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90_HB1326
105 ILCS 5/2-3.64 from Ch. 122, par. 2-3.64
Amends the School Code. Provides that the State Board of
Education shall establish a minimum passing score for the
Prairie State Achievement Examination (in addition to the
minimum score that it currently must establish as a score
qualifying as excellent). Provides that a student who fails
to receive a passing score shall receive only a certificate
of attendance but not a regular high school diploma upon
completing high school. Provides that a person who receives
a passing (but not an excellent) score on the Prairie State
Achievement Examination is entitled to a regular high school
diploma. Limits the Prairie State Achievement Award to those
students whose score on the examination qualifies as
excellent.
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1 AN ACT to amend the School Code by changing Section
2 2-3.64.
3 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
4 represented in the General Assembly:
5 Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing
6 Section 2-3.64 as follows:
7 (105 ILCS 5/2-3.64) (from Ch. 122, par. 2-3.64)
8 Sec. 2-3.64. State goals and assessment.
9 (a) Beginning in the 1992-93 school year, the State
10 Board of Education shall establish standards and annually,
11 through the 1997-1998 school year, assess the performance
12 of: (i) all pupils enrolled in the 3rd, 6th, 8th, and 10th
13 grades in language arts (reading and writing) and
14 mathematics; and (ii) all pupils enrolled in the 4th, 7th,
15 and 11th grades in the biological, physical, and social
16 sciences. Beginning in the 1995-96 school year, the State
17 Board of Education shall establish standards and periodically
18 conduct, through the 1997-1998 school year, studies of
19 student performance in the learning areas of fine arts and
20 physical development/health. Beginning with the 1998-1999
21 school year, the State Board of Education shall annually
22 assess the performance of all pupils enrolled in the 3rd and
23 5th grades in the basic subjects of reading, writing, and
24 mathematics. The State Board of Education shall establish, in
25 final form and within one year after the effective date of
26 this amendatory Act of 1996, the academic standards that are
27 to be applicable to pupils who are subject to State
28 assessment under this Section beginning with the 1998-1999
29 school year. However, the State Board of Education shall not
30 establish any such standards in final form without first
31 providing opportunities for public participation and local
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1 input in the development of the final academic standards.
2 Those opportunities shall include a well-publicized period of
3 public comment, public hearings throughout the State, and
4 opportunities to file written comments. Beginning with the
5 1998-99 school year and thereafter, pupils in the 3rd grade
6 or 5th grade who, by performance on the State assessment
7 tests or by teacher judgement, demonstrate a proficiency
8 level comparable to the average pupil performance 2 or more
9 grades below current placement shall be provided a
10 remediation program developed by the district in consultation
11 with a parent or guardian. Such remediation programs may
12 include, but shall not be limited to, increased or
13 concentrated instructional time, a remedial summer school
14 program of not less than 90 hours, improved instructional
15 approaches, tutorial sessions, retention in grade, and
16 modifications to instructional materials. Each pupil for whom
17 a remediation program is developed under this subsection
18 shall be required to enroll in and attend whatever program
19 the district determines is appropriate for the pupil.
20 Districts may combine students in remediation programs where
21 appropriate and may cooperate with other districts in the
22 design and delivery of those programs. The parent or
23 guardian of a student required to attend a remediation
24 program under this Section shall be given written notice of
25 that requirement by the school district a reasonable time
26 prior to commencement of the remediation program that the
27 student is to attend. The State shall be responsible for
28 providing school districts with the new and additional
29 funding, under Section 2-3.51.5 or by other or additional
30 means, that is required to enable the districts to operate
31 remediation programs for the pupils who are required to
32 enroll in and attend those programs under this Section. Every
33 individualized educational program as described in Article 14
34 shall identify if the State test or components thereof are
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1 appropriate for that student. For those pupils for whom the
2 State test or components thereof are not appropriate, the
3 State Board of Education shall develop rules and regulations
4 governing the administration of alternative assessments
5 prescribed within each student's individualized educational
6 program which are appropriate to the disability of each
7 student. All pupils who are in a State approved transitional
8 bilingual education program or transitional program of
9 instruction shall participate in the State assessment. Any
10 student who has been enrolled in a State approved bilingual
11 education program less than 3 academic years shall be
12 exempted if the student's lack of English as determined by an
13 English language proficiency test would keep the student from
14 understanding the test, and that student's district shall
15 have an alternative assessment program in place for that
16 student. The State Board of Education shall appoint a task
17 force of concerned parents, teachers, school administrators
18 and other professionals to assist in identifying such
19 alternative assessment programs. Reasonable accommodations as
20 prescribed by the State Board of Education shall be provided
21 for individual students in the assessment procedure. All
22 assessment procedures prescribed by the State Board of
23 Education shall require: (i) that each test used for State
24 and local student assessment testing under this Section
25 identify by name the pupil taking the test; (ii) that the
26 name of the pupil taking the test be placed on the test at
27 the time the test is taken; (iii) that the results or scores
28 of each test taken under this Section by a pupil of the
29 school district be reported to that district and identify by
30 name the pupil who received the reported results of scores;
31 and (iv) that the results or scores of each test taken under
32 this Section be made available to the parents of the pupil.
33 In addition, beginning with the 1998-1999 school year and in
34 each school year thereafter, all scores received by a student
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1 on the Illinois Goals and Assessment Program tests
2 administered by the State Board of Education under this
3 Section and, beginning with the 1999-2000 school year and in
4 each school year thereafter, on the Prairie State Achievement
5 Examination administered under subsection (c) of this Section
6 shall become part of the student's permanent record and shall
7 be entered therein pursuant to regulations that the State
8 Board of Education shall promulgate for that purpose in
9 accordance with Section 3 and subsection (e) of Section 2 of
10 the Illinois School Student Records Act. The State Board of
11 Education shall establish a common month in each school year
12 for which State testing shall occur to meet the objectives of
13 this Section. However, if the schools of a district are
14 closed and classes are not scheduled during any week that is
15 established by the State Board of Education as the week of
16 the month when State testing under this Section shall occur,
17 the school district may administer the required State testing
18 at any time up to 2 weeks following the week established by
19 the State Board of Education for the testing, so long as the
20 school district gives the State Board of Education written
21 notice of its intention to deviate from the established
22 schedule by January 2 of the year in which falls the week
23 established by the State Board of Education for the testing.
24 The maximum time allowed for all actual testing required
25 under this subsection during the school year shall not exceed
26 25 hours as allocated among the required tests by the State
27 Board of Education.
28 (a-5) The State Board of Education shall review the
29 current assessment testing schedule applicable under
30 subsection (a) on the effective date of this amendatory Act
31 of 1996 and submit a plan to the General Assembly, on or
32 before December 31, 1996, to increase the effectiveness of
33 the State assessment tests administered under that subsection
34 with respect to student diagnosis and to reduce the amount of
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1 classroom time spent administering those tests. The General
2 Assembly may enact the recommendations made by the State
3 Board of Education to maximize effectiveness and minimize the
4 hours and grade levels of testing.
5 (b) It shall be the policy of the State to encourage
6 school districts to continuously assess pupil proficiency.
7 Each district's school improvement plan must address specific
8 activities the district intends to implement to assist pupils
9 who by teacher judgement and assessment results as prescribed
10 in subsection (a) of this Section demonstrate that they are
11 not meeting State goals or local objectives. Such activities
12 may include, but shall not be limited to, summer school,
13 extended school day, special homework, tutorial sessions,
14 modified instructional materials, other modifications in the
15 instructional program, reduced class size or retention in
16 grade. To assist school districts in assessing pupil
17 proficiency in reading in the primary grades, the State Board
18 shall make optional reading inventories for diagnostic
19 purposes available to each school district that requests such
20 assistance. Districts that administer the reading
21 inventories may develop remediation programs for students who
22 perform in the bottom half of the student population. Those
23 remediation programs may be funded by moneys provided under
24 the School Safety and Educational Improvement Block Grant
25 Program established under Section 2-3.51.5. Nothing in this
26 Section shall prevent school districts from implementing
27 testing and remediation policies for grades not required
28 under this Section.
29 (c) Beginning with the 1999-2000 school year, each
30 school district that operates a high school program for
31 students in grades 9 through 12 shall administer a Prairie
32 State Achievement Examination each year to its 12th grade
33 students. The Prairie State Achievement Examination shall
34 measure student performance in the 5 fundamental academic
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1 areas of reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social
2 studies. The State Board of Education shall establish the
3 academic standards that are to apply in measuring student
4 performance on the Prairie State Achievement Examination in
5 those 5 fundamental academic areas, including the minimum
6 examination score that will qualify for purposes of this
7 Section as a score that is passing and the minimum
8 examination score that will qualify for purposes of this
9 Section as a score that is excellent. A student whose score
10 on the Prairie State Achievement Examination is determined to
11 be excellent by the State Board of Education shall receive
12 the Prairie State Achievement Award from the State in
13 recognition of the student's excellent performance. Each 12th
14 grade student, exclusive of a student whose individualized
15 educational program developed under Article 14 does not
16 identify the Prairie State Achievement Examination as
17 appropriate for the student, shall be required to take the
18 examination, which each school district shall administer to
19 its 12th grade students in January of each school year. The
20 Prairie State Achievement Examination shall be administered
21 by each school district a second time, in March of each
22 school year, for those 12th grade students who fail to
23 receive a score on the January examination that is passing or
24 that would qualify them to receive the Prairie State
25 Achievement Award. The March examination must be taken by
26 those 12th grade students who fail to receive a passing score
27 on the January examination. Students who receive a passing
28 but not an excellent score on the January examination may and
29 who elect to take the March examination for the purpose of
30 attempting to earn a score that will qualify them to receive
31 the Prairie State Achievement that Award. Students who will
32 graduate from high school before entering grade 12 shall take
33 the Prairie State Achievement Examination during the school
34 year in which they will graduate from high school. Students
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1 receiving special education services whose individualized
2 educational programs do not identify the Prairie State
3 Achievement Examination as appropriate for them nevertheless
4 shall have the option of taking the examination, which shall
5 be administered to those students in accordance with
6 standards adopted by the State Board of Education to
7 accommodate the respective disabilities of those students. A
8 student who fails to receive a passing score on the Prairie
9 State Achievement Examination before completing his or her
10 last year of high school shall receive a certificate of
11 attendance upon completing high school but shall not qualify
12 for the receipt of a regular high school diploma. A student
13 who receives a passing score on the Prairie State Achievement
14 Examination and successfully completes all other applicable
15 high school graduation requirements but who fails to receive
16 a score of excellent on the Prairie State Achievement
17 Examination that qualifies the student for receipt of the
18 Prairie State Achievement Award shall nevertheless qualify
19 for the receipt of a regular high school diploma.
20 (Source: P.A. 88-192; 88-227; 88-670, eff. 12-2-94; 88-686,
21 eff. 1-24-95; 89-610, eff. 8-6-96.)