| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to student assessment instruments; |
| 3 | amending s. 1008.23, F.S.; authorizing a student's parent |
| 4 | and the student to review the questions and the student's |
| 5 | answers to questions on the criterion-referenced portion |
| 6 | of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test; providing |
| 7 | restrictions on the review; requiring the Department of |
| 8 | Education to honor requests within a certain time period; |
| 9 | requiring that district school boards notify eligible |
| 10 | parents; requiring the State Board of Education to adopt |
| 11 | rules; authorizing reasonable attorney's fees and costs |
| 12 | under certain circumstances; amending s. 1003.433, F.S.; |
| 13 | revising requirements for receipt of a standard high |
| 14 | school diploma for certain transfer students; repealing s. |
| 15 | 1008.301, F.S., relating to FCAT equivalency and a |
| 16 | concordance study by the State Board of Education; |
| 17 | providing an effective date. |
| 18 |
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| 19 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 20 |
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| 21 | Section 1. Section 1008.23, Florida Statutes, is amended |
| 22 | to read: |
| 23 | 1008.23 Confidentiality of assessment instruments.-- |
| 24 | (1) All examination and assessment instruments, including |
| 25 | developmental materials and workpapers directly related thereto, |
| 26 | which are prepared, prescribed, or administered pursuant to ss. |
| 27 | 1003.43, 1008.22, and 1008.25 shall be confidential and exempt |
| 28 | from the provisions of s. 119.07(1) and from s. 1001.52. |
| 29 | Provisions governing access, maintenance, and destruction of |
| 30 | such instruments and related materials shall be prescribed by |
| 31 | rules of the State Board of Education. |
| 32 | (2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), a student's parent, |
| 33 | accompanied by the student, may review, at the school at which |
| 34 | the student was enrolled when the student was administered the |
| 35 | Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, the questions on each |
| 36 | section of the criterion-referenced portion of the Florida |
| 37 | Comprehensive Assessment Test, as well as the student's answers |
| 38 | to those questions, under the following conditions: |
| 39 | (a) The student must have failed to earn a passing score |
| 40 | on the grade 10 Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test or failed |
| 41 | to score at Level 2 or higher on the Florida Comprehensive |
| 42 | Assessment Test in reading for grade 3. |
| 43 | (b) No recording or copying of the assessment may be made. |
| 44 | (c) A school administrator, as defined in s. |
| 45 | 1012.01(3)(c), or a representative of the Department of |
| 46 | Education must be present at all times when the assessment is |
| 47 | reviewed. |
| 48 | (d) The student or student's parent may not review the |
| 49 | assessment more than one time. |
| 50 | (e) No other individual is authorized to attend the |
| 51 | review. |
| 52 | (f) The assessment was not administered to the student |
| 53 | more than 2 years before the review. |
| 54 | (g) The student or student's parent may not remove the |
| 55 | assessment from the reviewing location. |
| 56 | (h) The student, the student's parent, the school |
| 57 | administrator, or the department representative may not take any |
| 58 | notes during the review. |
| 59 | (i) The parent must request the review within 14 days |
| 60 | after receipt of the student's score. |
| 61 |
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| 62 | The Department of Education shall provide for review of the |
| 63 | assessment questions and the student's answers to the questions |
| 64 | within 30 days after receiving the request for review. Each |
| 65 | district school board shall notify eligible parents of the |
| 66 | review option and the procedures for the review. The State Board |
| 67 | of Education shall adopt rules pursuant to ss. 120.536(1) and |
| 68 | 120.54 to administer this subsection. If the review request is |
| 69 | not met in accordance with this subsection, the parent is |
| 70 | entitled to reasonable attorney's fees and costs incurred by the |
| 71 | parent in obtaining compliance with this subsection. |
| 72 | Section 2. Subsection (1) of section 1003.433, Florida |
| 73 | Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 74 | 1003.433 Learning opportunities for out-of-state and out- |
| 75 | of-country transfer students and students needing additional |
| 76 | instruction to meet high school graduation requirements.-- |
| 77 | (1) Students who enter a Florida public school at the |
| 78 | eleventh or twelfth grade from out of state or from a foreign |
| 79 | country shall not be required to spend additional time in a |
| 80 | Florida public school in order to meet the high school course |
| 81 | requirements if the student has met all requirements of the |
| 82 | school district, state, or country from which he or she is |
| 83 | transferring. Such students who are not proficient in English |
| 84 | should receive immediate and intensive instruction in English |
| 85 | language acquisition. However, to receive a standard high school |
| 86 | diploma, a transfer student must earn a 2.0 grade point average |
| 87 | and pass the grade 10 FCAT required in s. 1008.22(3) or an |
| 88 | alternate assessment as described in s. 1008.22(9). Beginning |
| 89 | with the 2005-2006 school year, to receive a standard high |
| 90 | school diploma, a transfer student must earn a 2.0 grade point |
| 91 | average and pass the grade 10 FCAT required in s. 1008.22(3) if |
| 92 | the student is an eleventh grade student or earn scores on the |
| 93 | SAT or the ACT that equate to the passing scores on the grade 10 |
| 94 | FCAT if the student is a twelfth grade student. |
| 95 | Section 3. Section 1008.301, Florida Statutes, is |
| 96 | repealed. |
| 97 | Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2005. |