The Florida Senate

240.117  Common placement testing for public postsecondary education.--

(1)  The State Board of Education shall develop and implement a common placement test for the purpose of assessing the basic computation and communication skills of students who intend to enter a degree program at any public community college or state university. The State Board of Education shall adopt rules which enable the community colleges and state universities to implement appropriate modifications of the test instruments or test procedures for students with disabilities.

(2)  The common placement testing program shall include at a minimum the following: the capacity to diagnose basic competencies in the areas of English, reading, and mathematics which are essential to perform college-level work; prerequisite skills that relate to progressively advanced instruction in mathematics, such as algebra and geometry; prerequisite skills that relate to progressively advanced instruction in language arts, such as English composition and literature; prerequisite skills which relate to the College Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST); and provision of test information to students on the specific deficiencies.

(3)  The Articulation Coordinating Committee shall recommend and the State Board of Education shall adopt rules that would require high schools to give the common placement test prescribed in this section, or an equivalent test identified by the State Board of Education, at the beginning of the tenth grade year before enrollment in the eleventh grade year in public high school for the purpose of obtaining remedial instruction prior to entering public postsecondary education.

(4)¹(a)  Community college or state university students who have been identified as requiring additional preparation pursuant to subsection (1) shall enroll in college-preparatory or other adult education pursuant to s. 239.301 in community colleges to develop needed college-entry skills. These students shall be permitted to take courses within their degree program concurrently in other curriculum areas for which they are qualified while enrolled in college-preparatory instruction courses. A student enrolled in a college-preparatory course may concurrently enroll only in college credit courses that do not require the skills addressed in the college-preparatory course. The State Board of Community Colleges shall specify the college credit courses that are acceptable for students enrolled in each college-preparatory skill area, pursuant to s. 240.311(3)(q). A student who wishes to earn an associate in arts or a baccalaureate degree, but who is required to complete a college-preparatory course, must successfully complete the required college-preparatory studies by the time the student has accumulated 12 hours of lower-division college credit degree coursework; however, a student may continue enrollment in degree-earning coursework provided the student maintains enrollment in college-preparatory coursework for each subsequent semester until college-preparatory coursework requirements are completed, and the student demonstrates satisfactory performance in degree-earning coursework. A passing score on a standardized, institutionally developed test must be achieved before a student is considered to have met basic computation and communication skills requirements; however, no student shall be required to retake any test or subtest that was previously passed by said student. A student shall be funded to enroll in the same college-preparatory class within a skill area only twice, after which time the student shall pay 100 percent of the full cost of instruction to support continuous enrollment of that student in the same class and such student shall not be included in calculations of full-time equivalent enrollments for state funding purposes; however, students who withdraw or fail a class due to extenuating circumstances may be granted an exception only once for each class, provided approval is granted according to policy established by the board of trustees. Each community college shall have the authority to review and reduce fees paid by students due to continued enrollment in a college-preparatory class on an individual basis contingent upon the student's financial hardship, pursuant to definitions and fee levels established by the State Board of Community Colleges. Credit awarded for college-preparatory instruction may not be counted towards fulfilling the number of credits required for a degree.

(b)  The administrators of a state university may contract with a community college board of trustees for the community college to provide such instruction on the state university campus. Any state university in which the percentage of incoming students requiring college-preparatory instruction equals or exceeds the average percentage of such students for the community college system may offer college-preparatory instruction without contracting with a community college; however, any state university offering college-preparatory instruction as of January 1, 1996, may continue to provide such services.

(5)  A student may not be enrolled in a college credit mathematics or English course on a dual enrollment basis unless the student has demonstrated adequate precollegiate preparation on the section of the basic computation and communication skills assessment required pursuant to subsection (1) that is appropriate for successful student participation in the course.

History.--s. 24, ch. 83-325; s. 24, ch. 84-336; s. 9, ch. 87-212; s. 26, ch. 89-381; s. 52, ch. 92-136; s. 2, ch. 93-234; s. 4, ch. 95-392; s. 15, ch. 97-2; s. 1, ch. 97-100; ss. 11, 46, ch. 97-246; s. 3, ch. 99-150.

¹Note.--Section 5, ch. 99-150, provides that "[t]his act shall take effect July 1, 1999, and shall apply beginning with the Fall term in 1999."