| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to career and education planning; amending |
| 3 | s. 1003.4156, F.S.; revising the general requirements for |
| 4 | middle grades promotion to require that a course in career |
| 5 | and education planning explore the National Career |
| 6 | Clusters; deleting a Department of Education requirement |
| 7 | relating to the course; providing an effective date. |
| 8 |
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| 9 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 10 |
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| 11 | Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section |
| 12 | 1003.4156, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 13 | 1003.4156 General requirements for middle grades |
| 14 | promotion.- |
| 15 | (1) Beginning with students entering grade 6 in the 2006- |
| 16 | 2007 school year, promotion from a school composed of middle |
| 17 | grades 6, 7, and 8 requires that: |
| 18 | (a) The student must successfully complete academic |
| 19 | courses as follows: |
| 20 | 1. Three middle school or higher courses in English. These |
| 21 | courses shall emphasize literature, composition, and technical |
| 22 | text. |
| 23 | 2. Three middle school or higher courses in mathematics. |
| 24 | Each middle school must offer at least one high school level |
| 25 | mathematics course for which students may earn high school |
| 26 | credit. Successful completion of a high school level Algebra I |
| 27 | or geometry course is not contingent upon the student's |
| 28 | performance on the end-of-course assessment required under s. |
| 29 | 1008.22(3)(c)2.a.(I). However, beginning with the 2011-2012 |
| 30 | school year, to earn high school credit for an Algebra I course, |
| 31 | a middle school student must pass the Algebra I end-of-course |
| 32 | assessment, and beginning with the 2012-2013 school year, to |
| 33 | earn high school credit for a geometry course, a middle school |
| 34 | student must pass the geometry end-of-course assessment. |
| 35 | 3. Three middle school or higher courses in social |
| 36 | studies, one semester of which must include the study of state |
| 37 | and federal government and civics education. Beginning with |
| 38 | students entering grade 6 in the 2012-2013 school year, one of |
| 39 | these courses must be at least a one-semester civics education |
| 40 | course that a student successfully completes in accordance with |
| 41 | s. 1008.22(3)(c) and that includes the roles and |
| 42 | responsibilities of federal, state, and local governments; the |
| 43 | structures and functions of the legislative, executive, and |
| 44 | judicial branches of government; and the meaning and |
| 45 | significance of historic documents, such as the Articles of |
| 46 | Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, and the |
| 47 | Constitution of the United States. |
| 48 | 4. Three middle school or higher courses in science. |
| 49 | Successful completion of a high school level Biology I course is |
| 50 | not contingent upon the student's performance on the end-of- |
| 51 | course assessment required under s. 1008.22(3)(c)2.a.(II). |
| 52 | However, beginning with the 2012-2013 school year, to earn high |
| 53 | school credit for a Biology I course, a middle school student |
| 54 | must pass the Biology I end-of-course assessment. |
| 55 | 5. One course in career and education planning to be |
| 56 | completed in 7th or 8th grade. The course may be taught by any |
| 57 | member of the instructional staff; must include career |
| 58 | exploration aligned to the National Career Clusters supported by |
| 59 | Florida's Career Clusters Initiative; must include career |
| 60 | exploration using Florida CHOICES or a comparable cost-effective |
| 61 | program; must include educational planning using the online |
| 62 | student advising system known as Florida Academic Counseling and |
| 63 | Tracking for Students at the Internet website FACTS.org; and |
| 64 | shall result in the completion of a personalized academic and |
| 65 | career plan. The required personalized academic and career plan |
| 66 | must inform students of high school graduation requirements, |
| 67 | high school assessment and college entrance test requirements, |
| 68 | Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program requirements, state |
| 69 | university and Florida college admission requirements, and |
| 70 | programs through which a high school student can earn college |
| 71 | credit, including Advanced Placement, International |
| 72 | Baccalaureate, Advanced International Certificate of Education, |
| 73 | dual enrollment, career academy opportunities, and courses that |
| 74 | lead to national industry certification. |
| 75 |
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| 76 | Each school must hold a parent meeting either in the evening or |
| 77 | on a weekend to inform parents about the course curriculum and |
| 78 | activities. Each student shall complete an electronic personal |
| 79 | education plan that must be signed by the student; the student's |
| 80 | instructor, guidance counselor, or academic advisor; and the |
| 81 | student's parent. The Department of Education shall develop |
| 82 | course frameworks and professional development materials for the |
| 83 | career exploration and education planning course. The course may |
| 84 | be implemented as a stand-alone course or integrated into |
| 85 | another course or courses. The Commissioner of Education shall |
| 86 | collect longitudinal high school course enrollment data by |
| 87 | student ethnicity in order to analyze course-taking patterns. |
| 88 | Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011. |