Enrolled Bill Summary

            The state's public school accountability system does not include performance measures by which school districts can be held accountable for the education of students with disabilities who cannot take the standardized tests given other students, and many special education students are excluded from school district performance accounting. House Bill 1800 amends the Education Code to require the Texas Education Agency to begin developing or adopting a criterion-referenced test for each special education student for whom the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) test, or a modified version of the TAAS test, would not provide an appropriate measure of student achievement, and sets deadlines. The act requires the new examination to test competency and growth in reading, mathematics, and writing and requires each special education student's admission, review, and dismissal committee to determine how to test and grade the student. The act exempts special education students from the TAAS test, if the test is not appropriate, until the alternative test has been developed. The act also exempts special education students from tests if their individualized education programs do not cover the essential knowledge and skills included in the required curriculum and the tests do not provide an appropriate measure of the students' achievements.

            The act requires results of tests given to special education students to be included among the public school accountability system's performance indicators.