Z-1000               _______________________________________________

                                                   SENATE BILL NO. 5740

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1989 Regular Session

By Senators Bailey, Rinehart, Gaspard, Smitherman, Bauer, Bender, Fleming, Metcalf and Murray; by request of Superintendent of Public Instruction

Read first time 2/3/89 and referred to Committee on  Education.

AN ACT Relating to eleventh grade assessment; and amending RCW 28A.03.360.

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

        Sec. 1.  Section 1, chapter 98, Laws of 1975-'76 2nd ex. sess. as last amended by section 1, chapter 403, Laws of 1985 and RCW 28A.03.360 are each amended to read as follows:

          (1) Every school district is encouraged to test pupils in grade two  by an assessment device designed or selected by the local school districts.  This test shall be used to help teachers in identifying those pupils in need of assistance in the skills of reading, writing, mathematics, and language arts.  The test results are not to be compiled by the superintendent of public instruction, but are only to be used by the local school district.

          (2) The superintendent of public instruction shall prepare and conduct, with the assistance of local school districts, a standardized achievement test to be given annually to all pupils in grade four.  The test shall assess students' skill in reading, mathematics, and language arts and shall focus upon appropriate input variables.  Results of such tests shall be compiled by the superintendent of public instruction, who shall make those results available annually to the legislature, to all local school districts and subsequently to parents of those children tested.  The results shall allow parents to ascertain the achievement levels and input variables of their children as compared with the other students within the district, the state and, if applicable, the nation.

          (3) The superintendent of public instruction shall prepare and conduct, with the assistance of local school districts, an assessment to be administered annually to all grade eight students.  The purposes of the assessment are to assist students, parents, and teachers in the planning and selection of appropriate high school programs and courses for the students and to provide comparisons within the district, the state and, if applicable, the nation.  The assessment shall include but not be limited to tests in reading, mathematics, and language arts and a student interest inventory.  The superintendent of public instruction shall make the results available to all local school districts which shall in turn make them available to students, parents, and teachers in a timely fashion.

          (4) The superintendent of public instruction shall prepare and conduct, with the assistance of local school districts, ((a standardized achievement test to be given annually to)) an annual assessment of all students in grade ((ten)) eleven.  The purposes of the ((test)) assessment program are to assist students in meeting district graduation requirements and in making decisions regarding potential career options ((and)) by providing guidance information which may be used by students, parents, and teachers.  The test results shall allow schools and parents to ascertain the achievement levels of their students as compared with other students within the district, the state, and, if applicable, the nation.  ((The results may also be used as an)) This assessment information will aid in the development of plans to build upon individual students' strengths and to address areas in which individual students' skills are not as strong.  The ((test)) assessment shall include but not be limited to ((examinations in reading, mathematics, and language arts and a student academic and career interest inventory and may include the collection of other academic achievement related information)):  Examinations reflective of high school curricula and priorities and the reasoning and thinking skills essential to adult life; a student academic and career interest inventory; a guidance profile based on the analysis of high school transcripts; and, with the cooperation of two-year and four-year colleges and universities, vocational and technical training institutions, and major employers, a follow-up of students' postsecondary experience.  Results of the ((test)) assessment shall be compiled by the superintendent of public instruction who shall annually make the results available to all local school districts which shall in turn make the results available to students, parents, and teachers in a timely fashion.  In addition to a compilation of school district ((test)) assessment results, the ((test)) assessment results for each school shall be reported as they relate to selected demographic variables.

          (5) ((The superintendent of public instruction shall test approximately two thousand students distributed throughout the state in the eleventh grade once every two years.  Choice of students shall be based on a statistical random sample of students from this grade level sufficient to generalize about all of the students at the grade level from the state's school districts.  The purpose of the test is to allow the public, the legislature, and school district personnel to evaluate how Washington students in this grade compare to students in the same grade tested in other comparable national achievement surveys.

          (6))) The superintendent of public instruction shall report annually to the legislature on the achievement levels of students in grades four, eight, and ((ten and shall report biennially to the legislature on the achievement levels of students in grade)) eleven.