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2019 SESSION

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SB 1218 Public high schools; Standards of Learning assessments.

Introduced by: Stephen D. Newman | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles

SUMMARY AS PASSED SENATE: (all summaries)

Public high schools; Standards of Learning assessments. Requires the Standards of Learning assessments administered to students in grades nine through 12 to include reading, writing, mathematics, biology, and Virginia and U.S. history. The bill requires each such Standards of Learning assessment to consist of a Board-developed end-of-course assessment and prohibits such from being performance-based. The bill requires each school board to annually certify that it has provided instruction and administered an alternative assessment, consistent with Board guidelines, to students enrolled in a high school course in mathematics, science, or history and social science for which an end-of-course Standards of Learning assessment was administered prior to July 1, 2019, and was subsequently eliminated by the Board. The bill requires the Department of Education to perform reviews on such locally administered alternative assessments for high school courses and to report such review based on the 2019-2020 school year outcomes to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health by December 1, 2020. The bill requires the Board, in its graduation requirements, to require students to earn a verified unit of credit in reading, writing, mathematics, science, and Virginia and U.S. History. The bill requires each such verified credit to be earned only by (i) the successful completion of a Board-developed end-of-course Standards of Learning assessment; (ii) achievement of a passing score on a Board-approved standardized test administered on a statewide, multistate, or international basis that measures content that incorporates or exceeds the Standards of Learning content in the course for which the verified credit is given; or (iii) achievement of criteria for the receipt of a locally awarded verified credit from the local school board in accordance with criteria established in Board guidelines when the student has not passed the corresponding Standards of Learning assessment. The bill authorizes the Board to permit transfer students to graduate with a reduced number of credits. The provisions of the bill requiring certain verified credit become effective beginning with first-time ninth grade students in the 2019-2020 school year.


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