SECTION 1. Section 7.0561,
Education Code, is amended by amending Subsections (a), (b), (d), and (j)
and adding Subsections (k), (l), and (m) to read as follows:
(a) In this section:
(1) "College readiness standards" mean the college
readiness standards established under Section 28.008 as part of the
essential knowledge and skills of the foundation curriculum and assessed
under Section 39.023.
(2) "Consortium"
[, "consortium"] means the Texas High Performance Schools
Consortium established under this section.
(3) "Participant
campus" means a school district campus or open-enrollment charter
school that has been selected for and is participating in the consortium.
(4) "Participant
district" means a school district that has one or more campuses
participating in the consortium.
(b) The Texas High Performance
Schools Consortium is established to inform the governor, legislature, State
Board of Education, and commissioner concerning methods for
transforming public schools in this state by improving student learning
through the development of innovative, next-generation learning standards
and assessment and accountability systems.
(d) The number of students initially
enrolled in participant campuses [consortium participants]
may not be greater than a number equal to five percent of the total number
of students enrolled in public schools in this state according to the most
recent agency data. With approval of the commissioner, a participant
district may add one or more district campuses to the consortium.
(j) With the assistance of the school districts and
open-enrollment charter schools participating in the consortium, the commissioner shall submit reports
concerning the performance and progress of the consortium to the governor,
[and] the legislature, and the State Board of Education not
later than December 1, 2012, not later than December 1, 2014, and
not later than December 1, 2016 [2014].
(1) The report
submitted not later than December 1, 2012, must include any recommendation
by the commissioner concerning legislative authorization for the commissioner
to waive a prohibition, requirement, or restriction that applies to a [consortium]
participant. That report must also include a plan for an effective and
efficient accountability system for participant campuses and districts
[consortium participants] that balances academic excellence and
local values to inspire learning and, at the state level, contingent on any
necessary waiver of federal law, may incorporate use of a stratified random
sampling of students or other objective methodology to hold participant
campuses and districts [consortium participants] accountable
while attempting to reduce the number of state assessment instruments that
are required to be administered to students. The commissioner shall seek a
federal waiver, to any extent necessary, to prepare for implementation of
the plan if enacted by the legislature.
(2) The report submitted
not later than December 1, 2014, must include an update on the
effectiveness with which participant campuses are closing gaps in
achievement on college readiness
standards, an evaluation of teaching fewer, high-priority learning
standards in depth, and any recommendations for legislation. The report
must address the effectiveness of the use of methods, including focus on
high-priority standards; digital learning, such as blended learning,
personalized learning, flipped classrooms, adaptive learning, and virtual
learning; the use of multiple assessments that provide more precise,
useful, and timely information; and reliance on local control that enables greater
community and parental involvement.
(3) The report submitted
not later than December 1, 2016, must include an update on the
effectiveness with which participant campuses are addressing closing gaps
in achievement on college readiness
standards, an evaluation of teaching fewer, high-priority learning
standards in depth, and any recommendations for legislation.
(4) This subsection
expires January 1, 2018.
(k) At least annually, the
school board or governing body of each participant district or open-enrollment
charter school shall hold a public hearing to discuss its goals and work in the consortium and to
provide for parental and community input.
(l) Notwithstanding
Chapter 39 and any other law, participant campuses shall be evaluated for
accountability purposes and shall administer assessments only as follows:
(1) beginning in the
2013-14 school year:
(A) for all assessment
instruments administered under this Subsection, participant campuses:
(i) shall be evaluated on
disaggregated data by student group, with an emphasis on closing
achievement gaps; and
(ii) shall be evaluated on
a report-only basis and the scores shall not be otherwise used for
accountability purposes, including interventions and sanctions under
Subchapter E, Chapter 39;
(B) for assessment
instruments administered under Chapter 39, participant campuses shall be
evaluated on college readiness
standards only, to allow the schools
to teach with depth and to evaluate the effects of teaching with depth;
(C) students in grades
three through eight who are not taking secondary-level courses shall be
administered and students in grades three through eight who are taking
secondary-level courses may, at the option of the district or charter
school participating in the consortium, be administered assessment
instruments prescribed by Section 39.023(a)(1), (2), and (5) only and may
be administered ACT EXPLORE in eighth
grade in lieu of the assessment instruments or may be administered fewer
assessment instruments if allowed by federal law or a waiver of federal
law; and
(D) students taking
secondary-level courses shall be assessed on end-of-course assessment
instruments administered under Section 39.023(c) only for the tenth grade
courses in English, math, and science in which they are currently enrolled
or shall be assessed ACT PLAN for
tenth grade in the same subjects if allowed under federal law, at the
option of the district or open-enrollment charter school participating in
the consortium;
(2) beginning in the
2014-15 school year or as soon as possible following receipt of a waiver
from federal law or a change from the federal law that requires annual
testing of every student:
(A) students shall be
administered:
(i) assessment instruments
under Section 39.023(a) for reading in grade three, math in grade four,
science in grade five, reading in grade six, and math in grade seven;
(ii) in prekindergarten
through twelfth grade, locally approved or developed assessments that are
aligned to college readiness standards
or high-priority learning standards identified in Subsection (f), that
include limited numbers of state provided assessment items, and that have
results that can be accessed by the agency for monitoring and reporting
purposes, or other satisfactory secondary-level performance demonstrated
under Section 39.025(h); and
(iii) ACT EXPLORE at grade eight, ACT PLAN at grade ten,
and ACT at grade eleven; and
(B) participant campuses
shall be evaluated on community established measures that include academic
achievement and college and career readiness;
(3) beginning in the
2013-14 school year, students with
disabilities shall be administered appropriate assessments including
assessments, approved by the commissioner,
that measure growth as determined by the student's individualized education
program; and
(4) beginning in the
2013-14 school year, students of limited English proficiency:
(A) shall be administered
appropriate assessments including assessments, approved by the
commissioner, that measure linguistic and academic growth as determined by
the student's language proficiency assessment committee established by
Section 29.063; and
(B) if a waiver from
federal law is obtained, shall participate in appropriate assessments the
first five years in schools in the United States as participation only
unless the student attains an English proficiency rating equivalent to
advanced high performance during this time period, in which case the
student's data will be aggregated into campus and district performance
reports.
(m) The consortium shall
receive independent evaluation from one or more external evaluation teams,
including an institution of higher education in this state.
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SECTION 1. Section 7.0561,
Education Code, is amended by amending Subsections (a), (b), (d), (i), and
(j) and adding Subsections (j-1), (j-2), (j-3), (j-4), (k), (l), (m), and
(m-1) to read as follows:
(a) In this section:
(1) "Consortium"
[, "consortium"] means the Texas High Performance Schools
Consortium established under this section.
(2) "Participant
campus" means a school district campus or open-enrollment charter
school that has been selected for and is participating in the consortium.
(3) "Participant
district" means a school district that has one or more campuses
participating in the consortium.
(4) "Readiness standards" means the standards identified by
the agency that are essential for success.
(b) The Texas High
Performance Schools Consortium is established to inform the governor,
legislature, State Board of Education, and commissioner concerning
methods for transforming public schools in this state by improving student
learning through the development of innovative, next-generation learning
standards and assessment and accountability systems.
(d) The number of students initially
enrolled in participant campuses [consortium participants]
may not be greater than a number equal to five percent of the total number
of students enrolled in public schools in this state according to the most
recent agency data. With approval of the commissioner, a participant
district may add one or more district campuses to the consortium.
(i)
To cover the costs of administering the consortium, the commissioner may
charge a fee to a school district or open-enrollment charter school
participating in the consortium. The commissioner may also charge a fee
to a participating school district or open-enrollment charter school for
use of state-provided assessment items or other costs associated with
Subsection (l), and the commissioner may collect and use that fee for
purposes of administering the consortium.
(j) The [With the assistance of the] school
districts and open-enrollment charter schools participating in the
consortium[, the commissioner]
shall submit reports concerning the performance and progress of the
consortium to the governor, [and] the legislature, the
State Board of Education, and the
commissioner not later than December 1 of [,]
2012, [and not later than December 1,] 2014, and 2016.
(j-1) The report
submitted under Subsection (j)
not later than December 1, 2012, must include any recommendation by the
commissioner concerning legislative authorization for the commissioner to
waive a prohibition, requirement, or restriction that applies to a [consortium]
participant campus or district. That report must also include a plan for
an effective and efficient accountability system for participant
campuses and districts [consortium participants] that balances
academic excellence and local values to inspire learning and, at the state
level, contingent on any necessary waiver of federal law, may incorporate
use of a stratified random sampling of students or other objective
methodology to hold participant campuses and districts [consortium
participants] accountable while attempting to reduce the number of
state assessment instruments that are required to be administered to
students. The commissioner shall seek a federal waiver, to any extent
necessary, to prepare for implementation of the plan if enacted by the
legislature.
(j-2) The report submitted
under Subsection (j) not later than
December 1, 2014, must include an update on the effectiveness with which
participant campuses are closing gaps in achievement on readiness
standards, an evaluation of teaching fewer high-priority learning standards
in depth, and any recommendations for legislation. The report must address
the effectiveness of the use of methods, including focus on high-priority
standards; digital learning, such as blended learning, personalized
learning, flipped classrooms, adaptive learning, and virtual learning; the
use of multiple assessments that provide more precise, useful, and timely
information; and reliance on local control that enables greater community
and parental involvement.
(j-3) The report submitted
under Subsection (j) not later than
December 1, 2016, must include an update on the effectiveness with which
participant campuses are addressing closing gaps in achievement on
readiness standards, an evaluation of teaching fewer high-priority learning
standards in depth, and any recommendations for legislation.
(j-4) Subsections (j), (j-1), (j-2), and (j-3) and
this [This] subsection expire [expires] January 1,
2018.
(k) At least annually, the
school board or governing body of each participant district or
open-enrollment charter school shall hold a public hearing to discuss the district's or school's goals and work in
the consortium and to provide for parental and community input.
(l) Notwithstanding
Chapter 39 or any other law, a participant campus shall be evaluated for
accountability purposes and administer assessment instruments only as
follows:
(1) beginning with the
2013-2014 school year:
(A) for each assessment
instrument administered under this subsection, a participant campus shall
be evaluated:
(i) by the independent evaluation under Subsection (m)
on disaggregated data by student group, with an emphasis on closing
achievement gaps; and
(ii) by the agency on a
report-only basis, with the scores not otherwise used for accountability
purposes, including interventions and sanctions under Subchapter E, Chapter
39;
(B) for each assessment
instrument administered under Chapter 39, a participant campus shall be
evaluated under Subsection (m) on
readiness standards to allow teaching with depth and the evaluation of the
effects of teaching with depth;
(C) students in grades
three through eight who are not taking secondary-level courses shall be
administered and students in grades three through eight who are taking
secondary-level courses may, at the option of the district or charter
school participating in the consortium, be administered assessment
instruments prescribed by Sections 39.023(a)(1), (2), and (5) only, and may
be administered an assessment instrument
described by Section 39.0261(a)(1) in eighth grade instead of the
assessment instruments or may be administered fewer assessment instruments
if allowed by federal law or a waiver of federal law; and
(D) students taking
secondary-level courses shall be assessed on end-of-course assessment
instruments administered under Section 39.023(c) only for the 10th grade
level courses in English, mathematics, and science in which they are
currently enrolled or shall be administered
an assessment instrument described by Section 39.0261(a)(2) for 10th
grade in the same subjects if allowed by federal law or a waiver of federal law, at the option of
the district or open-enrollment charter school participating in the
consortium;
(2) beginning with the
2014-2015 school year or as soon as possible following receipt of a waiver
from federal law or a change in the federal law that requires annual
testing of every student:
(A) students shall be
administered:
(i) assessment instruments
under Section 39.023(a) for reading in grade three, mathematics in grade
four, science in grade five, reading in grade six, and mathematics in grade
seven;
(ii) in prekindergarten
through 12th grade, locally approved or developed assessment instruments
that are aligned to readiness standards or high-priority learning standards
under Subsection (f), that may include
limited numbers of state-provided assessment items, and that may have results that can be accessed by the
agency for monitoring and reporting purposes, or other satisfactory
secondary-level performance demonstrated under Section 39.025(h); and
(iii) assessment instruments described by Section
39.0261(a); and
(B) a participant campus
shall be evaluated on community-established measures that include academic
achievement and college and career readiness;
(3) beginning with the
2013-2014 school year, students in a special
education program shall be administered appropriate assessments,
including assessments developed or adopted
under Section 39.023(b) and, if authorized by an Act of the 83rd
Legislature, Regular Session, 2013, that becomes law, other assessments
developed or adopted for significantly cognitively disabled students;
and
(4) beginning with the
2013-2014 school year, students of limited English proficiency, as defined by Section 29.052:
(A) shall be administered
appropriate assessments including assessments approved by the commissioner
that measure linguistic and academic growth as determined by the student's
language proficiency assessment committee established by Section 29.063;
and
(B) if a waiver from
federal law is obtained, shall participate in appropriate assessments the
first five years the students are enrolled
in schools in the United States as participation-only unless the student
attains an English proficiency rating equivalent to advanced high
performance during this period, in which case the student's data will be
aggregated into campus and district performance reports.
(m) The consortium shall
receive independent evaluation from one or more external evaluation teams,
including an institution of higher education in this state.
(m-1) An evaluation conducted under Subsection (m) must be included
in the reports required under Subsection (j). This subsection expires
January 1, 2018.
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