March 22 issue (all sections) - Texas Secretary of State

Comment: The Texas Association of School Boards (TASB)
commented that proposed §101.1005(c) omits end-of-course
(EOC) assessments from the one-year exemption period. Further,
TASB noted the one-year exemption only applies during
the school year an unschooled asylee or refugee is initially
enrolled in a U.S. school and does not permit an additional
four-year exemption from testing as allowed by the TEC.
TASB proposed that TEA add EOC assessments to the permissible
exemptions for unschooled asylees and refugees. TASB also
requests that TEA strike the sentence from the proposed rule
that imposes the one-year exemption period and seek a waiver
from the U.S. Department of Education if there is any conflict
with federal law or regulation.
A representative from Conroe ISD commented that all recently
arrived ELLs should be exempt from state testing requirements
in their first year in U.S. schools. Two educators from Alief ISD
further commented that a recently arrived ELL should not be required
to be assessed with an English language assessment. An
educator from Amarillo ISD suggested that the rules be flexible
for students at the high school level.
Agency Response: The agency disagrees. The proposed
exemption policy was designed to meet the federal and state
requirements for the participation of students in the assessment
program and to be as inclusive as possible in regard to the participation
of ELL students in the assessment program. Students
meeting the eligibility criteria for participation in STAAR® L, as
described in the rule change, could be assessed with STAAR®
L and are allowed additional linguistic accommodations on
STAAR® reading tests.
Currently, recently arrived unschooled asylee/refugee ELL
students are allowed a one-year exemption from testing but are
administered linguistically accommodated tests because they
are required to be assessed to meet federal adequate yearly
progress (AYP) regulations. Also, knowing how these ELLs
perform on the STAAR® assessments, even ELLs who are
new to the U.S. and appear to know very little English, provides
baseline data from which to set progress targets and monitor
growth. The ability to analyze student performance data is
an important vehicle for improving instruction and closing the
achievement gap for ELLs and it is a basic principle of both
state and federal accountability that assessment is central to
identifying needs of various student populations and driving
educational change.
The agency disagrees with the request to exempt certain ELL
students from being administered EOC assessments that are
needed to fulfill the graduation requirements under the TEC,
§39.025. Texas law does not provide for exceptions to the EOC
test requirements to receive a Texas diploma. With this in mind,
educator groups discussed postponement policies in the planning
for STAAR®, but the advice of educators was that postponing
EOC testing requirements would be disadvantageous because
the students would be required to take tests over the
content of courses in which they were no longer enrolled. The
agency is aware that students who know very little English and
enter the U.S. late in their educational careers face difficulties
and that the EOC requirements present additional challenges.
The special provisions under §101.1007 do reduce the amount
of retesting in English I and II for eligible students. Additional instructional
supports and interventions may be necessary to address
the needs of these students.
In response to TASB's request to seek a federal waiver if further
exemptions conflict with federal requirements, the U.S. Department
of Education has not allowed testing exemption waivers
from the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act and AYP
under the federal accountability system with Texas or any other
state.
The amendment is adopted under the Texas Education Code
(TEC), §39.023 and §39.027, which authorize the commissioner
of education to adopt rules concerning the participation of certain
limited English proficient students, including unschooled asylees
or refugees, in the administration of state-required assessment
instruments.
The amendment implements the TEC, §39.023 and §39.027.
This agency hereby certifies that the adoption has been reviewed
by legal counsel and found to be a valid exercise of the agency's
legal authority.
Filed with the Office of the Secretary of State on March 7, 2013.
TRD-201301024
Cristina De La Fuente-Valadez
Director, Rulemaking
Texas Education Agency
Effective date: March 27, 2013
Proposal publication date: January 4, 2013
For further information, please call: (512) 475-1497
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SUBCHAPTER CC. COMMISSIONER'S
RULES CONCERNING IMPLEMENTATION OF
THE ACADEMIC CONTENT AREAS TESTING
PROGRAM
DIVISION 3. SECURITY OF ASSESSMENTS,
REQUIRED TEST ADMINISTRATION
PROCEDURES AND TRAINING ACTIVITIES
19 TAC §101.3031
(Editor's note: In accordance with Texas Government Code,
§2002.014, which permits the omission of material which is "cumbersome,
expensive, or otherwise inexpedient," the figure in 19 TAC
§101.3031 is not included in the print version of the Texas Register.
The figure is available in the on-line version of the March 22, 2013,
issue of the Texas Register.)
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) adopts an amendment to
§101.3031, concerning student assessment. The amendment
is adopted with changes to the proposed text as published in the
January 4, 2013, issue of the Texas Register (38 TexReg 11).
No changes were made to the rule since published as proposed;
however, two minor technical edits were made to the supplement
adopted as rule. The section addresses required test administration
procedures and training activities to ensure validity, reliability,
and security of assessments. The amendment adopts the
2013 Test Security Supplement as part of the Texas Administrative
Code. The earlier version of the security supplement will
remain in effect with respect to the year for which it was developed.
Through the adoption of 19 TAC §101.3031, effective March 26,
2012, the commissioner exercised rulemaking authority relating
38 TexReg 1974 March 22, 2013 Texas Register