82R13380 GCB-F
	By: Seliger	S.B. No. 1403

	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, Education Code, is amended by
	amending Subsections (a) and (a-1) and adding Subsections (a-2),
	(a-3), (a-4), (a-5), (a-6), and (a-7) 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. All students, except students
	assessed under Subsection (b) or (l) or exempted under Section
	39.027, shall be assessed in:
	(1)  mathematics, [annually] in grades three and five
	[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, 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].
	(a-1)  The agency shall develop assessment instruments
	required under Subsections (a), (a-2), (a-3), and (a-4) [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)  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 scale score equal to or greater than 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 100 scale score points.
	(a-3)  A student shall be assessed in grade six in a subject
	for which an assessment instrument is administered under Subsection
	(a) in grade five if, on the final assessment instrument in that
	subject administered under Subsection (a) to the student in grade
	five during the preceding school year, the student did not achieve a
	scale score equal to or greater than 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
	100 scale score points.
	(a-4)  A student shall be assessed in grade seven in a
	subject for which an assessment instrument was administered under
	Subsection (a-3) 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 scale score equal to or greater than 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 100 scale score points.
	(a-5)  A student assessed in mathematics under Subsection
	(a-2), (a-3), or (a-4) shall be assessed without the aid of
	technology.
	(a-6)  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-2),
	(a-3), or (a-4). At the request of a school 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 indicator of student achievement under Section 39.054 or any
	other provision.
	(a-7)  If there is a conflict between this section and
	federal law 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 conflicting federal law. In seeking a
	waiver, the commissioner shall submit all relevant data, including
	data relating to:
	(1)  the likelihood that a student who achieves a scale
	score on an assessment instrument equal to or greater than the sum
	of the scale score that indicates satisfactory performance on the
	assessment instrument plus 100 scale score points 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.
	SECTION 2.  This Act applies beginning with the 2011-2012
	school year.
	SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
	a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
	provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
	Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
	Act takes effect September 1, 2011.