Florida Senate - 2021 SB 190
By Senator Berman
31-00111B-21 2021190__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to required instruction; creating s.
3 1003.4551, F.S.; beginning in a specified school year,
4 requiring the Department of Education to annually
5 verify that school districts, charter schools, and
6 specified private schools implement certain
7 instruction relating to the history of African
8 Americans; defining the term “private school”;
9 specifying requirements for school districts, charter
10 schools, and specified private schools relating to
11 such instruction; requiring district school boards,
12 charter school governing boards, and private school
13 directors to adopt certain implementation plans;
14 requiring district school superintendents, charter
15 school principals, and private school directors to
16 annually provide specified evidence to the department
17 by a certain date; authorizing the State Board of
18 Education to adopt rules; amending s. 1008.22, F.S.;
19 requiring certain statewide, standardized assessments
20 to include, when appropriate, curricula content from
21 the history of African Americans; providing an
22 effective date.
23
24 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
25
26 Section 1. Section 1003.4551, Florida Statutes, is created
27 to read:
28 1003.4551 School district, charter school, and private
29 school implementation of required instruction on the history of
30 African Americans.—
31 (1) Beginning in the 2022-2023 school year, the department
32 shall annually verify that each school district, charter school,
33 and private school implements the instruction required under s.
34 1003.42(2)(h), relating to the history of African Americans,
35 efficiently and faithfully throughout the school district’s,
36 charter school’s, or private school’s entire curriculum, as
37 appropriate. For purposes of this section, the term “private
38 school” means a private school that accepts scholarship students
39 who participate in a state scholarship program under chapter
40 1002.
41 (2) Beginning in the 2022-2023 school year, each school
42 district, charter school, and private school must:
43 (a) Develop, and each school board, charter school
44 governing board, and private school director or similar
45 administrator must adopt, a plan for the implementation of
46 required instruction on the history of African Americans and
47 publicize the plan in the school district’s, charter school’s,
48 or private school’s curriculum guides and on its website.
49 (b) Develop and implement an ongoing professional
50 development plan for training instructional staff in strategies
51 for teaching the history of African Americans. The school
52 district, charter school, or private school must allocate
53 adequate resources to structured professional development
54 programs and for enhancing the instruction of the history of
55 African Americans in an infused format.
56 (c) Integrate curricula for teaching the history of African
57 Americans which meet the requirements of s. 1003.42(2)(h) as
58 part of the school district’s, charter school’s, or private
59 school’s curriculum. Such curricula must be distributed to
60 curriculum specialists, teachers, media specialists, and other
61 instructional staff. The school district, charter school, or
62 private school must ensure that adequate instructional
63 resources, including, but not limited to, books, compact discs,
64 digital media, and lesson plans, are available to support such
65 instruction.
66 (d) Include content on the history of African Americans in
67 lesson plans for the entire school year, as appropriate.
68 (e) Approve methods for teaching and assessing curricula on
69 the history of African Americans.
70 (f) Include content on the history of African Americans in
71 any preparations for statewide assessments, when appropriate.
72 (g) Include content on the history of African Americans in
73 all appropriate subject areas.
74 (h) Partner with a state university for the development and
75 implementation of professional development, curricula, and
76 instructional support, including jointly seeking external
77 funding and preparing teachers and other instructional staff to
78 teach the history of African Americans.
79 (i) Develop strategies to involve parents in the
80 implementation of the curricula for the history of African
81 Americans, including through awareness information sessions.
82 (j) Partner with community members in the development and
83 ongoing implementation of curricula on the history of African
84 Americans.
85 (3) By August 1, 2022, and annually thereafter, each
86 district school superintendent, charter school principal, and
87 private school director or similar administrator shall provide
88 to the department, in a format prescribed by the department,
89 evidence of school district, charter school, and private school
90 compliance with subsection (2).
91 (4) The State Board of Education may adopt rules to
92 administer this section.
93 Section 2. Paragraph (a) of subsection (3) of section
94 1008.22, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
95 1008.22 Student assessment program for public schools.—
96 (3) STATEWIDE, STANDARDIZED ASSESSMENT PROGRAM.—The
97 Commissioner of Education shall design and implement a
98 statewide, standardized assessment program aligned to the core
99 curricular content established in the Next Generation Sunshine
100 State Standards. The commissioner also must develop or select
101 and implement a common battery of assessment tools that will be
102 used in all juvenile justice education programs in the state.
103 These tools must accurately measure the core curricular content
104 established in the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards.
105 Participation in the assessment program is mandatory for all
106 school districts and all students attending public schools,
107 including adult students seeking a standard high school diploma
108 under s. 1003.4282 and students in Department of Juvenile
109 Justice education programs, except as otherwise provided by law.
110 If a student does not participate in the assessment program, the
111 school district must notify the student’s parent and provide the
112 parent with information regarding the implications of such
113 nonparticipation. The statewide, standardized assessment program
114 shall be designed and implemented as follows:
115 (a) Statewide, standardized comprehensive assessments.—The
116 statewide, standardized Reading assessment shall be administered
117 annually in grades 3 through 10. The statewide, standardized
118 Writing assessment shall be administered annually at least once
119 at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. When the
120 Reading and Writing assessments are replaced by English Language
121 Arts (ELA) assessments, ELA assessments shall be administered to
122 students in grades 3 through 10. Retake opportunities for the
123 grade 10 Reading assessment or, upon implementation, the grade
124 10 ELA assessment must be provided. Students taking the ELA
125 assessments shall not take the statewide, standardized
126 assessments in Reading or Writing. Reading passages and writing
127 prompts for ELA assessments shall incorporate grade-level core
128 curricula content from social studies and, when appropriate,
129 curricula content from the history of African Americans. The
130 statewide, standardized Mathematics assessments shall be
131 administered annually in grades 3 through 8. Students taking a
132 revised Mathematics assessment shall not take the discontinued
133 assessment. The statewide, standardized Science assessment shall
134 be administered annually at least once at the elementary and
135 middle grades levels. In order to earn a standard high school
136 diploma, a student who has not earned a passing score on the
137 grade 10 Reading assessment or, upon implementation, the grade
138 10 ELA assessment must earn a passing score on the assessment
139 retake or earn a concordant score as authorized under subsection
140 (9).
141 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2021.