BILL REQ. #:  H-3558.1 

Prefiled 1/6/2006. Read first time 01/09/2006.   Referred to Committee on Education.

     AN ACT Relating to college placement tests for high school students; adding a new section to chapter 28A.230 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that too many students graduate from high school and find themselves academically unprepared for postsecondary study, including students who thought they were enrolled in a college preparatory program while in high school. The legislature further finds that some students, particularly those whose parents did not attend college, do not pursue postsecondary study because they are unaware they have the potential to succeed in higher education. Therefore, the legislature intends to make college placement tests widely available in high schools and encourage high school students, their parents, and their teachers to use the tests as a tool for planning and preparing for their future.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 28A.230 RCW to read as follows:
     The superintendent of public instruction shall make available to school districts a college placement test that districts shall annually offer to students in tenth or eleventh grade. Districts shall encourage but may not require students to take the test. The superintendent shall select the test from commercially available products. The test shall serve to assist students, parents, and teachers in the planning and selection of appropriate high school courses and to gauge student readiness for postsecondary study, including dual enrollment programs. Results of the tests and relevant student, school, and district characteristics shall be compiled by the superintendent of public instruction to permit research and analysis, including analysis using the unique student identifier, and shall be made available to the parents of those students tested. Aggregate results shall be made available to the public and the legislature.