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90_HB3214 105 ILCS 5/2-3.64 from Ch. 122, par. 2-3.64 Amends the School Code. Requires the results or scores of each of the 6 component or sub-skill tests of the State assessment test in the basic subject of reading to be reported to the school district in the name of the pupil (as a part of the report on which other State assessment test scores are reported) and to be made available to the pupil's parents. Effective July 1, 1998. LRB9010669THpk LRB9010669THpk 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 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, -2- LRB9010669THpk 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 -3- LRB9010669THpk 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 and of each of the 6 component or sub-skill 32 tests of the test in the basic subject of reading taken under 33 this Section by a pupil of the school district be reported to 34 that district and identify by name the pupil who received the -4- LRB9010669THpk 1 reported results or scores; and (iv) that the results or 2 scores of each test and of each of the 6 component or 3 sub-skill tests of the test in the basic subject of reading 4 taken under this Section be made available to the parents of 5 the pupil. In addition, beginning with the 1998-1999 school 6 year and in each school year thereafter, all scores received 7 by a student on the Illinois Goals and Assessment Program 8 tests administered in grades 10 and 11 by the State Board of 9 Education under this Section and, beginning with the 10 1999-2000 school year and in each school year thereafter, the 11 scores received by a student on the Prairie State Achievement 12 Examination administered under subsection (c) of this Section 13 shall become part of the student's permanent record and shall 14 be entered therein pursuant to regulations that the State 15 Board of Education shall promulgate for that purpose in 16 accordance with Section 3 and subsection (e) of Section 2 of 17 the Illinois School Student Records Act. Scores received by 18 students on the Illinois Goals and Assessment Program tests 19 administered in other grades shall be placed into students' 20 temporary records. Except as provided in subsection (c) of 21 this Section, the State Board of Education shall establish a 22 common month in each school year for which State testing 23 shall occur to meet the objectives of this Section. However, 24 if the 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 State 27 testing under this Section shall occur, the school district 28 may administer the required State testing at any time up to 2 29 weeks 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 January 33 2 of the year in which falls the week established by the 34 State Board of Education for the testing. The maximum time -5- LRB9010669THpk 1 allowed for all actual testing required under this subsection 2 during the school year shall not exceed 25 hours as allocated 3 among the required tests by the State Board of Education. 4 (a-5) Any IGAP test administered pursuant to this 5 Section shall be academically based. 6 (b) It shall be the policy of the State to encourage 7 school districts to continuously assess pupil proficiency in 8 the fundamental learning areas in order to: (i) provide 9 timely information on individual students' performance 10 relative to State standards that is adequate to guide 11 instructional strategies; (ii) improve future instruction; 12 and (iii) complement the information provided by the State 13 assessment system described in this Section. Each district's 14 school improvement plan must address specific activities the 15 district intends to implement to assist pupils who by teacher 16 judgment and assessment results as prescribed in subsection 17 (a) of this Section demonstrate that they are not meeting 18 State goals or local objectives. Such activities may include, 19 but shall not be limited to, summer school, extended school 20 day, special homework, tutorial sessions, modified 21 instructional materials, other modifications in the 22 instructional program, reduced class size or retention in 23 grade. To assist school districts in assessing pupil 24 proficiency in reading in the primary grades, the State Board 25 shall make optional reading inventories for diagnostic 26 purposes available to each school district that requests such 27 assistance. Districts that administer the reading 28 inventories may develop remediation programs for students who 29 perform in the bottom half of the student population. Those 30 remediation programs may be funded by moneys provided under 31 the School Safety and Educational Improvement Block Grant 32 Program established under Section 2-3.51.5. Nothing in this 33 Section shall prevent school districts from implementing 34 testing and remediation policies for grades not required -6- LRB9010669THpk 1 under this Section. 2 (c) Beginning with the 1999-2000 school year, each 3 school district that operates a high school program for 4 students in grades 9 through 12 shall annually administer the 5 Prairie State Achievement Examination established under this 6 subsection to its 12th grade students as set forth below. 7 The Prairie State Achievement Examination shall be developed 8 by the State Board of Education to measure student 9 performance in the 5 fundamental academic areas of reading, 10 writing, mathematics, science, and social sciences. The 11 State Board of Education shall establish the academic 12 standards that are to apply in measuring student performance 13 on the Prairie State Achievement Examination in those 5 14 fundamental academic areas, including the minimum composite 15 examination score and the minimum score in each area that, 16 taken together, will qualify a student to receive the 17 Prairie State Achievement Award from the State in recognition 18 of the student's excellent performance. Each school district 19 that is subject to the requirements of this subsection (c) 20 shall afford a graduating student 2 opportunities to take the 21 Prairie State Achievement Examination during the semester in 22 which the student will graduate. The State Board of 23 Education shall annually notify districts of the weeks during 24 which these test administrations shall be required to occur. 25 Each student, exclusive of a student whose individualized 26 educational program developed under Article 14 identifies the 27 Prairie State Achievement Examination as inappropriate for 28 the student, shall be required to take the examination in the 29 final semester before his or her graduation. Score reports 30 for each fundamental academic area shall indicate the score 31 that qualifies as an excellent score on that portion of the 32 examination. Any student who attains a satisfactory 33 composite score but who fails to earn a qualifying score in 34 any one or more of the fundamental academic areas on the -7- LRB9010669THpk 1 initial test administration for the semester during which the 2 student will graduate from high school shall be permitted to 3 retake such portion or portions of the examination during the 4 second test of that semester. Districts shall inform their 5 students of the timelines and procedures applicable to their 6 optional participation in such additional administrations of 7 the Prairie State Achievement Examination. Students receiving 8 special education services whose individualized educational 9 programs identify the Prairie State Achievement Examination 10 as inappropriate for them nevertheless shall have the option 11 of taking the examination, which shall be administered to 12 those students in accordance with standards adopted by the 13 State Board of Education to accommodate the respective 14 disabilities of those students. A student who successfully 15 completes all other applicable high school graduation 16 requirements but fails to receive a score on the Prairie 17 State Achievement Examination that qualifies the student for 18 receipt of the Prairie State Achievement Award shall 19 nevertheless qualify for the receipt of a regular high school 20 diploma. 21 (Source: P.A.89-610, eff. 8-6-96; 90-566, eff. 1-2-98.) 22 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect July 23 1, 1998.