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91_SB1666
LRB9111382NTks
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 1998-1999 school year, the State
10 Board of Education shall establish standards and
11 periodically, in collaboration with local school districts,
12 conduct studies of student performance in the learning areas
13 of fine arts and physical development/health. Beginning with
14 the 1998-1999 school year, the State Board of Education shall
15 annually test: (i) all pupils enrolled in the 3rd, 5th, and
16 8th grades in English language arts (reading, writing, and
17 English grammar) and mathematics; and (ii) all pupils
18 enrolled in the 4th and 7th grades in the biological and
19 physical sciences and the social sciences (history,
20 geography, civics, economics, and government). The State
21 Board of Education shall establish the academic standards
22 that are to be applicable to pupils who are subject to State
23 tests under this Section beginning with the 1998-1999 school
24 year. However, the State Board of Education shall not
25 establish any such standards in final form without first
26 providing opportunities for public participation and local
27 input in the development of the final academic standards.
28 Those opportunities shall include a well-publicized period of
29 public comment, public hearings throughout the State, and
30 opportunities to file written comments. Beginning with the
31 1998-99 school year and thereafter, the State tests will
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1 identify pupils in the 3rd grade or 5th grade who do not meet
2 the State standards. If, by performance on the State tests
3 or local assessments or by teacher judgment, a student's
4 performance is determined to be 2 or more grades below
5 current placement, the student shall be provided a
6 remediation program developed by the district in consultation
7 with a parent or guardian. Such remediation programs may
8 include, but shall not be limited to, increased or
9 concentrated instructional time, a remedial summer school
10 program of not less than 90 hours, improved instructional
11 approaches, tutorial sessions, retention in grade, and
12 modifications to instructional materials. Each pupil for whom
13 a remediation program is developed under this subsection
14 shall be required to enroll in and attend whatever program
15 the district determines is appropriate for the pupil.
16 Districts may combine students in remediation programs where
17 appropriate and may cooperate with other districts in the
18 design and delivery of those programs. The parent or
19 guardian of a student required to attend a remediation
20 program under this Section shall be given written notice of
21 that requirement by the school district a reasonable time
22 prior to commencement of the remediation program that the
23 student is to attend. The State shall be responsible for
24 providing school districts with the new and additional
25 funding, under Section 2-3.51.5 or by other or additional
26 means, that is required to enable the districts to operate
27 remediation programs for the pupils who are required to
28 enroll in and attend those programs under this Section. Every
29 individualized educational program as described in Article 14
30 shall identify if the State test or components thereof are
31 appropriate for that student. For those pupils for whom the
32 State tests or components thereof are not appropriate, the
33 State Board of Education shall develop rules and regulations
34 governing the administration of alternative tests prescribed
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1 within each student's individualized educational program
2 which are appropriate to the disability of each student. All
3 pupils who are in a State approved transitional bilingual
4 education program or transitional program of instruction
5 shall participate in the State tests. Any student who has
6 been enrolled in a State approved bilingual education program
7 less than 3 academic years shall be exempted if the student's
8 lack of English as determined by an English language
9 proficiency test would keep the student from understanding
10 the test, and that student's district shall have an
11 alternative test program in place for that student. The State
12 Board of Education shall appoint a task force of concerned
13 parents, teachers, school administrators and other
14 professionals to assist in identifying such alternative
15 tests. Reasonable accommodations as prescribed by the State
16 Board of Education shall be provided for individual students
17 in the testing procedure. All test procedures prescribed by
18 the State Board of Education shall require: (i) that each
19 test used for State and local student testing under this
20 Section identify by name the pupil taking the test; (ii) that
21 the name of the pupil taking the test be placed on the test
22 at the time the test is taken; (iii) that the results or
23 scores of each test taken under this Section by a pupil of
24 the school district be reported to that district and identify
25 by name the pupil who received the reported results or
26 scores; and (iv) that the results or scores of each test
27 taken under this Section be made available to the parents of
28 the pupil. In addition, beginning with the 2000-2001 school
29 year and in each school year thereafter, the highest scores
30 and performance levels attained by a student on the Prairie
31 State Achievement Examination administered under subsection
32 (c) of this Section shall become part of the student's
33 permanent record and shall be entered on the student's
34 transcript pursuant to regulations that the State Board of
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1 Education shall promulgate for that purpose in accordance
2 with Section 3 and subsection (e) of Section 2 of the
3 Illinois School Student Records Act. Beginning with the
4 1998-1999 school year and in every school year thereafter,
5 scores received by students on the State assessment tests
6 administered in grades 3 through 8 shall be placed into
7 students' temporary records. Except for the Prairie State
8 Achievement Examination administered under subsection (c) of
9 this Section, State testing shall be conducted during the
10 month of May each year for all school districts. The State
11 Board of Education shall establish a common month in each
12 school year for which State testing shall occur to meet the
13 objectives of this Section. However, if the schools of a
14 district are closed and classes are not scheduled during any
15 week that is established by the State Board of Education as
16 the week of the month when State testing under this Section
17 shall occur, the school district may administer the required
18 State testing at any time up to 2 weeks following the week
19 established by the State Board of Education for the testing,
20 so long as the school district gives the State Board of
21 Education written notice of its intention to deviate from the
22 established schedule by December 1 of the school year in
23 which falls the week established by the State Board of
24 Education for the testing. The maximum time allowed for all
25 actual testing required under this subsection during the
26 school year shall not exceed 25 hours as allocated among the
27 required tests by the State Board of Education.
28 (a-5) All tests administered pursuant to this Section
29 shall be academically based. For the purposes of this
30 Section "academically based tests" shall mean tests
31 consisting of questions and answers that are measurable and
32 quantifiable to measure the knowledge, skill, and ability of
33 students in the subject matters covered by tests. The scoring
34 of academically based tests shall be reliable, valid,
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1 unbiased and shall meet the guidelines for test development
2 and use prescribed by the American Psychological Association,
3 the National Council of Measurement and Evaluation, and the
4 American Educational Research Association. Academically based
5 tests shall not include assessments or evaluations of
6 attitudes, values, or beliefs, or testing of personality,
7 self-esteem, or self-concept. Nothing in this amendatory Act
8 is intended, nor shall it be construed, to nullify,
9 supersede, or contradict the legislative intent on academic
10 testing expressed during the passage of HB 1005/P.A. 90-296.
11 Beginning in the 1998-1999 school year, the State Board
12 of Education may, on a pilot basis, include in the State
13 assessments in reading and math at each grade level tested no
14 more than 2 short answer questions, where students have to
15 respond in brief to questions or prompts or show
16 computations, rather than select from alternatives that are
17 presented. In the first year that such questions are used,
18 scores on the short answer questions shall not be reported on
19 an individual student basis but shall be aggregated for each
20 school building in which the tests are given. State-level,
21 school, and district scores shall be reported both with and
22 without the results of the short answer questions so that the
23 effect of short answer questions is clearly discernible.
24 Beginning in the second year of this pilot program, scores on
25 the short answer questions shall be reported both on an
26 individual student basis and on a school building basis in
27 order to monitor the effects of teacher training and
28 curriculum improvements on score results.
29 The State Board of Education shall not continue the use
30 of short answer questions in the math and reading
31 assessments, or extend the use of such questions to other
32 State assessments, unless this pilot project demonstrates
33 that the use of short answer questions results in a
34 statistically significant improvement in student achievement
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1 as measured on the State assessments for math and reading and
2 is justifiable in terms of cost and student performance.
3 (b) It shall be the policy of the State to encourage
4 school districts to continuously test pupil proficiency in
5 the fundamental learning areas in order to: (i) provide
6 timely information on individual students' performance
7 relative to State standards that is adequate to guide
8 instructional strategies; (ii) improve future instruction;
9 and (iii) complement the information provided by the State
10 testing system described in this Section. Each district's
11 school improvement plan must address specific activities the
12 district intends to implement to assist pupils who by teacher
13 judgment and test results as prescribed in subsection (a) of
14 this Section demonstrate that they are not meeting State
15 standards or local objectives. Such activities may include,
16 but shall not be limited to, summer school, extended school
17 day, special homework, tutorial sessions, modified
18 instructional materials, other modifications in the
19 instructional program, reduced class size or retention in
20 grade. To assist school districts in testing pupil
21 proficiency in reading in the primary grades, the State Board
22 shall make optional reading inventories for diagnostic
23 purposes available to each school district that requests such
24 assistance. Districts that administer the reading
25 inventories may develop remediation programs for students who
26 perform in the bottom half of the student population. Those
27 remediation programs may be funded by moneys provided under
28 the School Safety and Educational Improvement Block Grant
29 Program established under Section 2-3.51.5. Nothing in this
30 Section shall prevent school districts from implementing
31 testing and remediation policies for grades not required
32 under this Section.
33 (c) Beginning with the 2000-2001 school year, each
34 school district that operates a high school program for
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1 students in grades 9 through 12 shall annually administer the
2 Prairie State Achievement Examination established under this
3 subsection to its students as set forth below. The Prairie
4 State Achievement Examination shall be developed by the State
5 Board of Education to measure student performance in the
6 academic areas of reading, writing, mathematics, science, and
7 social sciences. The State Board of Education shall
8 establish the academic standards that are to apply in
9 measuring student performance on the Prairie State
10 Achievement Examination including the minimum examination
11 score in each area that will qualify a student to receive a
12 Prairie State Achievement Award from the State in recognition
13 of the student's excellent performance. Each school district
14 that is subject to the requirements of this subsection (c)
15 shall afford all students 2 opportunities to take the Prairie
16 State Achievement Examination beginning as late as practical
17 during the second semester of grade 11, but in no event
18 before March 1. The State Board of Education shall establish
19 a common month in each school year for which testing under
20 this subsection (c) shall occur to meet the objectives of
21 this Section. The State Board of Education shall annually
22 notify districts of the weeks during which these test
23 administrations shall be required to occur. However, if the
24 schools of a district are closed and classes are not
25 scheduled during any week that is established by the State
26 Board of Education as the week of the month when testing
27 under this subsection (c) shall occur, the school district
28 may administer the testing at any time up to 2 weeks
29 following the week established by the State Board of
30 Education for the testing, so long as the school district
31 gives the State Board of Education written notice of its
32 intention to deviate from the established schedule by
33 December 1 of the school year in which falls the week
34 established by the State Board of Education for the testing.
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1 Every individualized educational program as described in
2 Article 14 shall identify if the Prairie State Achievement
3 Examination or components thereof are appropriate for that
4 student. Each student, exclusive of a student whose
5 individualized educational program developed under Article 14
6 identifies the Prairie State Achievement Examination as
7 inappropriate for the student, shall be required to take the
8 examination in grade 11. For each academic area the State
9 Board of Education shall establish the score that qualifies
10 for the Prairie State Achievement Award on that portion of
11 the examination. Any student who fails to earn a qualifying
12 score for a Prairie State Achievement Award in any one or
13 more of the academic areas on the initial test administration
14 or who wishes to improve his or her score on any portion of
15 the examination shall be permitted to retake such portion or
16 portions of the examination during grade 12. Districts shall
17 inform their students of the timelines and procedures
18 applicable to their participation in every yearly
19 administration of the Prairie State Achievement Examination.
20 Students receiving special education services whose
21 individualized educational programs identify the Prairie
22 State Achievement Examination as inappropriate for them
23 nevertheless shall have the option of taking the examination,
24 which shall be administered to those students in accordance
25 with standards adopted by the State Board of Education to
26 accommodate the respective disabilities of those students. A
27 student who successfully completes all other applicable high
28 school graduation requirements but fails to receive a score
29 on the Prairie State Achievement Examination that qualifies
30 the student for receipt of a Prairie State Achievement Award
31 shall nevertheless qualify for the receipt of a regular high
32 school diploma.
33 (Source: P.A. 90-566, eff. 1-2-98; 90-789, eff. 8-14-98;
34 91-283, eff. 7-29-99.)
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1 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
2 becoming law.