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EK (TSBVI) – Testing Programs

TSBVI ACHIEVEMENT TESTING

In addition to the state-administered assessment instruments, the School may adopt and administer criterion-referenced or norm-referenced assessment instruments, or both, at any grade level. A locally-adopted norm-referenced assessment instrument must be economical, nationally recognized, and state-approved.

For purposes of this provision, “assessment instrument” means a school-commissioned achievement test, either nationally normed or criterion-referenced, that is group administered and reported publicly (such as to a board) in the aggregate.

A company or organization scoring an assessment instrument shall send test results to the School for verification.  The School shall have 90 days to verify the accuracy of test data and report the results to the Board.

To maintain security and confidential integrity of group-administered achievement tests, the School shall follow the procedures for test security and confidentiality set forth in 19 TAC Chapter 101, Subchapter C. [See EKB]

Education Code 39.026, 39.032, 19 TAC 101.101

Assessment Instrument Limitations

In any subject area for which a state assessment is administered, TSBVI may not administer locally required assessments designed to prepare students for state assessments to any student on more than ten percent of the instructional days in any school year.  A campus-level planning and decision-making committee may limit the administration of locally required assessments to ten percent or a lower percentage of the instructional days in any school year.  This prohibition does not apply to the administration of college preparation assessments, advanced placement tests, international baccalaureate examinations, or state assessments.  Education Code 39.0262

A parent of or person standing in parental relation to a student who has special needs, as determined in accordance with commissioner of education rule, may request administration to the student of additional benchmark assessment instruments.

Education Code 39.0263

COLLEGE PREPARATION ASSESSMENTS

Each school year, and at state cost, the School may administer an established, valid, reliable, and nationally norm-referenced preliminary college preparation assessment instrument:

  1. To students in the spring of the eighth grade, for the purpose of diagnosing the academic strengths and deficiencies of students before entrance into high school; and
  2. To students in the tenth grade, for the purpose of measuring a student’s progress toward readiness for college and the workplace.

The provisions of Education Code 39.0261(a)(1) and (a)(2), above, apply only if the legislature appropriates funds for those purposes.

Education Code 39.0261(a)(1)-(a)(2), (f)

High school students, in the spring of the eleventh grade or during the twelfth grade, may select and take once, at state cost, one of the valid, reliable, and nationally norm-referenced assessment instruments used by colleges and universities as part of their undergraduate admissions processes; or the assessment instrument designated by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board under Education Code 51.334.

A high school student is not prohibited from taking the test more than once, at the student’s own expense.

Education Code 39.0261(a)(3), (e)

The School is entitled to reimbursement for the amount of fees paid by the School for the administration of an assessment instrument under Education Code 39.0261(a)(3), above.  Education Code 48.155

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) shall:

  1. Select and approve vendors of the specific assessment instruments administered under this section; and
  2. Provide reimbursement to a district for all fees associated with the administration of the assessment instrument, from funds appropriated for that purpose.

TEA shall ensure that a school district is not reimbursed for the administration of an assessment instrument to a student to whom the assessment instrument is not actually administered.

Education Code 39.0261(b)-(c)

Adopted:         5/30/86

Amended:       9/27/90, 1/29/93, 1/20/95, 1/24/97, 1/31/03, 4/1/05, 1/25/13, 8/9/18, 1/31/20

Reviewed:       1/24/02