Senate Bill 0990
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Florida Senate - 2000 SB 990
By the Committee on Education
304-350C-00
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to education; amending s.
3 230.23, F.S.; requiring certain reports;
4 amending s. 232.24521, F.S.; encouraging
5 certain grading practices; requiring a
6 grade-point-average calculation for the Bright
7 Futures Scholarship Program; prohibiting
8 certain exemption; amending s. 232.2463, F.S.;
9 authorizing school districts to abandon certain
10 high school grading practices; providing
11 definitions; repealing s. 240.1163(4), F.S.,
12 relating to weighting of grades in dual
13 enrollment and advanced placement courses;
14 providing an effective date.
15
16 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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18 Section 1. Paragraph (e) of subsection (16) of section
19 230.23, F.S., is amended to read:
20 230.23 Powers and duties of school board.--The school
21 board, acting as a board, shall exercise all powers and
22 perform all duties listed below:
23 (16) IMPLEMENT SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT AND
24 ACCOUNTABILITY.--Maintain a system of school improvement and
25 education accountability as provided by statute and State
26 Board of Education rule. This system of school improvement and
27 education accountability shall be consistent with, and
28 implemented through, the district's continuing system of
29 planning and budgeting required by this section and ss.
30 229.555 and 237.041. This system of school improvement and
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Florida Senate - 2000 SB 990
304-350C-00
1 education accountability shall include, but is not limited to,
2 the following:
3 (e) Public disclosure.--Provide information regarding
4 performance of students and educational programs as required
5 pursuant to ss. 229.555 and 229.57(5) and implement a system
6 of school reports as required by statute and State Board of
7 Education rule which shall include schools operating for the
8 purpose of providing educational services to youth in
9 Department of Juvenile Justice programs, and for those
10 schools, report on the elements specified in s. 230.23161(21).
11 Annual public disclosure reports must shall be a profile of
12 each school in an easy-to-read report-card report card format
13 and must shall include the school's student and school
14 performance grade category designation and performance data as
15 specified in state board rule. The school board shall report
16 academic achievement of high school students as measured by
17 all statewide assessments, by national assessments, and by
18 grades in high school courses. Grade reports on high school
19 courses must specify the number and percentage of students who
20 received each letter grade in all courses and in each type of
21 course organized by level and category.
22 Section 2. Section 232.24521, Florida Statutes, is
23 amended to read:
24 232.24521 Report cards; end-of-the-year status.--
25 (1) Each school district shall establish and publish
26 policies requiring the content and regular issuance of student
27 report cards for all elementary school, middle school, and
28 high school students. These report cards must clearly depict
29 and grade:
30 (a) The student's academic achievement performance in
31 each class or course, which in grades 1 through 12 must be
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Florida Senate - 2000 SB 990
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1 based upon examinations as well as written papers, class
2 participation, and other measures of academic achievement
3 performance criteria.
4 (b) The student's conduct and behavior.
5 (c) The student's attendance, including absences and
6 tardiness.
7 (2) A student's final report card for a school year
8 shall contain a statement indicating end-of-the-year status
9 regarding performance or nonperformance at grade level,
10 acceptable or unacceptable behavior and attendance, and
11 promotion or nonpromotion. Grades reported on the final report
12 card must be expressed as letter grades or grade points, and
13 grade-point averages must be calculated using the grade
14 weighting system adopted by the Department of Education for
15 the Bright Futures Scholarship Program. If a different grade
16 weighting system is used to calculate grade-point averages for
17 class ranking, it must be reported separately from the Bright
18 Futures grade-point average.
19 (3) Academic achievement should be graded upon
20 measurement of academic performance and timely completion of
21 academic requirements. Academic achievement grades should be
22 separated from grades for other matters such as academic
23 improvement, conduct, attitude, attendance, or tardiness.
24 School districts shall not allow schools to exempt students
25 from academic performance requirements based on practices or
26 policies designed to encourage student attendance. A student's
27 attendance record may not be used in whole or in part to
28 provide an exemption from any academic performance
29 requirement.
30 Section 3. Section 232.2463, Florida Statutes, is
31 amended to read:
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Florida Senate - 2000 SB 990
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1 (Substantial rewording of section. See s. 232.2463,
2 F.S., for present text.)
3 232.2463 High school grading system.--The Legislature
4 finds that the percentage equivalents of high school letter
5 grades depend upon the difficulty of material assigned and
6 tested by the teacher. An equal percentage of correct answers
7 could indicate unequal levels of mastery depending on the
8 difficulty of the test questions. Therefore, grades expressed
9 as a percentage are not expected to be consistently equated to
10 the same level of mastery. School districts are not required
11 to adopt a system of interpreting percentage grades, and
12 school teachers may use grading systems that vary the
13 interpretation of percentage grades according to the
14 difficulty of material tested, such as "curving" the grades.
15 For purposes of interpreting percentage grades when teachers
16 do not assign letter grades, school districts should use a
17 grading scale that is similar to those used by other states,
18 as follows:
19 (1) Grade "A" equals 90 percent through 100 percent,
20 has a grade point average value of 4, and is defined as
21 "outstanding progress."
22 (2) Grade "B" equals 80 percent through 89 percent,
23 has a grade point average value of 3, and is defined as "above
24 average progress."
25 (3) Grade "C" equals 70 percent through 79 percent,
26 has a grade point average value of 2, and is defined as
27 "average progress."
28 (4) Grade "D" equals 60 percent through 69 percent,
29 has a grade point average value of 1, and is defined as
30 "lowest acceptable progress."
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Florida Senate - 2000 SB 990
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1 (5) Grade "F" equals zero percent through 59 percent,
2 has a grade point average value of zero, and is defined as
3 "failure."
4 (6) Grade "I" equals zero percent, has a grade point
5 average value of zero, and is defined as "incomplete."
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7 For the purposes of class ranking, school districts may
8 exercise a weighted grading system. However, if a school
9 district uses a weighted grading system that differs from the
10 system used by the Department of Education for the Florida
11 Bright Futures Scholarship Program, each high school principal
12 must inform students and their parents of the difference. On
13 student report cards, grade-point averages must be calculated
14 by the weighted system used by both the Department of
15 Education and the school district.
16 Section 4. Subsection (4) of section 240.1163, Florida
17 Statutes, is repealed.
18 Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2000.
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21 SENATE SUMMARY
22 Requires school boards to report on the academic
achievement of high school students and to include in
23 such reports the number and percentage of students who
received each letter grade. Provides clarification
24 regarding what information report cards must show.
Requires academic achievement grades to be separated from
25 grades for other factors. Revises provisions that
establish standards for the high school grading system.
26 Establishes guidelines for the assignment of letter
grades to grades for percentage of correct answers.
27 Repeals a provision relating to the weighting of grades
in certain courses. (See bill for details.)
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