H.B. No. 1613

	AN ACT
	relating to the alignment of college readiness standards and
	expectations and essential knowledge and skills and the use to
	satisfy requirements concerning high school end-of-course
	assessment instruments of performance demonstrating satisfaction
	of certain college readiness benchmarks on certain assessment
	instruments designated by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating
	Board.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Section 28.008(d), Education Code, is amended to
	read as follows:
	(d)  The State Board of Education shall incorporate college
	readiness standards and expectations approved by the commissioner
	of education and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
	under Subsection (b) into the essential knowledge and skills
	identified by the board under Section 28.002(c). The State Board of
	Education shall develop and by rule adopt a chart that clearly
	indicates the alignment of the college readiness standards and
	expectations with the essential knowledge and skills identified by
	the board under Section 28.002(c).
	SECTION 2.  Section 39.025, Education Code, is amended by
	amending Subsection (a-1) and adding Subsection (a-2) to read as
	follows:
	(a-1)  A student enrolled in a college preparatory
	mathematics or English language arts course under Section 28.014
	who satisfies the Texas Success Initiative (TSI) college readiness
	benchmarks prescribed by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating
	Board under Section 51.3062(f) on an assessment instrument
	designated by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board under
	Section 51.3062(c) administered at the end of the college
	preparatory mathematics or English language arts course satisfies
	the requirements concerning and is exempt from the administration
	of the Algebra I or the English I and English II [an] end-of-course
	assessment instruments, as applicable, [in an equivalent course] as
	prescribed by Section 39.023(c), even if the student did not
	perform satisfactorily on a previous administration of the
	applicable end-of-course assessment instrument [Subsection (a)]. A
	student who fails to perform satisfactorily on the assessment
	instrument designated by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating
	Board under Section 51.3062(c) administered as provided by this
	subsection may retake that assessment instrument for purposes of
	this subsection or may take the appropriate end-of-course
	assessment instrument.
	(a-2)  The commissioner shall determine a method by which a
	student's satisfactory performance on an advanced placement test,
	an international baccalaureate examination, an SAT Subject Test,
	the SAT, the ACT, or any nationally recognized norm-referenced
	assessment instrument used by institutions of higher education to
	award course credit based on satisfactory performance on the
	assessment instrument shall be used to satisfy the requirements
	concerning an end-of-course assessment instrument in an equivalent
	course as prescribed by Subsection (a).  The commissioner shall
	determine a method by which a student's satisfactory performance on
	the PSAT or the ACT-Plan shall be used to satisfy the requirements
	concerning an end-of-course assessment instrument in an equivalent
	course as prescribed by Subsection (a).  A student who fails to
	perform satisfactorily on a test or other assessment instrument
	authorized under this subsection, other than the PSAT or the
	ACT-Plan, may retake that test or other assessment instrument for
	purposes of this subsection or may take the appropriate
	end-of-course assessment instrument.  A student who fails to
	perform satisfactorily on the PSAT or the ACT-Plan must take the
	appropriate end-of-course assessment instrument.  The commissioner
	shall adopt rules as necessary for the administration of this
	subsection.
	SECTION 3.  Not later than January 1, 2016, the State Board
	of Education shall adopt a chart as prescribed by Section
	28.008(d), Education Code, as amended by this Act.
	SECTION 4.  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, 2015.
	______________________________	______________________________
	President of the Senate	Speaker of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 1613 was passed by the House on May 8,
	2015, by the following vote:  Yeas 141, Nays 1, 2 present, not
	voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
	No. 1613 on May 27, 2015, by the following vote:  Yeas 141, Nays 1,
	2 present, not voting.
	______________________________
	Chief Clerk of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 1613 was passed by the Senate, with
	amendments, on May 24, 2015, by the following vote:  Yeas 30, Nays
	0.
	______________________________
	Secretary of the Senate
	APPROVED: __________________
	Date
	__________________
	Governor