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90_HB2613
105 ILCS 5/2-3.64 from Ch. 122, par. 2-3.64
Amends the School Code. Makes a change of grammar in the
provisions relating to the IGAP program.
LRB9009202THcd
LRB9009202THcd
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, shall assess the
12 performance of: (i) all pupils enrolled in the 3rd, 6th,
13 8th, and 10th grades in language arts (reading and writing)
14 and mathematics; and (ii) all pupils enrolled in the 4th,
15 7th, 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 assess the performance of: (i) all pupils enrolled
23 in the 3rd, 5th, 8th, and 10th grades in English language
24 arts (reading and writing) and mathematics; and (ii) all
25 pupils enrolled in the 4th, 7th, and 11th grades in the
26 biological and physical sciences and the social sciences. The
27 State Board of Education shall establish, in final form and
28 within one year after the effective date of this amendatory
29 Act of 1996, the academic standards that are to be applicable
30 to pupils who are subject to State assessment under this
31 Section beginning with the 1998-1999 school year. However,
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1 the State Board of Education shall not establish any such
2 standards in final form without first providing opportunities
3 for public participation and local input in the development
4 of the final academic standards. Those opportunities shall
5 include a well-publicized period of public comment, public
6 hearings throughout the State, and opportunities to file
7 written comments. Beginning with the 1998-99 school year and
8 thereafter, the State assessment will identify pupils in the
9 3rd grade or 5th grade who do not meet the State standards.
10 If, by performance on the State assessment or local
11 assessments or by teacher judgment, a student's performance
12 is determined to be 2 or more grades below current placement,
13 the student shall be provided a remediation program developed
14 by the district in consultation with a parent or guardian.
15 Such remediation programs may include, but shall not be
16 limited to, increased or concentrated instructional time, a
17 remedial summer school program of not less than 90 hours,
18 improved instructional approaches, tutorial sessions,
19 retention in grade, and modifications to instructional
20 materials. Each pupil for whom a remediation program is
21 developed under this subsection shall be required to enroll
22 in and attend whatever program the district determines is
23 appropriate for the pupil. Districts may combine students in
24 remediation programs where appropriate and may cooperate with
25 other districts in the design and delivery of those programs.
26 The parent or guardian of a student required to attend a
27 remediation program under this Section shall be given written
28 notice of that requirement by the school district a
29 reasonable time prior to commencement of the remediation
30 program that the student is to attend. The State shall be
31 responsible for providing school districts with the new and
32 additional funding, under Section 2-3.51.5 or by other or
33 additional means, that is required to enable the districts to
34 operate remediation programs for the pupils who are required
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1 to enroll in and attend those programs under this Section.
2 Every individualized educational program as described in
3 Article 14 shall identify if the State test or components
4 thereof are appropriate for that student. For those pupils
5 for whom the State test or components thereof are not
6 appropriate, the State Board of Education shall develop rules
7 and regulations governing the administration of alternative
8 assessments prescribed within each student's individualized
9 educational program which are appropriate to the disability
10 of each student. All pupils who are in a State approved
11 transitional bilingual education program or transitional
12 program of instruction shall participate in the State
13 assessment. Any student who has been enrolled in a State
14 approved bilingual education program less than 3 academic
15 years shall be exempted if the student's lack of English as
16 determined by an English language proficiency test would keep
17 the student from understanding the test, and that student's
18 district shall have an alternative assessment program in
19 place for that student. The State Board of Education shall
20 appoint a task force of concerned parents, teachers, school
21 administrators and other professionals to assist in
22 identifying such alternative assessment programs. Reasonable
23 accommodations as prescribed by the State Board of Education
24 shall be provided for individual students in the assessment
25 procedure. All assessment procedures prescribed by the State
26 Board of Education shall require: (i) that each test used for
27 State and local student assessment testing under this Section
28 identify by name the pupil taking the test; (ii) that the
29 name of the pupil taking the test be placed on the test at
30 the time the test is taken; (iii) that the results or scores
31 of each test taken under this Section by a pupil of the
32 school district be reported to that district and identify by
33 name the pupil who received the reported results or scores;
34 and (iv) that the results or scores of each test taken under
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1 this Section be made available to the parents of the pupil.
2 In addition, beginning with the 1998-1999 school year and in
3 each school year thereafter, all scores received by a student
4 on the Illinois Goals and Assessment Program tests
5 administered in grades 10 and 11 by the State Board of
6 Education under this Section and, beginning with the
7 1999-2000 school year and in each school year thereafter, the
8 scores received by a student on the Prairie State Achievement
9 Examination administered under subsection (c) of this Section
10 shall become part of the student's permanent record and shall
11 be entered therein pursuant to regulations that the State
12 Board of Education shall promulgate for that purpose in
13 accordance with Section 3 and subsection (e) of Section 2 of
14 the Illinois School Student Records Act. Scores received by
15 students on the Illinois Goals and Assessment Program tests
16 administered in other grades shall be placed into students'
17 temporary records. Except as provided in subsection (c) of
18 this Section, the State Board of Education shall establish a
19 common month in each school year for which State testing
20 shall occur to meet the objectives of this Section. However,
21 if the schools of a district are closed and classes are not
22 scheduled during any week that is established by the State
23 Board of Education as the week of the month when State
24 testing under this Section shall occur, the school district
25 may administer the required State testing at any time up to 2
26 weeks following the week established by the State Board of
27 Education for the testing, so long as the school district
28 gives the State Board of Education written notice of its
29 intention to deviate from the established schedule by January
30 2 of the year in which falls the week established by the
31 State Board of Education for the testing. The maximum time
32 allowed for all actual testing required under this subsection
33 during the school year shall not exceed 25 hours as allocated
34 among the required tests by the State Board of Education.
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1 (a-5) Any IGAP test administered pursuant to this
2 Section shall be academically based.
3 (b) It shall be the policy of the State to encourage
4 school districts to continuously assess 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 assessment 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 assessment results as prescribed in subsection
14 (a) of this Section demonstrate that they are not meeting
15 State goals 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 assessing 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 1999-2000 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 12th grade students as set forth below.
4 The Prairie State Achievement Examination shall be developed
5 by the State Board of Education to measure student
6 performance in the 5 fundamental academic areas of reading,
7 writing, mathematics, science, and social sciences. The
8 State Board of Education shall establish the academic
9 standards that are to apply in measuring student performance
10 on the Prairie State Achievement Examination in those 5
11 fundamental academic areas, including the minimum composite
12 examination score and the minimum score in each area that,
13 taken together, will qualify a student to receive the
14 Prairie State Achievement Award from the State in recognition
15 of the student's excellent performance. Each school district
16 that is subject to the requirements of this subsection (c)
17 shall afford a graduating student 2 opportunities to take the
18 Prairie State Achievement Examination during the semester in
19 which the student will graduate. The State Board of
20 Education shall annually notify districts of the weeks during
21 which these test administrations shall be required to occur.
22 Each student, exclusive of a student whose individualized
23 educational program developed under Article 14 identifies the
24 Prairie State Achievement Examination as inappropriate for
25 the student, shall be required to take the examination in the
26 final semester before his or her graduation. Score reports
27 for each fundamental academic area shall indicate the score
28 that qualifies as an excellent score on that portion of the
29 examination. Any student who attains a satisfactory
30 composite score but who fails to earn a qualifying score in
31 any one or more of the fundamental academic areas on the
32 initial test administration for the semester during which the
33 student will graduate from high school shall be permitted to
34 retake such portion or portions of the examination during the
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1 second test of that semester. Districts shall inform their
2 students of the timelines and procedures applicable to their
3 optional participation in such additional administrations of
4 the Prairie State Achievement Examination. Students receiving
5 special education services whose individualized educational
6 programs identify the Prairie State Achievement Examination
7 as inappropriate for them nevertheless shall have the option
8 of taking the examination, which shall be administered to
9 those students in accordance with standards adopted by the
10 State Board of Education to accommodate the respective
11 disabilities of those students. A student who successfully
12 completes all other applicable high school graduation
13 requirements but fails to receive a score on the Prairie
14 State Achievement Examination that qualifies the student for
15 receipt of the Prairie State Achievement Award shall
16 nevertheless qualify for the receipt of a regular high school
17 diploma.
18 (Source: P.A.89-610, eff. 8-6-96; 90-566, eff. 1-2-98.)