Notable Bills, 80th Legislative Session Page 3

TESTING REFORM

SB 1031 repeals the current exit-level TAKS exam for high-school graduation, starting with students who enter ninth grade in the 2011-2012 school year (this fall's fifth-graders).  Students who enter ninth grade before 2011 will still have to pass the exit-level TAKS to graduate. 

$ Ninth-graders from 2011 on will have to take end-of-course exams in core subjects.  End-of-course exams will count toward 15 percent of the final course grade.  A student must have an average score of 70 on end-of-course exams in each subject, and no score below 60 will count toward that average.

$    For elementary and middle schools, SB 1031 makes no major changes in high-stakes TAKS testing, except it requires TEA to develop a "vertical scale" for reading and math exams in grades three through eight, allowing comparison of a student's performance on assessment instruments from one grade level to the next. (House amendments that would have created alternative pathways to demonstrate proficiency and earn promotion at third, fifth, and eighth grade were stripped from the bill in final House-Senate negotiations.)

$   SB 1031 limits freestanding field tests of new exam questions to every other year, but this limit does not apply to questions to be used in new assessment instruments.

$   The bill also bans the use of more than 10 percent of instructional days for district-required tests for any student in grades subject to standardized state exams. This provision does not limit tests that teachers develop themselves and deem necessary in their classrooms.

$   From now on, state assessments must be administered at least two weeks later than in the 2006-2007 school year; spring end-of-course exams cannot be given before the first full week in May, except for English I, English II, and English III.

$    The bill creates a new select committee to review the whole test-based accountability system and recommend changes to the legislature by December 2008. It also calls for the legislature to enact a revised accountability system to take effect in school year 2011-2012, coinciding with the introduction of end-of-course exams.

$    In eighth and tenth grades, SB 1031 requires school districts to give students at state expense an "established, valid, reliable, and nationally norm-referenced preliminary college preparation assessment instrument" to diagnose academic strengths and deficiencies and measure a student's progress toward post-secondary readiness.

$   In 11th and 12th grade, SB 1031 requires districts to offer students the option of taking one ("established, valid," etc.) college-entrance exam at state expense.

$   To curb cheating on state achievement exams, the bill makes intentional disclosure of exam contents a crime (Class C misdemeanor) if it could affect students' performance and grants TEA subpoena power and other expanded investigative authority.

STUDENT DISCIPLINE

Standards for juvenile-justice alternative-education programs:  HB 425 sets minimum standards of educational quality for juvenile-justice education programs serving incarcerated students. The commissioner is required to determine instructional requirements, including the length of the school day, number of days of instruction per year, and educational curriculum.  Students in a pre-adjudication lockup must be offered courses that enable them to maintain progress toward completing high school.  Students in a post-adjudication "secure correctional facility" also must have access to courses needed to complete high school.

Standards for district alternative-education programs:  HB 426 states that school districts' disciplinary alternative-education programs must provide instruction on a full-day basis (minimum of seven hours). The bill also requires TEA to adopt minimum standards for DAEPs, including rules governing student/teacher ratios, student health and safety, reporting of abuse, neglect, or exploitation of students, training for teachers in behavior management and safety procedures, and planning for a student's transition from a disciplinary alternative-education program to a regular campus.

Placement of violent offenders, sex offenders, and notice to employees:  HB 2532 blends provisions of several discipline-related proposals that did not survive as freestanding legislation:

$   This bill authorizes school districts to expel students if they are charged with violent felony offenses and then place them in a juvenile-justice alternative program or a district's disciplinary alternative-education program for the duration of their high-school career, unless the charges are dismissed or reduced.

$     The academic growth of students placed in DAEPs 90 days or longer must be assessed at least in basic reading and math skills.

$  The bill also requires the removal of a student from the regular classroom upon notification that the student is a registered sex offender, with the ensuing appropriate placement of the student depending on multiple factors, including whether the student is under court supervision, whether the student's presence in the regular classroom poses an ongoing threat to the safety of other students or teachers, and whether the student has a disability (in which case the placement decision is made by the Admission, Review, and Dismissal committee established pursuant to federal special-education law).

$   Under HB 2532, a superintendent who receives notice that a student is a sex offender or has committed a felony-level violent offense must within 24 hours notify all instructional and support personnel who have regular contact with the student.

Firearms in school parking lots:  HB 2112 clarifies that the criminal penalty for exhibiting or using a firearm at a school facility also applies to school parking areas. The new law applies the felony penalty to someone who intentionally uses, exhibits, or threatens to use or exhibit a firearm in a manner intended to cause alarm or personal injury or to damage school property.

Criminal penalties for school-policy violations:  HB 278 limits the authority of school districts to make violation of school rules a criminal misdemeanor offense.  The authority is limited to matters involving the operation or parking of vehicles on school property.