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91_HB0506ham001
LRB9100167NTsbam01
1 AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 506
2 AMENDMENT NO. . Amend House Bill 506 by replacing
3 everything after the enacting clause with the following:
4 "Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing
5 Section 2-3.64 as follows:
6 (105 ILCS 5/2-3.64) (from Ch. 122, par. 2-3.64)
7 Sec. 2-3.64. State goals and assessment.
8 (a) Beginning in the 1992-93 school year, the State
9 Board of Education shall establish standards and annually,
10 through the 1997-1998 school year, assess the performance
11 of: (i) all pupils enrolled in the 3rd, 6th, 8th, and 10th
12 grades in language arts (reading and writing) and
13 mathematics; and (ii) all pupils enrolled in the 4th, 7th,
14 and 11th grades in the biological, physical, and social
15 sciences. Beginning in the 1998-1999 school year, the State
16 Board of Education shall establish standards and
17 periodically, in collaboration with local school districts,
18 conduct studies of student performance in the learning areas
19 of fine arts and physical development/health. Beginning with
20 the 1998-1999 school year, the State Board of Education shall
21 annually test: (i) all pupils enrolled in the 3rd, 5th, and
22 8th, and 10th grades in English language arts (reading,
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1 writing, and English grammar) and mathematics; and (ii) all
2 pupils enrolled in the 4th and, 7th, and 11th grades in the
3 biological and physical sciences and the social sciences
4 (history, geography, civics, economics, and government). The
5 State Board of Education shall establish, in final form and
6 within one year after the effective date of this amendatory
7 Act of 1996, the academic standards that are to be applicable
8 to pupils who are subject to State tests under this Section
9 beginning with the 1998-1999 school year. However, the State
10 Board of Education shall not establish any such standards in
11 final form without first providing opportunities for public
12 participation and local input in the development of the final
13 academic standards. Those opportunities shall include a
14 well-publicized period of public comment, public hearings
15 throughout the State, and opportunities to file written
16 comments. Beginning with the 1998-99 school year and
17 thereafter, the State tests will identify pupils in the 3rd
18 grade or 5th grade who do not meet the State standards. If,
19 by performance on the State tests or local assessments or by
20 teacher judgment, a student's performance is determined to be
21 2 or more grades below current placement, the student shall
22 be provided a remediation program developed by the district
23 in consultation with a parent or guardian. Such remediation
24 programs may include, but shall not be limited to, increased
25 or concentrated instructional time, a remedial summer school
26 program of not less than 90 hours, improved instructional
27 approaches, tutorial sessions, retention in grade, and
28 modifications to instructional materials. Each pupil for whom
29 a remediation program is developed under this subsection
30 shall be required to enroll in and attend whatever program
31 the district determines is appropriate for the pupil.
32 Districts may combine students in remediation programs where
33 appropriate and may cooperate with other districts in the
34 design and delivery of those programs. The parent or
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1 guardian of a student required to attend a remediation
2 program under this Section shall be given written notice of
3 that requirement by the school district a reasonable time
4 prior to commencement of the remediation program that the
5 student is to attend. The State shall be responsible for
6 providing school districts with the new and additional
7 funding, under Section 2-3.51.5 or by other or additional
8 means, that is required to enable the districts to operate
9 remediation programs for the pupils who are required to
10 enroll in and attend those programs under this Section. Every
11 individualized educational program as described in Article 14
12 shall identify if the State test or components thereof are
13 appropriate for that student. For those pupils for whom the
14 State tests test or components thereof are not appropriate,
15 the State Board of Education shall develop rules and
16 regulations governing the administration of alternative tests
17 prescribed within each student's individualized educational
18 program which are appropriate to the disability of each
19 student. All pupils who are in a State approved transitional
20 bilingual education program or transitional program of
21 instruction shall participate in the State tests. Any
22 student who has been enrolled in a State approved bilingual
23 education program less than 3 academic years shall be
24 exempted if the student's lack of English as determined by an
25 English language proficiency test would keep the student from
26 understanding the test, and that student's district shall
27 have an alternative test program in place for that student.
28 The State Board of Education shall appoint a task force of
29 concerned parents, teachers, school administrators and other
30 professionals to assist in identifying such alternative
31 tests. Reasonable accommodations as prescribed by the State
32 Board of Education shall be provided for individual students
33 in the testing procedure. All test procedures prescribed by
34 the State Board of Education shall require: (i) that each
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1 test used for State and local student testing under this
2 Section identify by name the pupil taking the test; (ii) that
3 the name of the pupil taking the test be placed on the test
4 at the time the test is taken; (iii) that the results or
5 scores of each test taken under this Section by a pupil of
6 the school district be reported to that district and identify
7 by name the pupil who received the reported results or
8 scores; and (iv) that the results or scores of each test
9 taken under this Section be made available to the parents of
10 the pupil. In addition, beginning with the 1998-1999 school
11 year and in each school year thereafter, all scores received
12 by a student on the Illinois Goals and Assessment Program
13 tests administered in grades 10 and 11 by the State Board of
14 Education under this Section and, beginning with the
15 1999-2000-2001 school year and in each school year
16 thereafter, the highest scores and performance levels
17 attained received by a student on the Prairie State
18 Achievement Examination administered under subsection (c) of
19 this Section shall become part of the student's permanent
20 record and shall be entered on the student's transcript
21 therein pursuant to regulations that the State Board of
22 Education shall promulgate for that purpose in accordance
23 with Section 3 and subsection (e) of Section 2 of the
24 Illinois School Student Records Act. Beginning with the
25 1998-1999 school year and in every school year thereafter,
26 scores received by students on the State assessment Illinois
27 Goals and Assessment Program tests administered in other
28 grades 3 through 8 shall be placed into students' temporary
29 records. Except as provided in subsection (c) of this
30 Section, The State Board of Education shall establish a
31 common month in each school year for which State testing
32 shall occur to meet the objectives of this Section. However,
33 if the schools of a district are closed and classes are not
34 scheduled during any week that is established by the State
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1 Board of Education as the week of the month when State
2 testing under this Section shall occur, the school district
3 may administer the required State testing at any time up to 2
4 weeks following the week established by the State Board of
5 Education for the testing, so long as the school district
6 gives the State Board of Education written notice of its
7 intention to deviate from the established schedule by
8 December 1 January 2 of the school year in which falls the
9 week established by the State Board of Education for the
10 testing. The maximum time allowed for all actual testing
11 required under this subsection during the school year shall
12 not exceed 25 hours as allocated among the required tests by
13 the State Board of Education.
14 (a-5) All tests administered pursuant to this Section
15 shall be academically based. For the purposes of this
16 Section "academically based tests" shall mean tests
17 consisting of questions and answers that are measurable and
18 quantifiable to measure the knowledge, skill, and ability of
19 students in the subject matters covered by tests. The scoring
20 of academically based tests shall be reliable, valid,
21 unbiased and shall meet the guidelines for test development
22 and use prescribed by the American Psychological Association,
23 the National Council of Measurement and Evaluation, and the
24 American Educational Research Association. Academically based
25 tests shall not include assessments or evaluations of
26 attitudes, values, or beliefs, or testing of personality,
27 self-esteem, or self-concept. Nothing in this amendatory Act
28 is intended, nor shall it be construed, to nullify,
29 supersede, or contradict the legislative intent on academic
30 testing expressed during the passage of HB 1005/P.A. 90-296.
31 Beginning in the 1998-1999 school year, the State Board
32 of Education may, on a pilot basis, include in the State
33 assessments in reading and math at each grade level tested no
34 more than 2 short answer questions, where students have to
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1 respond in brief to questions or prompts or show
2 computations, rather than select from alternatives that are
3 presented. In the first year that such questions are used,
4 scores on the short answer questions shall not be reported on
5 an individual student basis but shall be aggregated for each
6 school building in which the tests are given. State-level,
7 school, and district scores shall be reported both with and
8 without the results of the short answer questions so that the
9 effect of short answer questions is clearly discernible.
10 Beginning in the second year of this pilot program, scores on
11 the short answer questions shall be reported both on an
12 individual student basis and on a school building basis in
13 order to monitor the effects of teacher training and
14 curriculum improvements on score results.
15 The State Board of Education shall not continue the use
16 of short answer questions in the math and reading
17 assessments, or extend the use of such questions to other
18 State assessments, unless this pilot project demonstrates
19 that the use of short answer questions results in a
20 statistically significant improvement in student achievement
21 as measured on the State assessments for math and reading and
22 is justifiable in terms of cost and student performance.
23 (b) It shall be the policy of the State to encourage
24 school districts to continuously test pupil proficiency in
25 the fundamental learning areas in order to: (i) provide
26 timely information on individual students' performance
27 relative to State standards that is adequate to guide
28 instructional strategies; (ii) improve future instruction;
29 and (iii) complement the information provided by the State
30 testing system described in this Section. Each district's
31 school improvement plan must address specific activities the
32 district intends to implement to assist pupils who by teacher
33 judgment and test results as prescribed in subsection (a) of
34 this Section demonstrate that they are not meeting State
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1 standards goals or local objectives. Such activities may
2 include, but shall not be limited to, summer school, extended
3 school day, special homework, tutorial sessions, modified
4 instructional materials, other modifications in the
5 instructional program, reduced class size or retention in
6 grade. To assist school districts in testing pupil
7 proficiency in reading in the primary grades, the State Board
8 shall make optional reading inventories for diagnostic
9 purposes available to each school district that requests such
10 assistance. Districts that administer the reading
11 inventories may develop remediation programs for students who
12 perform in the bottom half of the student population. Those
13 remediation programs may be funded by moneys provided under
14 the School Safety and Educational Improvement Block Grant
15 Program established under Section 2-3.51.5. Nothing in this
16 Section shall prevent school districts from implementing
17 testing and remediation policies for grades not required
18 under this Section.
19 (c) Beginning with the 1999-2000-2001 school year, each
20 school district that operates a high school program for
21 students in grades 9 through 12 shall annually administer the
22 Prairie State Achievement Examination established under this
23 subsection to its 12th grade students as set forth below.
24 The Prairie State Achievement Examination shall be developed
25 by the State Board of Education to measure student
26 performance in the 5 fundamental academic areas of reading,
27 writing, mathematics, science, and social sciences. The
28 State Board of Education shall establish the academic
29 standards that are to apply in measuring student performance
30 on the Prairie State Achievement Examination in those 5
31 fundamental academic areas, including the minimum composite
32 examination score and the minimum score in each area that,
33 taken together, will qualify a student to receive a the
34 Prairie State Achievement Award from the State in recognition
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1 of the student's excellent performance. Each school district
2 that is subject to the requirements of this subsection (c)
3 shall afford all students a graduating student 2
4 opportunities to take the Prairie State Achievement
5 Examination beginning as late as practical during the second
6 semester of grade 11, but in no event before March 1 during
7 the semester in which the student will graduate. The State
8 Board of Education shall annually notify districts of the
9 weeks during which these test administrations shall be
10 required to occur. Every individualized educational program
11 as described in Article 14 shall identify if the Prairie
12 State Achievement Examination or components thereof are
13 appropriate for that student. Each student, exclusive of a
14 student whose individualized educational program developed
15 under Article 14 identifies the Prairie State Achievement
16 Examination as inappropriate for the student, shall be
17 required to take the examination in grade 11. the final
18 semester before his or her graduation. Score reports For
19 each fundamental academic area the State Board of Education
20 shall establish indicate the score that qualifies for the
21 Prairie State Achievement Award as an excellent score on that
22 portion of the examination. Any student who attains a
23 satisfactory composite score but who fails to earn a
24 qualifying score for a Prairie State Achievement Award in any
25 one or more of the fundamental academic areas on the initial
26 test administration or who wishes to improve his or her score
27 on any portion of the examination for the semester during
28 which the student will graduate from high school shall be
29 permitted to retake such portion or portions of the
30 examination during grade 12 the second test of that semester.
31 Districts shall inform their students of the timelines and
32 procedures applicable to their optional participation in
33 every yearly administration such additional administrations
34 of the Prairie State Achievement Examination. Students
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1 receiving special education services whose individualized
2 educational programs identify the Prairie State Achievement
3 Examination as inappropriate for them nevertheless shall have
4 the option of taking the examination, which shall be
5 administered to those students in accordance with standards
6 adopted by the State Board of Education to accommodate the
7 respective disabilities of those students. A student who
8 successfully completes all other applicable high school
9 graduation requirements but fails to receive a score on the
10 Prairie State Achievement Examination that qualifies the
11 student for receipt of a the Prairie State Achievement Award
12 shall nevertheless qualify for the receipt of a regular high
13 school diploma.
14 (Source: P.A. 89-610, eff. 8-6-96; 90-566, eff. 1-2-98;
15 90-789, eff. 8-14-98.)
16 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
17 becoming law.".