Bill Text: TX SB1798 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to the Texas High Performance Schools Consortium.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-03-24 - Referred to Education [SB1798 Detail]
Download: Texas-2015-SB1798-Introduced.html
84R397 KKA-D | ||
By: Seliger | S.B. No. 1798 |
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relating to the Texas High Performance Schools Consortium. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Section 7.0561, Education Code, is amended by | ||
amending Subsections (a), (b), (d), (i), and (j) and adding | ||
Subsections (j-1), (j-2), (j-3), (j-4), (k), (l), (m), and (m-1) to | ||
read as follows: | ||
(a) In this section: | ||
(1) "Consortium"[ |
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Performance Schools Consortium established under this section. | ||
(2) "Participant campus" means a school district | ||
campus or open-enrollment charter school that has been selected for | ||
and is participating in the consortium. | ||
(3) "Participant district" means a school district | ||
that has one or more campuses participating in the consortium. | ||
(4) "Readiness standards" means the standards | ||
identified by the agency that are essential for success. | ||
(b) The Texas High Performance Schools Consortium is | ||
established to inform the governor, legislature, State Board of | ||
Education, and commissioner concerning methods for transforming | ||
public schools in this state by improving student learning through | ||
the development of innovative, next-generation learning standards | ||
and assessment and accountability systems. | ||
(d) The number of students initially enrolled in | ||
participant campuses [ |
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than a number equal to five percent of the total number of students | ||
enrolled in public schools in this state according to the most | ||
recent agency data. With approval of the commissioner, a | ||
participant district may add one or more district campuses to the | ||
consortium. | ||
(i) To cover the costs of administering the consortium, the | ||
commissioner may charge a fee to a school district or | ||
open-enrollment charter school participating in the consortium. | ||
The commissioner may also charge a fee to a participating school | ||
district or open-enrollment charter school for use of | ||
state-provided assessment items or other costs associated with | ||
Subsection (l), and the commissioner may collect and use that fee | ||
for purposes of administering the consortium. | ||
(j) The [ |
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open-enrollment charter schools participating in the consortium[ |
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and progress of the consortium to the governor, [ |
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legislature, the State Board of Education, and the commissioner not | ||
later than December 1 of[ |
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2014, 2016, and 2018. | ||
(j-1) The report submitted under Subsection (j) not later | ||
than December 1, 2012, must include any recommendation by the | ||
commissioner concerning legislative authorization for the | ||
commissioner to waive a prohibition, requirement, or restriction | ||
that applies to a [ |
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That report must also include a plan for an effective and efficient | ||
accountability system for participant campuses and districts | ||
[ |
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local values to inspire learning and, at the state level, | ||
contingent on any necessary waiver of federal law, may incorporate | ||
use of a stratified random sampling of students or other objective | ||
methodology to hold participant campuses and districts [ |
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state assessment instruments that are required to be administered | ||
to students. The commissioner shall seek a federal waiver, to any | ||
extent necessary, to prepare for implementation of the plan if | ||
enacted by the legislature. | ||
(j-2) The report submitted under Subsection (j) not later | ||
than December 1, 2016, must include an update on the effectiveness | ||
with which participant campuses are closing gaps in achievement on | ||
readiness standards, an evaluation of teaching fewer high-priority | ||
learning standards in depth, and any recommendations for | ||
legislation. The report must address the effectiveness of the use | ||
of methods, including focus on high-priority standards; digital | ||
learning, such as blended learning, personalized learning, flipped | ||
classrooms, adaptive learning, and virtual learning; the use of | ||
multiple assessments that provide more precise, useful, and timely | ||
information; and reliance on local control that enables greater | ||
community and parental involvement. | ||
(j-3) The report submitted under Subsection (j) not later | ||
than December 1, 2018, must include an update on the effectiveness | ||
with which participant campuses are addressing closing gaps in | ||
achievement on readiness standards, an evaluation of teaching fewer | ||
high-priority learning standards in depth, and any recommendations | ||
for legislation. | ||
(j-4) Subsections (j), (j-1), (j-2), and (j-3) and this | ||
[ |
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(k) At least annually, the school board or governing body of | ||
each participant district or open-enrollment charter school shall | ||
hold a public hearing to discuss the district's or school's goals | ||
and work in the consortium and to provide for parental and community | ||
input. | ||
(l) Notwithstanding Chapter 39 or any other law, a | ||
participant campus shall be evaluated for accountability purposes | ||
and administer assessment instruments only as follows: | ||
(1) beginning with the 2015-2016 school year: | ||
(A) for each assessment instrument administered | ||
under this subsection, a participant campus shall be evaluated: | ||
(i) by the independent evaluation under | ||
Subsection (m) on disaggregated data by student group, with an | ||
emphasis on closing achievement gaps; and | ||
(ii) by the agency on a report-only basis, | ||
with the scores not otherwise used for accountability purposes, | ||
including interventions and sanctions under Subchapter E, Chapter | ||
39; | ||
(B) for each assessment instrument administered | ||
under Chapter 39, a participant campus shall be evaluated under | ||
Subsection (m) on readiness standards to allow teaching with depth | ||
and the evaluation of the effects of teaching with depth; | ||
(C) students in grades three through eight who | ||
are not taking secondary-level courses shall be administered and | ||
students in grades three through eight who are taking | ||
secondary-level courses may, at the option of the district or | ||
charter school participating in the consortium, be administered | ||
only the assessment instruments under Section 39.023 in mathematics | ||
annually in grades three through seven without the aid of | ||
technology, mathematics in grade eight with the aid of technology | ||
on any assessment instrument that includes algebra, reading | ||
annually, and science in grades five and eight, and may be | ||
administered an assessment instrument described by Section | ||
39.0261(a)(1) in eighth grade instead of the assessment instruments | ||
or may be administered fewer assessment instruments if allowed by | ||
federal law or a waiver of federal law; and | ||
(D) students taking secondary-level courses | ||
shall be assessed on end-of-course assessment instruments | ||
administered under Section 39.023(c) only for the 10th grade level | ||
course in English in which they are currently enrolled or shall be | ||
administered an assessment instrument described by Section | ||
39.0261(a)(2) for 10th grade in the same subject if allowed by | ||
federal law or a waiver of federal law, at the option of the | ||
district or open-enrollment charter school participating in the | ||
consortium; | ||
(2) beginning with the 2016-2017 school year or as | ||
soon as possible following receipt of a waiver from federal law or a | ||
change in the federal law that requires annual testing of every | ||
student: | ||
(A) students shall be administered: | ||
(i) assessment instruments under Section | ||
39.023(a) for reading in grade three, mathematics in grade four, | ||
science in grade five, reading in grade six, and mathematics in | ||
grade seven; | ||
(ii) in prekindergarten through 12th grade, | ||
locally approved or developed assessment instruments that are | ||
aligned to readiness standards or high-priority learning standards | ||
under Subsection (f), that may include limited numbers of | ||
state-provided assessment items, and that may have results that can | ||
be accessed by the agency for monitoring and reporting purposes, or | ||
other satisfactory secondary-level performance demonstrated under | ||
Section 39.025(a-1); and | ||
(iii) assessment instruments described by | ||
Section 39.0261(a); and | ||
(B) a participant campus shall be evaluated on | ||
community-established measures that include academic achievement | ||
and college and career readiness; | ||
(3) beginning not later than the 2015-2016 school | ||
year, students in a special education program shall be administered | ||
appropriate assessments, including assessments developed or | ||
adopted under Section 39.023(b) and other assessments developed or | ||
adopted for significantly cognitively disabled students; and | ||
(4) beginning with the 2015-2016 school year, students | ||
of limited English proficiency, as defined by Section 29.052: | ||
(A) shall be administered appropriate | ||
assessments, including assessments approved by the commissioner | ||
that measure linguistic and academic growth as determined by the | ||
student's language proficiency assessment committee established by | ||
Section 29.063; and | ||
(B) if a waiver from federal law is obtained, | ||
shall participate in appropriate assessments the first five years | ||
the students are enrolled in schools in the United States as | ||
participation-only unless the student attains an English | ||
proficiency rating equivalent to advanced high performance during | ||
this period, in which case the student's data will be aggregated | ||
into campus and district performance reports. | ||
(m) The consortium shall receive independent evaluation | ||
from one or more external evaluation teams, including an | ||
institution of higher education in this state. | ||
(m-1) An evaluation conducted under Subsection (m) must be | ||
included in the reports required under Subsection (j). This | ||
subsection expires January 1, 2020. | ||
SECTION 2. Section 29.0822(a), Education Code, is amended | ||
to read as follows: | ||
(a) Notwithstanding Section 25.081 or 25.082, a school | ||
district may apply to the commissioner to provide a flexible school | ||
day program for students who: | ||
(1) have dropped out of school or are at risk of | ||
dropping out of school as defined by Section 29.081; | ||
(2) attend a campus that is implementing an innovative | ||
redesign of the campus, including a campus in the high performance | ||
schools consortium under Section 7.0561, or an early college high | ||
school under a plan approved by the commissioner; or | ||
(3) as a result of attendance requirements under | ||
Section 25.092, will be denied credit or a final grade for one or | ||
more classes in which the students have been enrolled. | ||
SECTION 3. Section 39.025(d), Education Code, is amended to | ||
read as follows: | ||
(d) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), the commissioner by | ||
rule shall adopt one or more alternative nationally recognized norm | ||
referenced assessment instruments under this section to administer | ||
to a student to qualify for a high school diploma if the student | ||
enrolls after January 1 of the school year in which the student is | ||
otherwise eligible to graduate: | ||
(1) for the first time in a public school in this | ||
state; [ |
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(2) after an absence of at least four years from any | ||
public school in this state; or | ||
(3) in a public school in this state that does not | ||
participate in the high performance schools consortium under | ||
Section 7.0561 after the student has been enrolled in a public | ||
school participating in the consortium during high school. | ||
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. |