Public Act 90-0789 of the 90th General Assembly
Public Act 90-0789
SB1610 Enrolled SRS90S0066KSaw
AN ACT to amend the School Code by changing Sections
2-3.64, 2-3.64a, 10-20.14b, and 10-22.8.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 1. The School Code is amended by changing
Sections 2-3.64, 2-3.64a, 10-20.14b, and 10-22.8 as follows:
(105 ILCS 5/2-3.64) (from Ch. 122, par. 2-3.64)
Sec. 2-3.64. State goals and assessment.
(a) Beginning in the 1992-93 school year, the State
Board of Education shall establish standards and annually,
through the 1997-1998 school year, assess the performance
of: (i) all pupils enrolled in the 3rd, 6th, 8th, and 10th
grades in language arts (reading and writing) and
mathematics; and (ii) all pupils enrolled in the 4th, 7th,
and 11th grades in the biological, physical, and social
sciences. Beginning in the 1998-1999 school year, the State
Board of Education shall establish standards and
periodically, in collaboration with local school districts,
conduct studies of student performance in the learning areas
of fine arts and physical development/health. Beginning with
the 1998-1999 school year, the State Board of Education shall
annually test assess the performance of: (i) all pupils
enrolled in the 3rd, 5th, 8th, and 10th grades in English
language arts (reading, and writing, and English grammar)
and mathematics; and (ii) all pupils enrolled in the 4th,
7th, and 11th grades in the biological and physical sciences
and the social sciences (history, geography, civics,
economics, and government). The State Board of Education
shall establish, in final form and within one year after the
effective date of this amendatory Act of 1996, the academic
standards that are to be applicable to pupils who are subject
to State tests assessment under this Section beginning with
the 1998-1999 school year. However, the State Board of
Education shall not establish any such standards in final
form without first providing opportunities for public
participation and local input in the development of the final
academic standards. Those opportunities shall include a
well-publicized period of public comment, public hearings
throughout the State, and opportunities to file written
comments. Beginning with the 1998-99 school year and
thereafter, the State tests assessment will identify pupils
in the 3rd grade or 5th grade who do not meet the State
standards. If, by performance on the State tests assessment
or local assessments or by teacher judgment, a student's
performance is determined to be 2 or more grades below
current placement, the student shall be provided a
remediation program developed by the district in consultation
with a parent or guardian. Such remediation programs may
include, but shall not be limited to, increased or
concentrated instructional time, a remedial summer school
program of not less than 90 hours, improved instructional
approaches, tutorial sessions, retention in grade, and
modifications to instructional materials. Each pupil for whom
a remediation program is developed under this subsection
shall be required to enroll in and attend whatever program
the district determines is appropriate for the pupil.
Districts may combine students in remediation programs where
appropriate and may cooperate with other districts in the
design and delivery of those programs. The parent or
guardian of a student required to attend a remediation
program under this Section shall be given written notice of
that requirement by the school district a reasonable time
prior to commencement of the remediation program that the
student is to attend. The State shall be responsible for
providing school districts with the new and additional
funding, under Section 2-3.51.5 or by other or additional
means, that is required to enable the districts to operate
remediation programs for the pupils who are required to
enroll in and attend those programs under this Section. Every
individualized educational program as described in Article 14
shall identify if the State test or components thereof are
appropriate for that student. For those pupils for whom the
State test or components thereof are not appropriate, the
State Board of Education shall develop rules and regulations
governing the administration of alternative tests assessments
prescribed within each student's individualized educational
program which are appropriate to the disability of each
student. All pupils who are in a State approved transitional
bilingual education program or transitional program of
instruction shall participate in the State tests assessment.
Any student who has been enrolled in a State approved
bilingual education program less than 3 academic years shall
be exempted if the student's lack of English as determined by
an English language proficiency test would keep the student
from understanding the test, and that student's district
shall have an alternative test assessment program in place
for that student. The State Board of Education shall appoint
a task force of concerned parents, teachers, school
administrators and other professionals to assist in
identifying such alternative tests assessment programs.
Reasonable accommodations as prescribed by the State Board of
Education shall be provided for individual students in the
testing assessment procedure. All test assessment procedures
prescribed by the State Board of Education shall require: (i)
that each test used for State and local student assessment
testing under this Section identify by name the pupil taking
the test; (ii) that the name of the pupil taking the test be
placed on the test at the time the test is taken; (iii) that
the results or scores of each test taken under this Section
by a pupil of the school district be reported to that
district and identify by name the pupil who received the
reported results or scores; and (iv) that the results or
scores of each test taken under this Section be made
available to the parents of the pupil. In addition,
beginning with the 1998-1999 school year and in each school
year thereafter, all scores received by a student on the
Illinois Goals and Assessment Program tests administered in
grades 10 and 11 by the State Board of Education under this
Section and, beginning with the 1999-2000 school year and in
each school year thereafter, the scores received by a student
on the Prairie State Achievement Examination administered
under subsection (c) of this Section shall become part of the
student's permanent record and shall be entered therein
pursuant to regulations that the State Board of Education
shall promulgate for that purpose in accordance with Section
3 and subsection (e) of Section 2 of the Illinois School
Student Records Act. Scores received by students on the
Illinois Goals and Assessment Program tests administered in
other grades shall be placed into students' temporary
records. Except as provided in subsection (c) of this
Section, the State Board of Education shall establish a
common month in each school year for which State testing
shall occur to meet the objectives of this Section. However,
if the schools of a district are closed and classes are not
scheduled during any week that is established by the State
Board of Education as the week of the month when State
testing under this Section shall occur, the school district
may administer the required State testing at any time up to 2
weeks following the week established by the State Board of
Education for the testing, so long as the school district
gives the State Board of Education written notice of its
intention to deviate from the established schedule by January
2 of the year in which falls the week established by the
State Board of Education for the testing. The maximum time
allowed for all actual testing required under this subsection
during the school year shall not exceed 25 hours as allocated
among the required tests by the State Board of Education.
(a-5) All tests Any IGAP tests administered pursuant to
this Section shall be academically based. For the purposes
of this Section "academically based tests" shall mean tests
consisting of questions and answers that are measurable and
quantifiable to measure the knowledge, skill, and ability of
students in the subject matters covered by tests. The scoring
of academically based tests shall be reliable, valid,
unbiased and shall meet the guidelines for test development
and use prescribed by the American Psychological Association,
the National Council of Measurement and Evaluation, and the
American Educational Research Association. Academically based
tests shall not include assessments or evaluations of
attitudes, values, or beliefs, or testing of personality,
self-esteem, or self-concept. Nothing in this amendatory Act
is intended, nor shall it be construed, to nullify,
supersede, or contradict the legislative intent on academic
testing expressed during the passage of HB 1005/P.A. 90-296.
Beginning in the 1998-1999 school year, the State Board
of Education may, on a pilot basis, include in the State
assessments in reading and math at each grade level tested no
more than 2 short answer questions, where students have to
respond in brief to questions or prompts or show
computations, rather than select from alternatives that are
presented. In the first year that such questions are used,
scores on the short answer questions shall not be reported on
an individual student basis but shall be aggregated for each
school building in which the tests are given. State-level,
school, and district scores shall be reported both with and
without the results of the short answer questions so that the
effect of short answer questions is clearly discernible.
Beginning in the second year of this pilot program, scores on
the short answer questions shall be reported both on an
individual student basis and on a school building basis in
order to monitor the effects of teacher training and
curriculum improvements on score results.
The State Board of Education shall not continue the use
of short answer questions in the math and reading
assessments, or extend the use of such questions to other
State assessments, unless this pilot project demonstrates
that the use of short answer questions results in a
statistically significant improvement in student achievement
as measured on the State assessments for math and reading and
is justifiable in terms of cost and student performance.
(b) It shall be the policy of the State to encourage
school districts to continuously test assess pupil
proficiency in the fundamental learning areas in order to:
(i) provide timely information on individual students'
performance relative to State standards that is adequate to
guide instructional strategies; (ii) improve future
instruction; and (iii) complement the information provided by
the State testing assessment system described in this
Section. Each district's school improvement plan must
address specific activities the district intends to implement
to assist pupils who by teacher judgment and test assessment
results as prescribed in subsection (a) of this Section
demonstrate that they are not meeting State goals or local
objectives. Such activities may include, but shall not be
limited to, summer school, extended school day, special
homework, tutorial sessions, modified instructional
materials, other modifications in the instructional program,
reduced class size or retention in grade. To assist school
districts in testing assessing pupil proficiency in reading
in the primary grades, the State Board shall make optional
reading inventories for diagnostic purposes available to each
school district that requests such assistance. Districts
that administer the reading inventories may develop
remediation programs for students who perform in the bottom
half of the student population. Those remediation programs
may be funded by moneys provided under the School Safety and
Educational Improvement Block Grant Program established under
Section 2-3.51.5. Nothing in this Section shall prevent
school districts from implementing testing and remediation
policies for grades not required under this Section.
(c) Beginning with the 1999-2000 school year, each
school district that operates a high school program for
students in grades 9 through 12 shall annually administer the
Prairie State Achievement Examination established under this
subsection to its 12th grade students as set forth below.
The Prairie State Achievement Examination shall be developed
by the State Board of Education to measure student
performance in the 5 fundamental academic areas of reading,
writing, mathematics, science, and social sciences. The
State Board of Education shall establish the academic
standards that are to apply in measuring student performance
on the Prairie State Achievement Examination in those 5
fundamental academic areas, including the minimum composite
examination score and the minimum score in each area that,
taken together, will qualify a student to receive the
Prairie State Achievement Award from the State in recognition
of the student's excellent performance. Each school district
that is subject to the requirements of this subsection (c)
shall afford a graduating student 2 opportunities to take the
Prairie State Achievement Examination during the semester in
which the student will graduate. The State Board of
Education shall annually notify districts of the weeks during
which these test administrations shall be required to occur.
Each student, exclusive of a student whose individualized
educational program developed under Article 14 identifies the
Prairie State Achievement Examination as inappropriate for
the student, shall be required to take the examination in the
final semester before his or her graduation. Score reports
for each fundamental academic area shall indicate the score
that qualifies as an excellent score on that portion of the
examination. Any student who attains a satisfactory
composite score but who fails to earn a qualifying score in
any one or more of the fundamental academic areas on the
initial test administration for the semester during which the
student will graduate from high school shall be permitted to
retake such portion or portions of the examination during the
second test of that semester. Districts shall inform their
students of the timelines and procedures applicable to their
optional participation in such additional administrations of
the Prairie State Achievement Examination. Students receiving
special education services whose individualized educational
programs identify the Prairie State Achievement Examination
as inappropriate for them nevertheless shall have the option
of taking the examination, which shall be administered to
those students in accordance with standards adopted by the
State Board of Education to accommodate the respective
disabilities of those students. A student who successfully
completes all other applicable high school graduation
requirements but fails to receive a score on the Prairie
State Achievement Examination that qualifies the student for
receipt of the Prairie State Achievement Award shall
nevertheless qualify for the receipt of a regular high school
diploma.
(Source: P.A.89-610, eff. 8-6-96; 90-566, eff. 1-2-98.)
(105 ILCS 5/2-3.64a)
Sec. 2-3.64a. State Testing IGAP Review Committee. The
State Superintendent shall appoint a committee of no more
than 20 balanced membership consisting of parents, school
administrators, teachers, parents, school administrators, and
concerned citizens to review the Illinois Goals and
Assessment Program (IGAP) tests administered by the State
Board of Education. The Committee shall select one of the
parent representatives as its chairman. The Committee shall
meet on an ongoing basis to review the content and design of
the tests (including whether the requirements of subsection
a-5 of Section 2-3.64 have been met), the time and money
expended at the local and state levels to prepare for and
administer the tests, the collective results of the tests as
measured against the stated purpose of testing assessing
student performance, and other issues involving the tests
identified by the Committee. The Committee shall make
periodic such recommendations to the State Superintendent and
the General Assembly concerning the tests as it deems
appropriate.
(Source: P.A. 89-184, eff. 7-19-95.)
(105 ILCS 5/10-20.14b) (from Ch. 122, par. 10-20.14b)
Sec. 10-20.14b. Advisory committee; Medications policy.
To establish and maintain a parent-teacher advisory committee
for the 1990-91 school year To develop with the school board,
a policy guidelines for administration of medications in
schools, to furnish a copy of the policy to the parents or
guardians of each pupil within 15 days after the beginning of
the 1991-92 school year and each school year thereafter, or
within 15 days after starting classes for a pupil who
transfers into the district during the 1991-92 school year
and each school year thereafter, and to require that each
school informs its pupils of the contents of its policy.
(Source: P.A. 86-1441.)
(105 ILCS 5/10-22.8) (from Ch. 122, par. 10-22.8)
Sec. 10-22.8. Sale of personal property.
To sell at public or private sale any personal property
belonging to the school district, and either not needed for
school purposes or available through an arrangement under
which such personal property may be leased by the district
from the purchaser.
(Source: Laws 1961, p. 31.)
Section 99. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.