[ Back ] [ Bottom ]
91_HB0506enr
HB0506 Enrolled LRB9100167NTsb
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, and
23 8th, and 10th grades in English language arts (reading,
24 writing, and English grammar) and mathematics; and (ii) all
25 pupils enrolled in the 4th and, 7th, and 11th grades in the
26 biological and physical sciences and the social sciences
27 (history, geography, civics, economics, and government). The
28 State Board of Education shall establish, in final form and
29 within one year after the effective date of this amendatory
30 Act of 1996, the academic standards that are to be applicable
31 to pupils who are subject to State tests under this Section
HB0506 Enrolled -2- LRB9100167NTsb
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 1998-99 school year and
9 thereafter, the State tests will identify pupils in the 3rd
10 grade or 5th grade who do not meet the State standards. If,
11 by performance on the State tests or local assessments or by
12 teacher judgment, a student's performance is determined to be
13 2 or more grades below current placement, the student shall
14 be provided a remediation program developed by the district
15 in consultation with a parent or guardian. Such remediation
16 programs may include, but shall not be limited to, increased
17 or concentrated instructional time, a remedial summer school
18 program of not less than 90 hours, improved instructional
19 approaches, tutorial sessions, retention in grade, and
20 modifications to instructional materials. Each pupil for whom
21 a remediation program is developed under this subsection
22 shall be required to enroll in and attend whatever program
23 the district determines is appropriate for the pupil.
24 Districts may combine students in remediation programs where
25 appropriate and may cooperate with other districts in the
26 design and delivery of those programs. The parent or
27 guardian of a student required to attend a remediation
28 program under this Section shall be given written notice of
29 that requirement by the school district a reasonable time
30 prior to commencement of the remediation program that the
31 student is to attend. The State shall be responsible for
32 providing school districts with the new and additional
33 funding, under Section 2-3.51.5 or by other or additional
34 means, that is required to enable the districts to operate
HB0506 Enrolled -3- LRB9100167NTsb
1 remediation programs for the pupils who are required to
2 enroll in and attend those programs under this Section. Every
3 individualized educational program as described in Article 14
4 shall identify if the State test or components thereof are
5 appropriate for that student. For those pupils for whom the
6 State tests test or components thereof are not appropriate,
7 the State Board of Education shall develop rules and
8 regulations governing the administration of alternative tests
9 prescribed within each student's individualized educational
10 program which are appropriate to the disability of each
11 student. All pupils who are in a State approved transitional
12 bilingual education program or transitional program of
13 instruction shall participate in the State tests. Any
14 student who has been enrolled in a State approved bilingual
15 education program less than 3 academic years shall be
16 exempted if the student's lack of English as determined by an
17 English language proficiency test would keep the student from
18 understanding the test, and that student's district shall
19 have an alternative test program in place for that student.
20 The State Board of Education shall appoint a task force of
21 concerned parents, teachers, school administrators and other
22 professionals to assist in identifying such alternative
23 tests. Reasonable accommodations as prescribed by the State
24 Board of Education shall be provided for individual students
25 in the testing procedure. All test procedures prescribed by
26 the State Board of Education shall require: (i) that each
27 test used for State and local student testing under this
28 Section identify by name the pupil taking the test; (ii) that
29 the name of the pupil taking the test be placed on the test
30 at the time the test is taken; (iii) that the results or
31 scores of each test taken under this Section by a pupil of
32 the school district be reported to that district and identify
33 by name the pupil who received the reported results or
34 scores; and (iv) that the results or scores of each test
HB0506 Enrolled -4- LRB9100167NTsb
1 taken under this Section be made available to the parents of
2 the pupil. In addition, beginning with the 1998-1999 school
3 year and in each school year thereafter, all scores received
4 by a student on the Illinois Goals and Assessment Program
5 tests administered in grades 10 and 11 by the State Board of
6 Education under this Section and, beginning with the
7 1999-2000-2001 school year and in each school year
8 thereafter, the highest scores and performance levels
9 attained received by a student on the Prairie State
10 Achievement Examination administered under subsection (c) of
11 this Section shall become part of the student's permanent
12 record and shall be entered on the student's transcript
13 therein pursuant to regulations that the State Board of
14 Education shall promulgate for that purpose in accordance
15 with Section 3 and subsection (e) of Section 2 of the
16 Illinois School Student Records Act. Beginning with the
17 1998-1999 school year and in every school year thereafter,
18 scores received by students on the State assessment Illinois
19 Goals and Assessment Program tests administered in other
20 grades 3 through 8 shall be placed into students' temporary
21 records. Except as provided in subsection (c) of this
22 Section, The State Board of Education shall establish a
23 common month in each school year for which State testing
24 shall occur to meet the objectives of this Section. However,
25 if the schools of a district are closed and classes are not
26 scheduled during any week that is established by the State
27 Board of Education as the week of the month when State
28 testing under this Section shall occur, the school district
29 may administer the required State testing at any time up to 2
30 weeks following the week established by the State Board of
31 Education for the testing, so long as the school district
32 gives the State Board of Education written notice of its
33 intention to deviate from the established schedule by
34 December 1 January 2 of the school year in which falls the
HB0506 Enrolled -5- LRB9100167NTsb
1 week established by the State Board of Education for the
2 testing. The maximum time allowed for all actual testing
3 required under this subsection during the school year shall
4 not exceed 25 hours as allocated among the required tests by
5 the State Board of Education.
6 (a-5) All tests administered pursuant to this Section
7 shall be academically based. For the purposes of this
8 Section "academically based tests" shall mean tests
9 consisting of questions and answers that are measurable and
10 quantifiable to measure the knowledge, skill, and ability of
11 students in the subject matters covered by tests. The scoring
12 of academically based tests shall be reliable, valid,
13 unbiased and shall meet the guidelines for test development
14 and use prescribed by the American Psychological Association,
15 the National Council of Measurement and Evaluation, and the
16 American Educational Research Association. Academically based
17 tests shall not include assessments or evaluations of
18 attitudes, values, or beliefs, or testing of personality,
19 self-esteem, or self-concept. Nothing in this amendatory Act
20 is intended, nor shall it be construed, to nullify,
21 supersede, or contradict the legislative intent on academic
22 testing expressed during the passage of HB 1005/P.A. 90-296.
23 Beginning in the 1998-1999 school year, the State Board
24 of Education may, on a pilot basis, include in the State
25 assessments in reading and math at each grade level tested no
26 more than 2 short answer questions, where students have to
27 respond in brief to questions or prompts or show
28 computations, rather than select from alternatives that are
29 presented. In the first year that such questions are used,
30 scores on the short answer questions shall not be reported on
31 an individual student basis but shall be aggregated for each
32 school building in which the tests are given. State-level,
33 school, and district scores shall be reported both with and
34 without the results of the short answer questions so that the
HB0506 Enrolled -6- LRB9100167NTsb
1 effect of short answer questions is clearly discernible.
2 Beginning in the second year of this pilot program, scores on
3 the short answer questions shall be reported both on an
4 individual student basis and on a school building basis in
5 order to monitor the effects of teacher training and
6 curriculum improvements on score results.
7 The State Board of Education shall not continue the use
8 of short answer questions in the math and reading
9 assessments, or extend the use of such questions to other
10 State assessments, unless this pilot project demonstrates
11 that the use of short answer questions results in a
12 statistically significant improvement in student achievement
13 as measured on the State assessments for math and reading and
14 is justifiable in terms of cost and student performance.
15 (b) It shall be the policy of the State to encourage
16 school districts to continuously test pupil proficiency in
17 the fundamental learning areas in order to: (i) provide
18 timely information on individual students' performance
19 relative to State standards that is adequate to guide
20 instructional strategies; (ii) improve future instruction;
21 and (iii) complement the information provided by the State
22 testing system described in this Section. Each district's
23 school improvement plan must address specific activities the
24 district intends to implement to assist pupils who by teacher
25 judgment and test results as prescribed in subsection (a) of
26 this Section demonstrate that they are not meeting State
27 standards goals or local objectives. Such activities may
28 include, but shall not be limited to, summer school, extended
29 school day, special homework, tutorial sessions, modified
30 instructional materials, other modifications in the
31 instructional program, reduced class size or retention in
32 grade. To assist school districts in testing pupil
33 proficiency in reading in the primary grades, the State Board
34 shall make optional reading inventories for diagnostic
HB0506 Enrolled -7- LRB9100167NTsb
1 purposes available to each school district that requests such
2 assistance. Districts that administer the reading
3 inventories may develop remediation programs for students who
4 perform in the bottom half of the student population. Those
5 remediation programs may be funded by moneys provided under
6 the School Safety and Educational Improvement Block Grant
7 Program established under Section 2-3.51.5. Nothing in this
8 Section shall prevent school districts from implementing
9 testing and remediation policies for grades not required
10 under this Section.
11 (c) Beginning with the 1999-2000-2001 school year, each
12 school district that operates a high school program for
13 students in grades 9 through 12 shall annually administer the
14 Prairie State Achievement Examination established under this
15 subsection to its 12th grade students as set forth below.
16 The Prairie State Achievement Examination shall be developed
17 by the State Board of Education to measure student
18 performance in the 5 fundamental academic areas of reading,
19 writing, mathematics, science, and social sciences. The
20 State Board of Education shall establish the academic
21 standards that are to apply in measuring student performance
22 on the Prairie State Achievement Examination in those 5
23 fundamental academic areas, including the minimum composite
24 examination score and the minimum score in each area that,
25 taken together, will qualify a student to receive a the
26 Prairie State Achievement Award from the State in recognition
27 of the student's excellent performance. Each school district
28 that is subject to the requirements of this subsection (c)
29 shall afford all students a graduating student 2
30 opportunities to take the Prairie State Achievement
31 Examination beginning as late as practical during the second
32 semester of grade 11, but in no event before March 1 during
33 the semester in which the student will graduate. The State
34 Board of Education shall annually notify districts of the
HB0506 Enrolled -8- LRB9100167NTsb
1 weeks during which these test administrations shall be
2 required to occur. Every individualized educational program
3 as described in Article 14 shall identify if the Prairie
4 State Achievement Examination or components thereof are
5 appropriate for that student. Each student, exclusive of a
6 student whose individualized educational program developed
7 under Article 14 identifies the Prairie State Achievement
8 Examination as inappropriate for the student, shall be
9 required to take the examination in grade 11. the final
10 semester before his or her graduation. Score reports For
11 each fundamental academic area the State Board of Education
12 shall establish indicate the score that qualifies for the
13 Prairie State Achievement Award as an excellent score on that
14 portion of the examination. Any student who attains a
15 satisfactory composite score but who fails to earn a
16 qualifying score for a Prairie State Achievement Award in any
17 one or more of the fundamental academic areas on the initial
18 test administration or who wishes to improve his or her score
19 on any portion of the examination for the semester during
20 which the student will graduate from high school shall be
21 permitted to retake such portion or portions of the
22 examination during grade 12 the second test of that semester.
23 Districts shall inform their students of the timelines and
24 procedures applicable to their optional participation in
25 every yearly administration such additional administrations
26 of the Prairie State Achievement Examination. Students
27 receiving special education services whose individualized
28 educational programs identify the Prairie State Achievement
29 Examination as inappropriate for them nevertheless shall have
30 the option of taking the examination, which shall be
31 administered to those students in accordance with standards
32 adopted by the State Board of Education to accommodate the
33 respective disabilities of those students. A student who
34 successfully completes all other applicable high school
HB0506 Enrolled -9- LRB9100167NTsb
1 graduation requirements but fails to receive a score on the
2 Prairie State Achievement Examination that qualifies the
3 student for receipt of a the Prairie State Achievement Award
4 shall nevertheless qualify for the receipt of a regular high
5 school diploma.
6 (Source: P.A. 89-610, eff. 8-6-96; 90-566, eff. 1-2-98;
7 90-789, eff. 8-14-98.)
8 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
9 becoming law.
[ Top ]