End-of-course (EOC) exams
Beginning with 9th grade students in the 2011-12 school year, the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) tests will be phased out at the high school level and replaced with 12 EOC exams. TAKS testing for grades 3-8 will continue.
Recent legislation requires that in order to graduate from high school, 9th grade students in the 2011-12 school year and thereafter must achieve a cumulative score determined by the commissioner of education on all EOC exams administered to the student in a subject area. Additionally, students in the recommended high school program must pass the Algebra II and English language arts III EOC exams, with the passing standard set by the commissioner. The score a student achieves on each EOC exam will be worth 15 percent of the student’s overall grade for that course.
If a school district finds that a student, on completion of grade 11, is unlikely to achieve the required cumulative score, the district must require the student to take the corresponding content-area college preparation course, if available, and the EOC exam for that course. This EOC exam would be scored on a scale determined by the commissioner that would not exceed 20 percent of the cumulative score required to graduate. These points could then be added to the cumulative score needed to graduate. TEA will adopt EOC exams for each of the college preparation courses necessary under this requirement.
The commissioner of education must determine a method by which a student’s satisfactory performance on Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, Scholastic Assessment tests or other rigorous tests can be substituted for an EOC exam and used toward the cumulative points required to graduate. The commissioner may also determine a method by which a student’s satisfactory performance on a preliminary SAT or ACT test can be substituted for an EOC exam and used toward the cumulative points needed to graduate.
Limits on testing
TEA must conduct separate field testing of existing tests no more than once every other year effective with the 2008-09 school year. TEA must notify each school district before the beginning of the school year of any required participation in field testing. During the 2009-10 school year, TEA will collect data through the administration of EOC field tests to a sufficiently large sample of students throughout the state for the purpose of setting performance standards for the EOC exams. Recent legislation prohibits districts from administering any locally required test designed to prepare students for state-administered tests on more than 10 percent of instructional days, and allows campus site-based decision making committees to approve an even lower percentage of days.
State accountability system
Recent legislation made major revisions to the state accountability system, many of which will be implemented in the 2011-12 school year. Most changes center on the incorporation of college readiness standards, graduation requirements, testing and sanctions/interventions.
Elective Bible courses
Legislation passed in 2007 requires school districts to offer curriculum on the Old and New Testaments to students in grades K-12. Beginning with the 2009-10 school year, a district may offer this information through an elective course for students in grade 9 and above, but is not required to offer such an elective. Districts may choose to incorporate this curriculum into an existing foundation class, in a manner similar to including economics instruction in a social studies course.
Parenting and paternity awareness program
School districts must offer a parenting and paternity awareness program, developed by the State Board of Education, to be used in the district’s high school health curriculum. Recent legislation provides that the district may also offer this program in middle or junior high school. The program must address parenting skills and responsibilities, including child support; relationship skills, including marriage preparation; and prevention of family violence. A student under the age of 14 must receive parental permission to participate in the program.
Career and technical education
A panel was established in 2007 to review the career and technical education curriculum and to make recommendations to the SBOE regarding increasing the rigor of, and participation in, career and technical education. The SBOE will revise the career and technical education TEKS accordingly by Sept. 1, 2009, and schools must implement the new curriculum in the 2010-11 school year. Additionally, recent legislation allows certain rigorous career and technology courses to be used, after the completion of Algebra II and physics, to comply with math and science requirements of the recommended high school program. Any such career and technology courses must cover the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for math or science, and be endorsed by an institution of higher education as a course, or prerequisite for a course, for which the institution would award credit. The legislation further provides for development of advanced math and science courses to prepare high school students for employment in high-demand occupations through a grant program in which an award is made to an institution of higher education to work with at least one school district and business entity to develop the courses. The courses must then be offered as dual credit and used to satisfy math/science requirements under the recommended or advanced high school program.
College readiness
By Sept. 1, 2011, vertical teams established by the commissioner of education will:
• recommend college-readiness standards and expectations to address what students must know and be able to do to succeed in entry-level courses in higher education,
• evaluate whether current high school curriculum requirements successfully prepare students for college-level course work,
• develop instructional strategies for teaching courses in high school to prepare students for college success, and
• jointly develop English language arts, math, science and social studies courses for students who need additional assistance in preparing for college success.
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