AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
Section 39.023 (Adoption and Administration of Instruments), Education Code, requires the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to develop and administer the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) Alternate examination to assess students in grades three through eight and high school, who have significant cognitive disabilities and are receiving special education services. The Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) statements and student expectations for each reporting category tested in the STAAR examination are summarized into essence statements used for the STAAR Alternate. The essence statements link the grade-level or high school course expectations to the prerequisite skills used for STAAR Alternate. For each essence statement, three tasks have been provided at varying levels of complexity: Level 3 assessment tasks are the most complex and require students to apply knowledge; Level 2 tasks are moderately complex and require students to recall information recently presented; and Level 1 tasks are the least complex and require students to respond at the beginning awareness level. Teachers, via the admission, review, and dismissal (ARD) committees, determine which level of complexity is most appropriate for each student. Teachers then make the tasks accessible by providing presentation supports, choosing appropriate materials, and selecting response modes that allow the student to demonstrate what has been learned.
C.S.S.B. 1309 amends current law relating to assessment alternatives or accommodations for certain public school students in special education programs.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Section 39.023, Education Code, by adding Subsections (b-1) and (b-2), as follows:
(b-1) Requires the Texas Education Agency (TEA), in conjunction with appropriate interested persons, to redevelop assessment instruments adopted or developed under Subsection (b) (relating to requiring TEA to develop or adopt appropriate criterion-referenced alternative assessment instruments to be administered to each student in a special education program) for administration to significantly cognitively disabled students in a manner consistent with federal law. Prohibits an assessment instrument under this subsection from requiring a teacher to prepare tasks or materials for a student who will be administered such an assessment instrument.
(b-2) Requires that assessment instruments redeveloped under Subsection (b-1) be administered beginning not later than the 2014-2015 school year. Provides that this subsection expires September 1, 2015.
SECTION 2. Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2013.