instrument that includes algebra;
[(2) reading, annually in grades three through eight;
[(3) writing, including spelling and grammar, in
grades four and seven;
[(4) social studies, in grade eight;
[(5) science, in grades five and eight; and
[(6)] any [other] subject and grade required by
federal law.
SECTION 2. Sections 39.02301(a) and (d), Education Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(a) During the 2015-2016 school year, the agency, in
coordination with the entity that has been contracted to develop or
implement assessment instruments under Section 39.023, shall
conduct a study to develop a writing assessment method as an
alternative to the writing assessment instruments required under
Section 39.023(c) [Sections 39.023(a) and (c)]. The writing
assessment method must be designed to assess:
(1) a student's mastery of the essential knowledge and
skills in writing through timed writing samples;
(2) improvement of a student's writing skills from the
beginning of the school year to the end of the school year;
(3) a student's ability to follow the writing process
from rough draft to final product; and
(4) a student's ability to produce more than one type
of writing style.
(d) A school district designated to participate in the pilot
program under this section is not required to comply with the
writing assessment requirements under Section 39.023(c) [Sections
39.023(a) and (c)] during the period the district is participating
in the pilot program. The agency shall, to the greatest extent
practicable, apply cost savings that result from the exemption
under this subsection to offset the costs accrued under this
section.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.