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Public Act 91-0283
HB0506 Enrolled LRB9100167NTsb
AN ACT to amend the School Code by changing Section
2-3.64.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing
Section 2-3.64 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: (i) all pupils enrolled in the 3rd, 5th, and
8th, and 10th grades in English language arts (reading,
writing, and English grammar) and mathematics; and (ii) all
pupils enrolled in the 4th and, 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 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 will identify pupils in the 3rd
grade or 5th grade who do not meet the State standards. If,
by performance on the State tests 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 tests test or components thereof are not appropriate,
the State Board of Education shall develop rules and
regulations governing the administration of alternative tests
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. 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 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. Reasonable accommodations as prescribed by the State
Board of Education shall be provided for individual students
in the testing procedure. All test procedures prescribed by
the State Board of Education shall require: (i) that each
test used for State and local student 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
1999-2000-2001 school year and in each school year
thereafter, the highest scores and performance levels
attained 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 on the student's transcript
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. Beginning with the
1998-1999 school year and in every school year thereafter,
scores received by students on the State assessment Illinois
Goals and Assessment Program tests administered in other
grades 3 through 8 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
December 1 January 2 of the school 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 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 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 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 results as prescribed in subsection (a) of
this Section demonstrate that they are not meeting State
standards 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 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 1999-2000-2001 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 a 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 all students a graduating student 2
opportunities to take the Prairie State Achievement
Examination beginning as late as practical during the second
semester of grade 11, but in no event before March 1 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. Every individualized educational program
as described in Article 14 shall identify if the Prairie
State Achievement Examination or components thereof are
appropriate for that student. 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 grade 11. the final
semester before his or her graduation. Score reports For
each fundamental academic area the State Board of Education
shall establish indicate the score that qualifies for the
Prairie State Achievement Award 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 for a Prairie State Achievement Award in any
one or more of the fundamental academic areas on the initial
test administration or who wishes to improve his or her score
on any portion of the examination 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 grade 12 the second test of that semester.
Districts shall inform their students of the timelines and
procedures applicable to their optional participation in
every yearly administration 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 a 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;
90-789, eff. 8-14-98.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.
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