The purpose of this amendment is to align the rule with section 1008.25, Florida Statutes and to include necessary edits concerning the end-of-year outcome assessment and the adoption of Language Arts Florida Standards.

 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

State Board of Education

RULE NO.:RULE TITLE:

6A-1.094221Alternative Standardized Reading Assessment and Use of Student Portfolio for Good Cause Promotion

PURPOSE AND EFFECT: The purpose of this amendment is to align the rule with Section 1008.25, Florida Statutes and to include necessary edits concerning the end-of-year outcome assessment and the adoption of Language Arts Florida Standards.

SUMMARY: The proposed rule revisions are necessary for alignment to Section 1008.25, Florida Statutes, following legislative changes which occurred during the 2014 Legislative Session.

SUMMARY OF STATEMENT OF ESTIMATED REGULATORY COSTS AND LEGISLATIVE RATIFICATION: The Agency has determined that this will not have an adverse impact on small business or likely increase directly or indirectly regulatory costs in excess of $200,000 in the aggregate within one year after the implementation of the rule. A SERC has not been prepared by the Agency.

The Agency has determined that the proposed rule is not expected to require legislative ratification based on the statement of estimated regulatory costs or if no SERC is required, the information expressly relied upon and described herein: No requirement for SERC was triggered under Section 120.541(1), Florida Statutes. There would be no economic impact from this amendment and the adverse impact or regulatory cost, if any, does not exceed nor would be expected to exceed any one of the economic analysis criteria set forth in Section 120.541(2)(a), Florida Statutes.

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.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY: 1008.25(9) FS.

LAW IMPLEMENTED: 1008.25(6) FS.

A HEARING WILL BE HELD AT THE DATE, TIME AND PLACE SHOWN BELOW:

DATE AND TIME: September 29, 2014, 8:30 a.m.

PLACE: Tampa Airport Marriott, 4200 George J. Bean Parkway, Duval Conference Room, Tampa, Florida 33607

THE PERSON TO BE CONTACTED REGARDING THE PROPOSED RULE IS: Wendy Stevens, Executive Director, Just Read, Florida!, 325 West Gaines St., Suite 514, Tallahassee, FL 32399, [e-mail] or [phone]

 

THE FULL TEXT OF THE PROPOSED RULE IS:

 

6A-1.094221 Alternative Standardized Reading Assessment and Use of Student Portfolio for Good Cause Promotion.

(1) Pursuant to Section 1008.25(6), F.S., relating to the statewide public school student progression law eliminating social promotion, students who score at Level 1 on the Grade 3 statewide English Language Arts assessment Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) Reading may be promoted to grade four if the student:

(a) Scores at or above the 45th percentile on the Reading SAT-10;

(b) Demonstrates an acceptable level of performance on an alternative standardized reading assessment approved pursuant to subsection (2) of this rule;

(c) Demonstrates reading on grade level as evidenced through mastery of the Language Arts Florida Sunshine State Standards in reading equal to at least Level 2 performance on the Grade 3 statewide English Language Arts assessment FCAT Reading.

(2) The Department of Education shall review and approve the use of alternative standardized reading assessments to be used as a good cause exemption for promotion to fourth grade.

(a) The approval of an alternative standardized reading assessment must be based on whether the assessment meets the following criteria:

1. Internal consistency reliability coefficients of at least 0.85;

2. High validity evidenced by the alignment of the test with nationally recognized content standards, as well as specific evidence of content, concurrent, or criterion validity;

3. Norming studies within the last five (5) to ten (10) years, with norming within five (5) years being preferable; and

4. Serves as a measure of grade 3 achievement in reading comprehension.

(b) Districts may submit requests for the approval of alternative standardized reading assessments to be used as a good cause exemption for promotion to fourth grade. Once an assessment has been approved by the Department of Education, the assessment is approved for statewide use.

(c) The Department of Education shall approve the required percentile passing score for each approved alternative standardized reading assessment based on an analysis of Florida student achievement results. If an analysis is not feasible, students must score at or above the 50th percentile on the approved alternative standardized reading assessment.

(d) The earliest the alternative assessment may be administered for student promotion purposes is following administration of the Grade 3 statewide English Language Arts assessment FCAT Reading. An approved standardized reading assessment may be administered two (2) times if there are at least thirty (30) days between administrations and different test forms are administered.

(3) To promote a student using a student portfolio as a good cause exemption there must be evidence that demonstrates the student’s mastery of the Language Arts Florida Sunshine State Standards in reading equal to at least a Level 2 performance on the Grade 3 statewide English Language Arts assessment FCAT Reading. Such evidence shall be an organized collection of the student’s mastery of the Language Arts Florida Sunshine State Standards Benchmarks for Language Arts that are assessed by the Grade 3 statewide English Language Arts assessment FCAT Reading. The student portfolio must meet the following criteria:

(a) Be selected by the student’s teacher,

(b) Be an accurate picture of the student’s ability and only include student work that has been independently produced in the classroom,

(c) Include evidence that the standards benchmarks assessed by the Grade 3 statewide English Language Arts assessment FCAT Reading have been met. Evidence is to include multiple choice items and passages that are approximately sixty (60) percent literary text and forty (40) percent information text, and that are between 100-700 words with an average of 500 words. Such evidence could include chapter or unit tests from the district’s/school’s adopted core reading curriculum that are aligned with the Language Arts Florida Sunshine State Standards or teacher-prepared assessments.

(d) Be an organized collection of evidence of the student’s mastery of the Language Arts Florida Sunshine State Standards Benchmarks for Language Arts that are assessed by the Grade 3 statewide English Language Arts assessment FCAT Reading. For each standard benchmark, there must be at least three (3) examples of mastery as demonstrated by a grade of seventy (70) percent or above on each example, and

(e) Be signed by the teacher and the principal as an accurate assessment of the required reading skills.

Rulemaking Authority 1008.25(9) FS. Law Implemented 1008.25(6) FS. History–New 5-19-03, Amended 7-20-04, 3-24-08, 2-1-09, 4-21-11,__________.

 

NAME OF PERSON ORIGINATING PROPOSED RULE: Mary Jane Tappen, Executive Vice Chancellor, K-12 Public Schools

NAME OF AGENCY HEAD WHO APPROVED THE PROPOSED RULE: Pam Stewart, Commissioner, Department of Education

DATE PROPOSED RULE APPROVED BY AGENCY HEAD: August 26, 2014

DATE NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULE DEVELOPMENT PUBLISHED IN FAR: August 13, 2014