87R2231 GCB-F
 
  By: Huberty H.B. No. 1740
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the administration to public school students in certain
  grades of state-administered assessment instruments.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 39.023(a), Education Code, effective
  until September 1, 2021, is 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 reading, writing, mathematics,
  social studies, and science.  Except as provided by Subsection
  (a-2), all students, other than students assessed under Subsection
  (b), (b-1), or (l) or exempted under Section 39.027, shall be
  assessed in:
               (1)  mathematics, [annually] in grades three and five
  [through eight];
               (2)  reading, [annually] in grades three, five, and
  [through] eight;
               (3)  writing, including spelling and grammar, in grades
  five and eight [four and seven];
               (4)  social studies, in grade eight; and
               (5)  science, in grades five and eight[; and
               [(6)  any other subject and grade required by federal
  law].
         SECTION 2.  Section 39.023(a), Education Code, effective
  September 1, 2021, is 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 reading, mathematics, social
  studies, and science.  Except as provided by Subsection (a-2), all
  students, other than students assessed under Subsection (b), (b-1),
  or (l) or exempted under Section 39.027, shall be assessed in:
               (1)  mathematics, [annually] in grades three and five
  [through eight];
               (2)  reading, [annually] in grades three, five, and
  [through] eight;
               (3)  social studies, in grade eight; and
               (4)  science, in grades five and eight[; and
               [(5)  any other subject and grade required by federal
  law].
         SECTION 3.  Section 39.023, Education Code, is amended by
  amending Subsections (a-1), (a-2), (a-12), (a-13), (b), (c-1),
  (c-3), (c-8), (e), (l), (m), (n), and (p) and adding Subsections
  (a-5), (a-6), (a-7), (a-8), (a-9), (a-10), and (a-17) to read as
  follows:
         (a-1)  The agency shall develop assessment instruments
  required under Subsections (a), (a-6), (a-7), and (a-8) [Subsection
  (a)] in a manner that allows, to the extent practicable:
               (1)  the score a student receives to provide reliable
  information relating to a student's satisfactory performance for
  each performance standard under Section 39.0241; and
               (2)  an appropriate range of performances to serve as a
  valid indication of growth in student achievement.
         (a-2)  Except as required by a provision of federal law that
  has not been waived, a student is not required to be assessed in a
  subject otherwise assessed at the student's grade level under
  Subsection (a) if the student:
               (1)  is enrolled in a course in the subject intended for
  students above the student's grade level and will be administered
  an assessment instrument adopted or developed under Subsection (a),
  (a-6), (a-7), or (a-8) that aligns with the curriculum for the
  course in which the student is enrolled; or
               (2)  is enrolled in a course in the subject for which
  the student will receive high school academic credit and will be
  administered an end-of-course assessment instrument adopted under
  Subsection (c) for the course.
         (a-5)  For each assessment instrument administered under
  Subsection (a) or (a-7), the agency shall determine, based on
  available information for that assessment instrument, the minimum
  satisfactory adjusted scale score. The minimum satisfactory
  adjusted scale score is the sum of the scale score that indicates
  satisfactory performance on that assessment instrument, as
  determined by the commissioner under Section 39.0241(a), plus the
  minimum number of points that when added to the scale score produces
  a score that, within a three percent margin of error, is predictive
  that a student achieving that score would achieve satisfactory
  performance on an assessment instrument in the same subject
  administered to the student during the following school year.
         (a-6)  A student shall be assessed in grade four in a subject
  for which an assessment instrument is administered under Subsection
  (a) in grade three if, on the final assessment instrument in that
  subject administered under Subsection (a) to the student in grade
  three during the preceding school year, the student did not achieve
  a score equal to or greater than the minimum satisfactory adjusted
  scale score for that assessment instrument, as determined under
  Subsection (a-5).
         (a-7)  A student shall be assessed in grade six in a subject
  for which an assessment instrument is administered under Subsection
  (a)(1) or (2) in grade five if, on the final assessment instrument
  in that subject administered under Subsection (a)(1) or (2) to the
  student in grade five during the preceding school year, the student
  did not achieve a score equal to or greater than the minimum
  satisfactory adjusted scale score for that assessment instrument,
  as determined under Subsection (a-5).
         (a-8)  A student shall be assessed in grade seven in a
  subject for which an assessment instrument was administered under
  Subsection (a-7) to the student in grade six if, on the final
  assessment instrument in that subject administered to the student
  in grade six during the preceding school year, the student did not
  achieve a score equal to or greater than the minimum satisfactory
  adjusted scale score for that assessment instrument, as determined
  under Subsection (a-5).
         (a-9)  A student assessed in mathematics under Subsection
  (a-6), (a-7), or (a-8) shall be assessed without the aid of
  technology.
         (a-10)  A school district or open-enrollment charter school
  may, for its own use in determining whether students are performing
  at a satisfactory level, administer to a student at the appropriate
  grade level, other than a student required to be assessed, an
  assessment instrument developed for purposes of Subsection (a-6),
  (a-7), or (a-8). At the request of a district or open-enrollment
  charter school, the agency shall provide, allow for the
  administration of, and score each assessment instrument
  administered under this subsection in the same manner and at the
  same cost as for assessment instruments required to be administered
  under the applicable subsection. The results of an assessment
  instrument administered under this subsection may not be included
  as an achievement indicator under Section 39.053 or any other
  provision.
         (a-12)  An assessment instrument adopted or developed under
  Subsection (a), (a-6), (a-7), or (a-8) may not have more than three
  parts.  A part of an assessment instrument must be designed so
  that:
               (1)  if administered to students in grades three and
  four, 85 percent of students will be able to complete that part
  within 60 minutes; and
               (2)  if administered to students in grades five through
  eight, 85 percent of students will be able to complete that part
  within 75 minutes.
         (a-13)  The amount of time allowed for administration of an
  assessment instrument adopted or developed under Subsection (a),
  (a-6), (a-7), or (a-8) may not exceed eight hours, and the
  administration may occur in multiple parts over more than one day.
         (a-17)  If there is a conflict between this section and a
  federal law or regulation as a result of forgoing under this section
  certain administration of assessment instruments to students who
  have recently performed successfully on assessment instruments
  assessing the same subject, the commissioner shall seek a waiver
  from the application of the conflicting federal law or regulation.
  In seeking a waiver, the commissioner shall submit all relevant
  data, including data relating to:
               (1)  the likelihood that a student who achieves a score
  on an assessment instrument equal to or greater than the minimum
  satisfactory adjusted scale score for that assessment instrument,
  as determined under Subsection (a-5), will, in subsequent years,
  perform satisfactorily on assessment instruments in the same
  subject;
               (2)  the costs associated with ongoing assessment of
  students who have proven likely to perform successfully on
  subsequent assessment instruments; and
               (3)  the benefit of redirecting resources from
  assessment of students who have proven likely to perform
  successfully on subsequent assessment instruments toward enabling
  lower performing students to perform successfully on assessment
  instruments after one school year.
         (b)  The agency shall develop or adopt appropriate
  criterion-referenced alternative assessment instruments to be
  administered to a [each] student in a special education program
  under Subchapter A, Chapter 29, for whom an assessment instrument
  adopted under Subsection (a) or, to the extent applicable,
  Subsection (a-6), (a-7), or (a-8), even with allowable
  accommodations, would not provide an appropriate measure of student
  achievement, as determined by the student's admission, review, and
  dismissal committee, including assessment instruments approved by
  the commissioner that measure growth. The assessment instruments
  developed or adopted under this subsection, including the
  assessment instruments approved by the commissioner, must, to the
  extent allowed under federal law, provide a district with options
  for the assessment of students under this subsection. The agency
  may not adopt a performance standard that indicates that a
  student's performance on the alternate assessment does not meet
  standards if the lowest level of the assessment accurately
  represents the student's developmental level as determined by the
  student's admission, review, and dismissal committee.
         (c-1)  To the greatest extent practicable, the [The] agency
  shall develop any assessment instrument required under this section
  in a manner that allows for the measurement of annual improvement in
  student achievement as required by Sections 39.034(c) and (d).
         (c-3)  Except as provided by Subsection (c-7), in adopting a
  schedule for the administration of assessment instruments under
  this section, the State Board of Education shall ensure
  that  assessment instruments administered under Subsection (a),
  (a-6), (a-7), (a-8), or (c) are not administered on the first
  instructional day of a week.
         (c-8)  Beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, an
  assessment instrument developed under Subsection (a), (a-6),
  (a-7), (a-8), or (c) may not present more than 75 percent of the
  questions in a multiple choice format.
         (e)  Under rules adopted by the State Board of Education,
  every third year, the agency shall release the questions and answer
  keys to each assessment instrument administered under Subsection
  (a), (a-6), (a-7), (a-8), (b), (c), (d), or (l), excluding any
  assessment instrument administered to a student for the purpose of
  retaking the assessment instrument, after the last time the
  instrument is administered for that school year.  To ensure a valid
  bank of questions for use each year, the agency is not required to
  release a question that is being field-tested and was not used to
  compute the student's score on the instrument.  The agency shall
  also release, under board rule, each question that is no longer
  being field-tested and that was not used to compute a student's
  score. [During the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 school years, the
  agency shall release the questions and answer keys to assessment
  instruments as described by this subsection each year.]
         (l)  The State Board of Education shall adopt rules for the
  administration of the assessment instruments adopted under
  Subsection (a) and, to the extent applicable, the assessment
  instruments adopted under Subsection (a-6) in Spanish to students
  in grades three, four, and [through] five who are of limited English
  proficiency, as defined by Section 29.052, whose primary language
  is Spanish, and who are not otherwise exempt from the
  administration of an assessment instrument under Section
  39.027(a)(1) or (2).  Each student of limited English proficiency
  whose primary language is Spanish, other than a student to whom
  Subsection (b) applies, may be assessed using assessment
  instruments in Spanish under this subsection for up to three years
  or assessment instruments in English under Subsection (a) and, as
  applicable, Subsection (a-6).  The language proficiency assessment
  committee established under Section 29.063 shall determine which
  students are administered assessment instruments in Spanish under
  this subsection.
         (m)  The commissioner by rule shall develop procedures under
  which the language proficiency assessment committee established
  under Section 29.063 shall determine which students are exempt from
  the administration of the assessment instruments under Section
  39.027(a)(1) or (2).  The rules adopted under this subsection shall
  ensure that the language proficiency assessment committee provides
  that the exempted students are administered the assessment
  instruments under Subsections (a) and (c) and, to the extent
  applicable, Subsections (a-6), (a-7), and (a-8) at the earliest
  practical date.
         (n)  This subsection applies only to a student who is
  determined to have dyslexia or a related disorder and who is an
  individual with a disability under 29 U.S.C. Section 705(20) and
  its subsequent amendments. The agency shall adopt or develop
  appropriate criterion-referenced assessment instruments designed
  to assess the ability of and to be administered to each student to
  whom this subsection applies for whom the assessment instruments
  adopted under Subsection (a) and, to the extent applicable, the
  assessment instruments adopted under Subsections (a-6), (a-7), and
  (a-8), even with allowable modifications, would not provide an
  appropriate measure of student achievement, as determined by the
  committee established by the board of trustees of the district to
  determine the placement of students with dyslexia or related
  disorders. The committee shall determine whether any allowable
  modification is necessary in administering to a student an
  assessment instrument required under this subsection. The
  assessment instruments required under this subsection shall be
  administered on the same schedule as the assessment instruments
  administered under Subsections (a), (a-6), (a-7), and (a-8), as
  applicable [Subsection (a)].
         (p)  On or before September 1 of each year, the commissioner
  shall make the following information available on the agency's
  Internet website for each assessment instrument administered under
  Subsection (a), (a-6), (a-7), (a-8), (c), or (l):
               (1)  the number of questions on the assessment
  instrument;
               (2)  the number of questions that must be answered
  correctly to achieve satisfactory performance as determined by the
  commissioner under Section 39.0241(a);
               (3)  the number of questions that must be answered
  correctly to achieve satisfactory performance under the college
  readiness performance standard as provided by Section 39.0241; and
               (4)  the corresponding scale scores.
         SECTION 4.  (a)  This Act takes effect on any date not later
  than September 1, 2023, on which the commissioner of education:
               (1)  obtains any necessary waiver from the application
  of federal law or regulation conflicting with Section 39.023,
  Education Code, as amended by this Act, as required by Section
  39.023(a-17), Education Code, as added by this Act; or
               (2)  receives written notification from the United
  States Department of Education that a waiver is not required.
         (b)  This Act applies beginning with the first school year
  that begins after the date on which this Act takes effect under
  Subsection (a) of this section.
         (c)  If the commissioner of education obtains any necessary
  waiver or receives written notification as described by Subsection
  (a) of this section, the commissioner shall certify that the
  commissioner has obtained the waiver or received notification that
  a waiver is not required, as applicable, and shall publish notice of
  that fact in the Texas Register as soon as practicable after
  obtaining the waiver or receiving notification.