BILL ANALYSIS

 

 

Senate Research Center

C.S.H.B. 1244

86R28236 KJE-D

By: Ashby et al. (Campbell)

 

Education

 

5/15/2019

 

Committee Report (Substituted)

 

 

 

AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

 

A national survey in 2012 from Xavier University found that one in three Americans would fail the civics portion of the naturalization test. In order to combat this statistic, C.S.H.B. 1244 would require that 10 questions on the United States history end-of-course assessment, or STAAR test, be replaced with 10 questions from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services citizenship test. These questions must align with the current United States History TEKS and the data on student performance on these questions would be collected and aggregated by the Texas Education Agency by school district and statewide.

 

C.S.H.B. 1244 amends current law relating to the United States history end-of-course assessment instrument administered to public high school students and reporting requirements for that assessment instrument.

 

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 Subsection (c-7), as follows:

 

(c-7) Requires the United States history end-of-course assessment instrument adopted under Subsection (c) (relating to requiring the Texas Education Agency to adopt certain end-of-course assessment instruments) to include 10 questions randomly selected by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) from the civics test administered by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services as part of the naturalization process under the federal Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. Section 1101 et seq.). Requires TEA to:

 

(1) ensure that the questions included in the assessment instrument align with the essential knowledge and skills adopted for the United States history course for which the instrument is administered; and

 

(2) annually issue a report:

 

(A) providing the questions included in the assessment instrument under this subsection and the answers to those questions; and

 

(B) detailing student performance on the questions included in the assessment instrument under this subsection, both statewide and disaggregated by school district and campus.

 

SECTION 2. Provides that Section 39.023(c-7), Education Code, as added by this Act, applies beginning with the students who enter the ninth grade during the 2019�2020 school year.

 

SECTION 3. Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2019.