The proposed rule amendment will change the required administration schedule for the High School Competency Test to an annual administration. This change will provide an administration schedule that is commensurate with the current number of test ...

 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
State Board of Education

RULE NO: RULE TITLE
6A-1.09421: High School Competency Test Requirements
PURPOSE AND EFFECT: The proposed rule amendment will change the required administration schedule for the High School Competency Test to an annual administration. This change will provide an administration schedule that is commensurate with the current number of test takers each year. In addition, the amendment will eliminate obsolete provisions.
SUMMARY: This rule is amended to reduce the number of administrations per year of the High School Competency Test (HSCT) and to allow students to meet the high school testing requirement through earning passing scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). In addition, obsolete provisions are eliminated.
SUMMARY OF STATEMENT OF ESTIMATED REGULATORY COSTS: No Statement of Estimated Regulatory Cost was prepared.
Any person who wishes to provide information regarding a statement of estimated regulatory costs, or provide a proposal for a lower cost regulatory alternative must do so in writing within 21 days of this notice.
SPECIFIC AUTHORITY: 1001.02, 1008.22 (11) FS.
LAW IMPLEMENTED: 1001.02, 1003.428, 1003.43, 1008.22 FS.
A HEARING WILL BE HELD AT THE DATE, TIME AND PLACE SHOWN BELOW:
DATE AND TIME: December 11, 2007, 10:00 a.m.
PLACE: Marriott Tampa Airport, Pinellas Room, Tampa, Florida
THE PERSON TO BE CONTACTED REGARDING THE PROPOSED RULE IS: Cornelia Orr, Assistant Deputy Commissioner, Assessment and School Performance, Florida Department of Education, 325 West Gaines Street, Suite 414, Tallahassee, Florida 32399, [phone]

THE FULL TEXT OF THE PROPOSED RULE IS:

 

6A-1.09421 High School Competency Test Requirements.

The minimum student performance skills and competencies required for high school graduation by Section 229.57(3)(c)5., Florida Statutes, for the period 1994-95 through 1998-99 shall be determined in the manner prescribed below:

(1) The student examination, known as the High School Competency Test, required by Sections 232.246(5)(a) and 229.57(3)(c)5., Florida Statutes, shall be administered annually developed under the direction and supervision of the Deputy Commissioner for Educational Programs, and shall be:

(a) Kept secured at all times.

(b) Provided to testing centers all school districts in the quantity needed for the students in the district.

(c) Administered in accordance with standard written instructions appropriate for the examination.

(d) Revised and updated as needed.

(2) The test shall be developed in consultation with teachers and other appropriate professionals and shall be approved by the Commissioner prior to being administered to students. The test shall:

(a) Consist of two (2) sections; one (1) comprising communications skills, and one (1) comprising mathematical skills.

(b) Be derived from the skills adopted in subsection 6A-1.0941(1), F.A.C., for the time period from 1994-95 through 1998-99.

(3) The High School Competency Test shall be administered in cooperation with district school boards at least four (4) times during each school year.

(a) The test shall be scheduled at least twice each year for secondary students who are classified as high school juniors or seniors. The Division of Public Schools and the district school boards shall cooperate to the extent practicable in using other scheduled administrations to accommodate migrant students, transfer students, and others who are unable to be tested on the designated dates. No student shall be tested more than one (1) time in any thirty (30) day period.

(b) An adult who has earned sufficient credits to be classified as a high school sophomore, junior, or senior may take the examination initially at any scheduled administration.   Adults who have taken the test previously but who have not yet earned passing scores in both sections of the test may retake the examination at any subsequent scheduled administration.

(4) To qualify for a high school diploma, each secondary or adult student must earn passing scores on both sections of the High School Competency Test or earn passing scores on the FCAT, as defined in Section 1008.22(3)(c), F.S., or scores on a standardized test that are concordant with passing scores on the FCAT as defined in Section 1008.22(9), F.S. High School Competency Test scores shall be reported in terms of an equated score scale. The passing scale score shall be seven hundred (700).

(a) For the time period of October 1994 through August 1996, the passing scale scores for the communications and mathematics sections of the High School Competency Test shall be set so that the percentage of grade eleven (11) students passing each section of the test in the 1994 administration will be equivalent to the percentage of grade eleven students who passed the respective sections of the High School Competency Test in October 1993. The passing scores for the High School Competency Test specified in this rule shall be reviewed not later than August 31, 1995, and recommendations to adjust the passing scores, as appropriate, shall be presented to the State Board by the Commissioner.

(b) After August 1996, all students shall meet the following passing score requirements regardless of whether they had taken and failed to pass the High School Competency Test prior to August 1996; the mathematics section passing scale score shall be set equivalent to a raw score of forty-two (42) out of fifty-five (55) test questions on the October 1994 test; the communications section passing scale score shall be set equivalent to a raw score of fifty-five (55) out of sixty-five (65) test questions on the October 1994 test.

(c) Beginning in 1994, secondary students classified as juniors and adults who anticipate graduating after the 1994-95 academic year shall be tested on the skills adopted in subsection 6A-1.0941(1), F.A.C., for the time period from 1994-95 through 1998-99.

(d) A student who was initially tested on skills adopted in subsection 6A-1.0942(1), F.A.C., for the time period 1985-86 through 1993-94 and who expects to graduate from high school before August 1996 shall meet the High School Competency Test requirements prescribed in Rule 6A-1.0942, F.A.C.

(e) After August 1996, all students shall meet the High School Competency Test requirements described in Rule 6A-1.09421, F.A.C.

(5) No time limit shall be established for answering the questions on the High School Competency Test; provided, however, that no student shall be permitted to answer test items which have been seen by the student at a time other than the examination session in which the test questions are given to the student and provided that the examination session shall not be longer than the length of time normally scheduled for a school day.

(6) If a student fails to pass a section of the High School Competency Test as prescribed herein, the district school board shall provide special instructional assistance for such student in a manner deemed most appropriate by policies of the district school board.

(a) Such special assistance may take the form of:

1. Informal consultation between student and teachers,

2. Tutoring of one (1) student by another student,

3. Structured or nonstructured independent study,

4. Special classroom study of short duration (one (1) to five (5) days),

5. Special classroom study of longer duration, or

6. Such other appropriate form as determined by the district school board.

(6)(b) When the student earns a passing score on a section of the High School Competency Test, it shall be recorded in the student’s cumulative record. If the student has previously been awarded a Certificate of Completion in lieu of a standard high school diploma by virtue of failure to pass the High School Competency Test, such student shall be awarded a standard high school diploma. Appropriate instructional assistance and adequate opportunity to be retested so as to earn a passing score shall remain available to each student until such time as the student earns passing scores on each section of the test.

(7) Once a student has passed a section of the test measuring skills adopted in subsection 6A-1.0941(1), F.A.C., for the time period 1985-86 through 1993-94, the student will not be required to pass that section of the test measuring skills adopted in subsection 6A-1.0941(1), F.A.C., for the time period from 1994-95 through 1998-99.

(8) Invalidity of a section of this rule shall not invalidate the remainder of the rule.

Specific Authority 1001.02, 1008.22(11), 120.53(1)(b), 229.053(1), 229.57(3)(c)5. FS. Law Implemented 1001.02, 1003.428, 1003.43, 1008.22,120.53(1)(b), 229.57, 232.246, 232.247 FS. History–New 1-2-95, Amended 12-19-95,________.

NAME OF PERSON ORIGINATING PROPOSED RULE: Cornelia Orr
NAME OF SUPERVISOR OR PERSON WHO APPROVED THE PROPOSED RULE: Jay Pfeiffer
DATE PROPOSED RULE APPROVED BY AGENCY HEAD: October 30, 2007
DATE NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULE DEVELOPMENT PUBLISHED IN FAW: July 27, 2007