HIGH SCHOOL PROFICIENCY TEST - H.B. 5229 (S-4): FLOOR ANALYSIS

House Bill 5229 (Substitute S-4 as reported by the Committee of the Whole)

Sponsor: Representative Mark Schauer

House Committee: Education

Senate Committee: Education

CONTENT

The bill would amend the State School Aid Act to require a district to administer to high school students State assessments in communication skills, mathematics, science, and, beginning with students scheduled to graduate in 2000, social studies. (The bill would delete the current requirement that a district award State-endorsed high school diplomas to graduates who demonstrated the required proficiency in those subject areas.) A district would have to include on a pupil's high school transcript his or her scaled score on the assessment and, for each subject area assessment; an indication that the pupil had achieved State endorsement for a subject area, if the pupil's scaled score fell within the required range; and the number of days the pupil attended school each year during high school and the total number of days school was in session each year. A nonpublic school student and a home school student also could take an assessment, and a school district would have to administer an assessment for a home school student.

The assessments would have to be administered during the last 30 school days of grade 11, and scores would have to be returned by the beginning of a pupil's first semester of grade 12. Returned scores would have to indicate a pupil's scaled score for each subject area and the range of scaled scores needed for each subject area; and the range of scaled scores required for each category. The Department of Education would have to develop scaled scores for reporting assessment results subject to approval by the State Board. The Superintendent of Public Instruction would have to establish three categories for each subject area indicating basic competency, above average, and outstanding.

A pupil who wanted to repeat an assessment could do so, without charge, later in the next school year or after graduation. A person who graduated from high school after 1996 and who previously had not taken any assessments also could take the tests at no cost and have his or her score included on a transcript. Pupils scheduled to graduate in 1998 and who took the assessments during the 1996-97 school year could repeat an assessment during the 1997-98 school year and before graduation.

The bill also would require the Department to: ensure that the length of the assessments and the time needed to administer them were the shortest possible, and that the maximum time needed to complete all assessments not exceed eight hours; arrange for repeat assessments throughout the year for individuals who wanted to repeat an assessment; and submit to the Legislature annually until 2000 a comprehensive report on the status of the assessment program.

The bill is tie-barred to House Bills 5228, 5230, 5232, 5234, and 5235.

MCL 380.1704a - Legislative Analyst: L. Arasim

FISCAL IMPACT

Please see FISCAL IMPACT on House Bill 5228 (S-6).

Date Completed: 12-3-97 - Fiscal Analyst: J. Carrasco

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This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.