By Cuellar H.B. No. 1128
76R317 CAG-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to programs for admission by performance to graduate
1-3 degree programs in law, medicine, and other professional fields.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 61, Education Code, is
1-6 amended by adding Section 61.078 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 61.078. ADMISSION TO PROFESSIONAL DEGREE PROGRAM BY
1-8 PERFORMANCE. (a) The board shall administer programs under this
1-9 section to provide eligible persons an opportunity to gain
1-10 admission to professional graduate degree programs by demonstrating
1-11 the requisite skills and effort for success in those degree
1-12 programs. The board shall offer a program for each major
1-13 professional field, including law and medicine, for which one or
1-14 more professional graduate degree programs are offered by one or
1-15 more institutions of higher education at least once a year. At
1-16 least one program in each field must be offered each summer.
1-17 (b) The board, in cooperation with institutions of higher
1-18 education offering graduate degree programs, shall determine the
1-19 number and type of admission programs to be offered, determine the
1-20 eligibility requirements for each program, appoint a director of
1-21 each program, provide appropriate faculty, staff, and other
1-22 necessary resources for the program, and determine the location of
1-23 each program. To the extent practicable, the board shall rotate the
1-24 location of admission programs among institutions of higher
2-1 education that have the facilities to host a program to ensure
2-2 regional accessibility to the programs by all residents of this
2-3 state.
2-4 (c) The board shall provide applications and eligibility
2-5 criteria for each admission program to each institution of higher
2-6 education not later than the 100th day before the last day for
2-7 submitting an application to the program. Each institution shall
2-8 publicize the availability of the programs and general application
2-9 and eligibility information to its students.
2-10 (d) The director of each program shall admit students to the
2-11 program whom the director determines have a reasonable chance to
2-12 succeed in the relevant professional field but who are unlikely to
2-13 gain admission to a graduate degree program in that field based
2-14 solely on prior academic performance and standardized test scores.
2-15 In considering an applicant for admission to a program, the
2-16 director of the program may consider writing samples, letters of
2-17 recommendation, personal statements, employment, community, and
2-18 extracurricular activities, and other relevant information.
2-19 (e) Each admission program must consist of an intensive
2-20 multi-week program designed to evaluate the suitability of each
2-21 participant for admission to a professional graduate degree program
2-22 in the relevant field of study based on the performance of the
2-23 participant during the program. A program must include:
2-24 (1) an introduction to the types of coursework
2-25 customary to the proposed field of study;
2-26 (2) an opportunity to develop basic research, writing,
2-27 and examination-taking skills used in the proposed field of study;
3-1 and
3-2 (3) an examination of the time, effort, and skills
3-3 required for success in the proposed field of study.
3-4 (f) At the completion of each program, the board, with the
3-5 consent of the student, shall send an evaluation of each student
3-6 enrolled in the program to each institution of higher education
3-7 that offers a professional graduate degree program in the student's
3-8 proposed field of study and to any other institution designated by
3-9 the student. The evaluation may be used by an institution of higher
3-10 education in making admission decisions and in awarding student
3-11 financial aid.
3-12 (g) The board may use appropriations, gifts, or grants to
3-13 fund the administration of this section.
3-14 SECTION 2. (a) Not later than September 1, 1999, the Texas
3-15 Higher Education Coordinating Board shall adopt rules relating to
3-16 the administration of admission programs under Section 61.078,
3-17 Education Code, as added by this Act, including the determination
3-18 of eligibility criteria.
3-19 (b) The coordinating board shall operate admission by
3-20 performance programs in each major professional field of study,
3-21 including law and medicine, beginning in the summer of 2000.
3-22 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-23 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-24 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-25 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-26 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-27 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-1 passage, and it is so enacted.