AGREEMENT REQUIREMENT FOR EDUCATION SAVINGS ACCOUNT
Under present law, if a student wishes to participate in the education savings account pilot program, then a parent of an eligible student who is 17 or younger, or an eligible student who has reached 18, must agree, in writing, to ensure the provision of an education for the participating student that satisfies the compulsory school attendance requirement through enrollment in a private school and meets the requirements established by the department and the state board for a Category I, II, or III private school.
This bill provides, instead, that the parent or student must, in writing, ensure the provision of an education for the participating student that satisfies the compulsory school attendance requirement through enrollment in a participating school.
PROFICIENCY REQUIREMENTS FOR PROMOTION TO FOURTH GRADE
Under present law, as a condition of the program, participating students in grades 3-11 must be annually administered the TCAP tests for math and English language arts, or successor tests authorized by the state board of education for math and English language arts.
Beginning with the 2024-2025 school year and applying to each school year thereafter, as a condition of the program, this bill requires participating schools to retain a participating student in the third grade unless the student is determined to be proficient in ELA based on the student's achieving a performance level rating of "on track" or "mastered" on the ELA portion of the student's most recent TCAP test. However, a participating school may still promote a participating student who is not proficient in ELA, as determined by the student's achieving a performance level rating of "approaching" on the ELA portion of the student's most recent TCAP test, if the student meets one or more of the following conditions:
(1) The student is an English language learner and has received less than two years of ELA instruction;
(2) The student was previously retained in any of the grades K-3;
(3) The student is retested before the beginning of the next school year and scores proficient in ELA;
(4) The student (i) attends a summer learning camp provided by the student's participating school before the beginning of the upcoming school year; (ii) maintains a 90 percent attendance rate at the camp; and (iii) the student's performance on the post-test administered to the student at the end of the summer learning camp, as required under the program, demonstrates adequate growth, as determined by the department, so long as the determination of adequate growth mirrors the determination of adequate growth used by the department for purposes of promoting students from the third grade;
(5) The student is assigned a tutor to provide the student with tutoring services for the entirety of the upcoming school year based on tutoring requirements established by the department; so long as the tutoring requirements established by the department for purposes of this provision mirror the tutoring requirements established by the department for purposes of promoting students from the third grade; or
(6) The student demonstrates proficiency in ELA standards based on the student's scoring within the fiftieth percentile on an assessment created under the innovative benchmark assessment pilot program ("state-adopted benchmark assessment") , if (i) the benchmark assessment is administered to the student in a test environment, as determined by the department for purposes of promoting the student from the third grade, and (ii) the student's participating school agrees to provide tutoring services to the student for the entirety of the student's fourth-grade year based on tutoring requirements established by the department for purposes of promoting the student from the third grade. If a student is promoted to the fourth grade pursuant to this provision, then the student's participating school must notify the student's parent or guardian, in writing, by sharing the benefits of enrolling their student in the summer learning camp provided by the participating school, and encouraging the parent or guardian to do so.
This bill further provides that a participating school may nevertheless promote a student who is not proficient in ELA, as determined by the student's achieving a performance level rating of "below" on the ELA portion of the student's most recent TCAP test, if the student satisfies at least one of the conditions (1)-(4) above.
This bill requires that a student who is promoted to fourth grade after being assigned a tutor under condition (5) above, or who is promoted under this bill despite achieving a performance level rating of "below" on the ELA portion of the student's most recent TCAP test and who attended a summer camp under condition (4) above, must show adequate growth on the fourth grade ELA portion of the TCAP test before the student may be promoted to the fifth grade. For purposes of this provision, the department determines what constitutes adequate growth, and such determinations must mirror the determination of adequate growth used by the department for the purposes of the promotion of students from the third grade. However, a participating student must not be retained in the fourth grade more than once.
APPEALS PROCESS FOR STUDENTS IDENTIFIED FOR RETENTION
This bill requires the department to administer the same appeals process for a participating student who is identified for retention in third grade based on the student's achieving a performance level rating of "approaching" on the ELA portion of the student's most recent TCAP test as it administers for students from the third grade enrolled in a public school. A participating student who is retained in any of the grades K-3 must be assigned a tutor to provide the student with tutoring services for the entirety of the upcoming school year based on the tutoring requirements established by the department for purposes of the promotion of students from the third grade. This bill authorizes a participating school to use one or more of the online tutoring providers procured by the department to provide tutoring services to students.
REPORTS TO EDUCATION COMMITTEES OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE
Under present law, for the 2023-2024 school year and each school year thereafter, the department of education is required to report to the education committees of the senate and house (i) the number of students identified for mandatory retention through their performance on the most-recently administered TCAP test, who were promoted to the fourth grade by scoring within the fiftieth percentile on the most-recently administered state-provided benchmark assessment; (ii) the provider, format, and frequency of the tutoring services provided to students in the fourth grade, who were promoted by scoring within the fiftieth percentile on the most-recently administered state-provided benchmark assessment; (iii) the percentage of students promoted by scoring within the fiftieth percentile on the most-recently administered state-provided benchmark assessment that demonstrated growth or proficiency in ELA after receiving tutoring services in the fourth grade; (iv) the number of students promoted by scoring within the fiftieth percentile on the most-recently administered state-provided benchmark assessment that enrolled in a learning loss bridge camp; and (v) the percentage of students promoted by scoring within the fiftieth percentile on the most recently administered state-provided benchmark assessment who enrolled in a learning loss bridge camp and demonstrated growth or proficiency in ELA at the conclusion of the camp.
Beginning with the 2024-2025 school year, and applying to each school year thereafter, this bill changes what the department must include in its report submitted to the education committees of the senate and house.
For each LEA, by no later than December 1, 2024, and each December 1 thereafter; and for each participating school, by no later than December 1, 2025, and each December 1 thereafter, this bill requires the department's report to the education committees of the senate and house of representatives to include the number of students identified for mandatory retention by failing to achieve a performance level of "on track" or "mastered" on the ELA portion of the student's most recently administered TCAP test, and who were promoted to the fourth grade by scoring within the fiftieth percentile on a state-adopted benchmark assessment.
For each LEA, by no later than December 1, 2025, and each December 1 thereafter; and for each participating school, by December 1 of 2026, and each December 1 thereafter, this bill requires the department's report to the education committees of the senate and house of representatives to include the following:
(1) The provider, format, and frequency of tutoring services provided to students in the fourth grade who were promoted by scoring within the fiftieth percentile on a state-adopted benchmark assessment;
(2) The percentage of students promoted by scoring within the fiftieth percentile on a state-adopted benchmark assessment that demonstrated growth or proficiency in ELA after receiving tutoring services in the fourth grade;
(3) The number of students promoted by scoring within the fiftieth percentile on a state-adopted benchmark assessment that enrolled in a learning loss bridge camp or a summer learning camp provided by the student's participating school pursuant to this bill; and
(4) The percentage of students promoted by scoring within the fiftieth percentile on a state-adopted benchmark assessment and who enrolled in a learning loss bridge camp or a summer learning camp provided by the student's participating school pursuant to this bill that demonstrated growth or proficiency in ELA at the conclusion of the camp.
SUMMER LEARNING CAMP
For purposes of the program, this bill provides that a "summer learning camp" means a four-week educational program conducted during the summer before the beginning of each school year by a participating school that is designed to support the academic needs of participating students who have been identified for retention under this bill, and that provides, at a minimum, the following:
(1) Four combined hours of in-person daily instruction, intervention, and supplemental supports in reading or ELA, provided five days per week. Each participating school must determine the number of minutes of instruction, intervention, and supplemental supports required per student to adequately address the students' lack of proficiency in reading or ELA; so long as the participating students receive at least one hour of instruction in reading or ELA per day. Instruction, intervention, and supplemental supports in reading or ELA must be provided by a teacher licensed and endorsed to teach the subjects and grades served. If a teacher licensed and endorsed to teach the subjects and grades served is not available to provide the instruction, intervention, and supplemental supports, then the instruction, intervention, and supplemental supports may be provided by a candidate enrolled in an approved educator preparation program; and
(2) A state-adopted benchmark assessment, approved by the department of education that is annually administered to students, in person, as a pre-test at the beginning of the summer learning camp and as a post-test at the end of the summer learning camp. The results of each benchmark assessment administered to participating students by a participating school must be submitted to the department. As a condition of participating in the program, each participating school must conduct a summer learning camp for participating students identified for retention pursuant to this bill, and who may, upon successful completion of the summer learning camp, be promoted to the next grade level. Participating schools must conduct summer learning camps annually beginning in the summer of 2024.
This bill authorizes two or more participating schools to jointly establish a summer learning camp that may be attended by participating students enrolled in the respective participating school for purposes of this bill. Further, participating students who are identified for retention under this bill are not required to participate in a summer learning camp conducted by the student's participating school unless the student's participating school requires participating students identified for retention to participate.
TUTORS THROUGH THE TALLC
This bill adds that tutors may be provided through the TALLC to participating schools for the purposes of this bill.
INNOVATIVE BENCHMARK ASSESSMENTS
Beginning with the 2024-2025 school year and applying to each school year thereafter, this bill requires the department to provide a state-adopted benchmark assessment in English language arts for students in grades three and four to participating schools for the purposes of this bill.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 49-6-2603(a), 49-6-2603, 49-6-2606(a), 49-6-2606, 49-6-3115, 49-6-1507, 49-6-1508