HBA-LJP C.S.H.B. 125 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 125
By: West, George "Buddy"
Higher Education
3/27/2001
Committee Report (Substituted)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under current law, a student who is admitted to a public institution of
higher education (institution) must take the Texas Academic Skills Program
(TASP) test if the student performs below standard on either exitlevel
exams, or the American College Test (ACT) or Scholastic Assessment Test
(SAT) college entrance exams.  According to the report "The Relationship of
the Texas High School Curriculum to College Readiness: An Update, the
Implications for Increasing Student College Participation and Success" by
Omar Lopez of the College Success Initiative, high school students should
begin to test for college enrollment exams such as the TASP test as early
as the 11th grade to allow enough time for a student to fail, retest, and
master all aspects of the exam.  Most students are already taught skills in
reading, writing, and mathematics in high school to prepare for exit-level
exams and these skills are similar to the areas covered in the TASP test.
When students are required to take the TASP test after enrolling at an
institution, students have one chance to take an exam that covers similar
skills, but is a different test from the exit-level exams.  C.S.H.B. 125
replaces the  TASP test with a test administered by an institution that
uses English language arts and mathematics instruments administered by the
Texas Education Agency to students in the 11th grade. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 125 amends the Education Code to rename the Texas Academic Skills
Program (TASP) as the higher education remedial program (program) and to
replace the TASP test instrument prescribed the Texas Higher Education
Coordinating Board (THECB) with specified portions of the test administered
by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to students in the 11th grade. 

If an institution of higher education (institution) permits a student to
enroll without taking the test administered by TEA to students in 11th
grade, the bill then requires the student to take the secondary exitlevel
assessment test that is administered by the institution under the program
and which uses the English language arts and mathematics assessment
instruments adopted by TEA no later than the end of the first semester of
enrollment (Sec. 51.306).  The bill adds components of Algebra II to the
test administered by an institution and TEA (Sec. 39.023). 

The bill removes the authority of THECB to prescribe an alternative test
from the test administered under the program.  The bill requires THECB to
include in a summary report the number of students at each high school who
took the applicable exit-level assessment instruments constituting the test
administered by TEA while enrolled in high school and who at that time
satisfied the standards set by THECB for the test administered by an
institution under the program. 

The bill deletes the provision that the program does not apply to a student
who accumulated three or more college level semester credit hours prior to
the 1989 fall semester (Sec. 51.306). 
 
EFFECTIVE DATE

June 1, 2004.  The Act applies beginning with the fall semester 2004.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 125 modifies the original by replacing the Texas Academic Skills
Program (TASP) test with a test administered by an institution of higher
education that uses specified portions of the test administered by the
Texas Education Agency to students in the 11th grade, rather than
eliminating TASP and eliminating the Stanford Achievement Test for students
who are deaf (Secs. 51.306 and 51.3061).  The substitute adds the provision
relating to the summary report (Sec. 51.306).