BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2824

By: VanDeaver

Public Education

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Reports indicate that the pilot program to assess public school students in writing through an alternative, portfolio method led to stronger student engagement and overall improvements in writing instruction, though more research is needed to determine whether the method is a valid alternative for statewide implementation. C.S.H.B. 2824 provides for the continuation of the pilot program and makes changes in order to benefit student instruction.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2824 amends the Education Code to provide for the continuation of the pilot program for assessing public school students in writing under an alternative method through the 2019‑2020, 2020-2021, 2021-2022, and 2022‑2023 school years and for the continuation of a reporting requirement for the Texas Education Agency (TEA) relating to the program, with reports set to be delivered not later than September 1, 2021, and September 1, 2023. The bill postpones the expiration date of provisions relating to the pilot program to September 1, 2023.

C.S.H.B. 2824 requires the commissioner of education to establish and appoint a committee to assist TEA in planning, evaluating, and overseeing the pilot program and provides for the committee's composition. The bill requires the committee to provide guidance on the following:

· the program's timeline and scoring rubric;

· professional development for teachers on the alternative writing assessment method; and

· a feedback and reflection process between teachers and students to evaluate the results of writing assessments administered under the program.

C.S.H.B. 2824 prohibits a participating public school district from administering to students enrolled in the district the writing assessments included as part of the statewide standardized testing and secondary-level end-of-course testing. The bill replaces the requirement for the individuals responsible for scoring student writing assessments under the pilot program to be coordinated jointly by the participating district in which the student is enrolled, a public junior college or institution of higher education that enters into an agreement with the participating district, and the regional education service center that serves the participating district with a requirement for TEA to coordinate the individuals with joint participation of the district, public junior college or institution or higher education, and regional education service center. The bill requires TEA to develop methods to determine the validity of the scoring process and removes a requirement relating to the delivery of a random sampling of scored student writing assessments to TEA.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2019.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 2824 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute includes a requirement for the commissioner to establish a committee to assist TEA with regard to the pilot program and sets out provisions relating to the committee.

The substitute includes a prohibition against a participating district administering certain writing assessments to students enrolled in the district.