Bill Text: TX SB977 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to a secondary-level English language learners' program for public school students of limited English proficiency.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-03-10 - Referred to Education [SB977 Detail]
Download: Texas-2015-SB977-Introduced.html
84R7732 GCB-D | ||
By: Rodríguez | S.B. No. 977 |
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relating to a secondary-level English language learners' program | ||
for public school students of limited English proficiency. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Section 29.053(d), Education Code, is amended to | ||
read as follows: | ||
(d) Each district that is required to offer bilingual | ||
education and special language programs under this section shall | ||
offer the following for students of limited English proficiency: | ||
(1) bilingual education in kindergarten through the | ||
elementary grades; | ||
(2) bilingual education, instruction in English as a | ||
second language, or other transitional language instruction | ||
approved by the agency in post-elementary grades through grade 8; | ||
and | ||
(3) a secondary-level [ |
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29.055(b-1) and (b-2), in grades 9 through 12. | ||
SECTION 2. Section 29.055, Education Code, is amended by | ||
adding Subsections (b-1), (b-2), and (g) to read as follows: | ||
(b-1) A language program for students of limited English | ||
proficiency in post-elementary grades through grade 12, as | ||
applicable, as required by Section 29.053(d)(2) or (3), other than | ||
a bilingual education program, must include the following | ||
components: | ||
(1) consistent with Section 29.056 and any other law: | ||
(A) identification and placement procedures | ||
that are based on information concerning a student's proficiency in | ||
English and in the student's primary language; and | ||
(B) specialized identification and placement | ||
procedures and instructional support services for students who are | ||
recent immigrants, as determined under commissioner rule, that take | ||
into consideration a student's previous school experience; | ||
(2) assessment, approved by the agency, that: | ||
(A) is administered in English and, in | ||
appropriate cases as determined under commissioner rule, in a | ||
student's primary language; and | ||
(B) measures a student's progress toward state | ||
and district academic performance standards or mastery of subject | ||
matter content; | ||
(3) instruction in English as a second language that | ||
is aligned with the various levels of English language proficiency | ||
of students of limited English proficiency; | ||
(4) in each subject in the required curriculum under | ||
Section 28.002 that is designated as a core content area by | ||
commissioner rule: | ||
(A) use of sheltered instruction to teach | ||
students, using the English language in a manner that enables | ||
students to learn both the subject area material and the English | ||
language; and | ||
(B) adaptation of the standard curriculum in a | ||
manner that results in a curriculum that: | ||
(i) is consistent with and is as rigorous as | ||
the standard secondary-level curriculum; and | ||
(ii) is consistent with a student's level of | ||
proficiency in English; | ||
(5) instruction by: | ||
(A) teachers who are appropriately certified for | ||
English as a second language; and | ||
(B) subject area teachers who are trained in | ||
adapting instruction for students of limited English proficiency; | ||
(6) a strategy that involves parents of | ||
secondary-level students of limited English proficiency and, as | ||
appropriate, interested members of the community in assessment of | ||
the effectiveness of the program provided under this subsection; | ||
and | ||
(7) access to supplemental instructional services for | ||
any student of limited English proficiency who does not reach | ||
state, district, or campus academic performance standards. | ||
(b-2) For a campus performing unsatisfactorily, as | ||
determined by commissioner rule and consistent with applicable | ||
performance standards under the agency's Performance-Based | ||
Monitoring Analysis System, in offering language programs to which | ||
Subsection (b-1) applies, a school district shall require campus | ||
educators, including appropriate administrators, associated with | ||
such a program to, as provided by State Board for Educator | ||
Certification rule, participate in ongoing professional | ||
development in effective, research-based practices for serving | ||
students of limited English proficiency. In satisfying the | ||
professional development requirements adopted under this | ||
subsection, a subject area teacher and an administrator serving | ||
students of limited English proficiency on the campus must | ||
complete: | ||
(1) at least six semester credit hours of higher | ||
education coursework in English as a second language contact | ||
methodology; or | ||
(2) professional development, equivalent as | ||
determined under State Board for Educator Certification rule in the | ||
time commitment necessary for satisfying the requirement under | ||
Subdivision (1), in using sheltered instruction to teach a subject | ||
area. | ||
(g) The commissioner and the State Board for Educator | ||
Certification, as applicable, shall adopt rules as necessary to | ||
administer this section. | ||
SECTION 3. (a) Not later than March 1, 2016: | ||
(1) the commissioner of education shall adopt rules as | ||
necessary to administer Section 29.055(b-1), Education Code, as | ||
added by this Act; and | ||
(2) the State Board for Educator Certification shall | ||
adopt rules as necessary to administer Section 29.055(b-2), | ||
Education Code, as added by this Act. | ||
(b) Beginning with the 2015-2016 school year, each school | ||
district shall provide programs as provided by Sections 29.055(b-1) | ||
and (b-2), Education Code, as added by this Act. | ||
(c) A public school teacher teaching students of limited | ||
English proficiency on or before March 1, 2016, must comply with the | ||
educational or professional development requirements of that | ||
provision not later than March 1, 2018. | ||
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. |