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91_HB2188eng HB2188 Engrossed LRB9103417NTsbA 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 1998-1999 school year, the State 17 Board of Education shall establish standards and 18 periodically, in collaboration with local school districts, 19 conduct studies of student performance in the learning areas 20 of fine arts and physical development/health. Beginning with 21 the 1998-1999 school year, the State Board of Education shall 22 annually test: (i) all pupils enrolled in the 3rd, 5th, 8th, 23 and 10th grades in English language arts (reading, writing, 24 and English grammar) and mathematics; and (ii) all pupils 25 enrolled in the 4th, 7th, and 11th grades in the biological 26 and physical sciences and the social sciences (history, 27 geography, civics, economics, and government). The State 28 Board of Education shall establish, in final form and within 29 one year after the effective date of this amendatory Act of 30 1996, the academic standards that are to be applicable to 31 pupils who are subject to State tests under this Section HB2188 Engrossed -2- LRB9103417NTsbA 1 beginning with the 1998-1999 school year. However, the State 2 Board of Education shall not establish any such standards in 3 final form without first providing opportunities for public 4 participation and local input in the development of the final 5 academic standards. Those opportunities shall include a 6 well-publicized period of public comment, public hearings 7 throughout the State, and opportunities to file written 8 comments. Beginning with the 1999-20001998-99school year 9 and thereafter, the State tests shallwillidentify pupils in 10 the 3rd grade,or5th grade, 8th grade, and 10th grade who do 11 not meet the State standards. If, by performance on the 12 State tests or local assessments or by teacher judgment, a 13 student's performance is determined to be 2 or more grades 14 below current placement, the student shall be provided a 15 remediation program developed by the district in consultation 16 with a parent or guardian. Such remediation programs may 17 include, but shall not be limited to, increased or 18 concentrated instructional time, a remedial summer school 19 program of not less than 90 hours, improved instructional 20 approaches, tutorial sessions, retention in grade, and 21 modifications to instructional materials. Each pupil for whom 22 a remediation program is developed under this subsection 23 shall be required to enroll in and attend whatever program 24 the district determines is appropriate for the pupil. 25 Districts may combine students in remediation programs where 26 appropriate and may cooperate with other districts in the 27 design and delivery of those programs. The parent or 28 guardian of a student required to attend a remediation 29 program under this Section shall be given written notice of 30 that requirement by the school district a reasonable time 31 prior to commencement of the remediation program that the 32 student is to attend. The State shall be responsible for 33 providing school districts with the new and additional 34 funding, under Section 2-3.51.5 or by other or additional HB2188 Engrossed -3- LRB9103417NTsbA 1 means, that is required to enable the districts to operate 2 remediation programs for the pupils who are required to 3 enroll in and attend those programs under this Section. Every 4 individualized educational program as described in Article 14 5 shall identify if the State test or components thereof are 6 appropriate for that student. For those pupils for whom the 7 State test or components thereof are not appropriate, the 8 State Board of Education shall develop rules and regulations 9 governing the administration of alternative tests prescribed 10 within each student's individualized educational program 11 which are appropriate to the disability of each student. All 12 pupils who are in a State approved transitional bilingual 13 education program or transitional program of instruction 14 shall participate in the State tests. Any student who has 15 been enrolled in a State approved bilingual education program 16 less than 3 academic years shall be exempted if the student's 17 lack of English as determined by an English language 18 proficiency test would keep the student from understanding 19 the test, and that student's district shall have an 20 alternative test program in place for that student. The State 21 Board of Education shall appoint a task force of concerned 22 parents, teachers, school administrators and other 23 professionals to assist in identifying such alternative 24 tests. Reasonable accommodations as prescribed by the State 25 Board of Education shall be provided for individual students 26 in the testing procedure. All test procedures prescribed by 27 the State Board of Education shall require: (i) that each 28 test used for State and local student testing under this 29 Section identify by name the pupil taking the test; (ii) that 30 the name of the pupil taking the test be placed on the test 31 at the time the test is taken; (iii) that the results or 32 scores of each test taken under this Section by a pupil of 33 the school district be reported to that district and identify 34 by name the pupil who received the reported results or HB2188 Engrossed -4- LRB9103417NTsbA 1 scores; and (iv) that the results or scores of each test 2 taken under this Section be made available to the parents of 3 the pupil. In addition, beginning with the 1998-1999 school 4 year and in each school year thereafter, all scores received 5 by a student on the Illinois Goals and Assessment Program 6 tests administered in grades 10 and 11 by the State Board of 7 Education under this Section and, beginning with the 8 1999-2000 school year and in each school year thereafter, the 9 scores received by a student on the Prairie State Achievement 10 Examination administered under subsection (c) of this Section 11 shall become part of the student's permanent record and shall 12 be entered therein pursuant to regulations that the State 13 Board of Education shall promulgate for that purpose in 14 accordance with Section 3 and subsection (e) of Section 2 of 15 the Illinois School Student Records Act. Scores received by 16 students on the Illinois Goals and Assessment Program tests 17 administered in other grades shall be placed into students' 18 temporary records. Except as provided in subsection (c) of 19 this Section, the State Board of Education shall establish a 20 common month in each school year for which State testing 21 shall occur to meet the objectives of this Section. However, 22 if the schools of a district are closed and classes are not 23 scheduled during any week that is established by the State 24 Board of Education as the week of the month when State 25 testing under this Section shall occur, the school district 26 may administer the required State testing at any time up to 2 27 weeks following the week established by the State Board of 28 Education for the testing, so long as the school district 29 gives the State Board of Education written notice of its 30 intention to deviate from the established schedule by January 31 2 of the year in which falls the week established by the 32 State Board of Education for the testing. The maximum time 33 allowed for all actual testing required under this subsection 34 during the school year shall not exceed 25 hours as allocated HB2188 Engrossed -5- LRB9103417NTsbA 1 among the required tests by the State Board of Education. 2 (a-5) All tests administered pursuant to this Section 3 shall be academically based. For the purposes of this 4 Section "academically based tests" shall mean tests 5 consisting of questions and answers that are measurable and 6 quantifiable to measure the knowledge, skill, and ability of 7 students in the subject matters covered by tests. The scoring 8 of academically based tests shall be reliable, valid, 9 unbiased and shall meet the guidelines for test development 10 and use prescribed by the American Psychological Association, 11 the National Council of Measurement and Evaluation, and the 12 American Educational Research Association. Academically based 13 tests shall not include assessments or evaluations of 14 attitudes, values, or beliefs, or testing of personality, 15 self-esteem, or self-concept. Nothing in this amendatory Act 16 is intended, nor shall it be construed, to nullify, 17 supersede, or contradict the legislative intent on academic 18 testing expressed during the passage of HB 1005/P.A. 90-296. 19 Beginning in the 1998-1999 school year, the State Board 20 of Education may, on a pilot basis, include in the State 21 assessments in reading and math at each grade level tested no 22 more than 2 short answer questions, where students have to 23 respond in brief to questions or prompts or show 24 computations, rather than select from alternatives that are 25 presented. In the first year that such questions are used, 26 scores on the short answer questions shall not be reported on 27 an individual student basis but shall be aggregated for each 28 school building in which the tests are given. State-level, 29 school, and district scores shall be reported both with and 30 without the results of the short answer questions so that the 31 effect of short answer questions is clearly discernible. 32 Beginning in the second year of this pilot program, scores on 33 the short answer questions shall be reported both on an 34 individual student basis and on a school building basis in HB2188 Engrossed -6- LRB9103417NTsbA 1 order to monitor the effects of teacher training and 2 curriculum improvements on score results. 3 The State Board of Education shall not continue the use 4 of short answer questions in the math and reading 5 assessments, or extend the use of such questions to other 6 State assessments, unless this pilot project demonstrates 7 that the use of short answer questions results in a 8 statistically significant improvement in student achievement 9 as measured on the State assessments for math and reading and 10 is justifiable in terms of cost and student performance. 11 (b) It shall be the policy of the State to encourage 12 school districts to continuously test pupil proficiency in 13 the fundamental learning areas in order to: (i) provide 14 timely information on individual students' performance 15 relative to State standards that is adequate to guide 16 instructional strategies; (ii) improve future instruction; 17 and (iii) complement the information provided by the State 18 testing system described in this Section. Each district's 19 school improvement plan must address specific activities the 20 district intends to implement to assist pupils who by teacher 21 judgment and test results as prescribed in subsection (a) of 22 this Section demonstrate that they are not meeting State 23 goals or local objectives. Such activities may include, but 24 shall not be limited to, summer school, extended school day, 25 special homework, tutorial sessions, modified instructional 26 materials, other modifications in the instructional program, 27 reduced class size or retention in grade. To assist school 28 districts in testing pupil proficiency in reading in the 29 primary grades, the State Board shall make optional reading 30 inventories for diagnostic purposes available to each school 31 district that requests such assistance. Districts that 32 administer the reading inventories may develop remediation 33 programs for students who perform in the bottom half of the 34 student population. Those remediation programs may be funded HB2188 Engrossed -7- LRB9103417NTsbA 1 by moneys provided under the School Safety and Educational 2 Improvement Block Grant Program established under Section 3 2-3.51.5. Nothing in this Section shall prevent school 4 districts from implementing testing and remediation policies 5 for grades not required under this Section. 6 (c) Beginning with the 1999-2000 school year, each 7 school district that operates a high school program for 8 students in grades 9 through 12 shall annually administer the 9 Prairie State Achievement Examination established under this 10 subsection to its 12th grade students as set forth below. 11 The Prairie State Achievement Examination shall be developed 12 by the State Board of Education to measure student 13 performance in the 5 fundamental academic areas of reading, 14 writing, mathematics, science, and social sciences. The 15 State Board of Education shall establish the academic 16 standards that are to apply in measuring student performance 17 on the Prairie State Achievement Examination in those 5 18 fundamental academic areas, including the minimum composite 19 examination score and the minimum score in each area that, 20 taken together, will qualify a student to receive the 21 Prairie State Achievement Award from the State in recognition 22 of the student's excellent performance. Each school district 23 that is subject to the requirements of this subsection (c) 24 shall afford a graduating student 2 opportunities to take the 25 Prairie State Achievement Examination during the semester in 26 which the student will graduate. The State Board of 27 Education shall annually notify districts of the weeks during 28 which these test administrations shall be required to occur. 29 Each student, exclusive of a student whose individualized 30 educational program developed under Article 14 identifies the 31 Prairie State Achievement Examination as inappropriate for 32 the student, shall be required to take the examination in the 33 final semester before his or her graduation. Score reports 34 for each fundamental academic area shall indicate the score HB2188 Engrossed -8- LRB9103417NTsbA 1 that qualifies as an excellent score on that portion of the 2 examination. Any student who attains a satisfactory 3 composite score but who fails to earn a qualifying score in 4 any one or more of the fundamental academic areas on the 5 initial test administration for the semester during which the 6 student will graduate from high school shall be permitted to 7 retake such portion or portions of the examination during the 8 second test of that semester. Districts shall inform their 9 students of the timelines and procedures applicable to their 10 optional participation in such additional administrations of 11 the Prairie State Achievement Examination. Students receiving 12 special education services whose individualized educational 13 programs identify the Prairie State Achievement Examination 14 as inappropriate for them nevertheless shall have the option 15 of taking the examination, which shall be administered to 16 those students in accordance with standards adopted by the 17 State Board of Education to accommodate the respective 18 disabilities of those students. A student who successfully 19 completes all other applicable high school graduation 20 requirements but fails to receive a score on the Prairie 21 State Achievement Examination that qualifies the student for 22 receipt of the Prairie State Achievement Award shall 23 nevertheless qualify for the receipt of a regular high school 24 diploma. 25 (Source: P.A. 89-610, eff. 8-6-96; 90-566, eff. 1-2-98; 26 90-789, eff. 8-14-98.) 27 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon 28 becoming law.