Amend CSHB 515 (senate committee report) as follows:

(1)  Strike the recital to SECTION 2 of the bill, amending Section 39.023(e), Education Code (page 1, lines 53 and 54), and substitute the following:

SECTION 2.  Sections 39.023(a) and (e), Education Code, as effective September 1, 2017, are amended to read as follows:

(a)  The agency shall adopt or develop appropriate criterion-referenced assessment instruments designed to assess essential knowledge and skills in subjects for which assessment is required by federal law [reading, writing, mathematics, social studies, and science].  Except as provided by Subsection (a-2), all students, other than students assessed under Subsection (b) or (l) or exempted under Section 39.027, shall be assessed in[:

[(1)     mathematics, annually in grades three through seven without the aid of technology and in grade eight with the aid of technology on any assessment instrument that includes algebra;

[(2)     reading, annually in grades three through eight;

[(3)     writing, including spelling and grammar, in grades four and seven;

[(4)     social studies, in grade eight;

[(5)     science, in grades five and eight; and

[(6)]  any [other] subject and grade required by federal law.

(2)  Add the following appropriately numbered SECTION to the bill, and renumber subsequent SECTIONS of the bill accordingly:

SECTION ____.  Sections 39.02301(a) and (d), Education Code, are amended to read as follows:

(a)  During the 2015-2016 school year, the agency, in coordination with the entity that has been contracted to develop or implement assessment instruments under Section 39.023, shall conduct a study to develop a writing assessment method as an alternative to the writing assessment instruments required under Section 39.023(c) [Sections 39.023(a) and (c)].  The writing assessment method must be designed to assess:

(1)  a student's mastery of the essential knowledge and skills in writing through timed writing samples;

(2)  improvement of a student's writing skills from the beginning of the school year to the end of the school year;

(3)  a student's ability to follow the writing process from rough draft to final product; and

(4)  a student's ability to produce more than one type of writing style.

(d)  A school district designated to participate in the pilot program under this section is not required to comply with the writing assessment requirements under Section 39.023(c) [Sections 39.023(a) and (c)] during the period the district is participating in the pilot program.  The agency shall, to the greatest extent practicable, apply cost savings that result from the exemption under this subsection to offset the costs accrued under this section.