SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1902        FILED ON: 1/14/2009

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 224

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Nine

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An Act supporting the local determination of educational competency and multiple forms of academic assessment..

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Section 1D of chapter 69 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2004 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking the text contained in lines 51 through 72 in its entirety, and inserting in place thereof the following:-

 (i)  The ‘competency determination' shall be based on the academic standards and curriculum frameworks for tenth graders in the areas of mathematics and English, and shall represent a determination that a particular student has demonstrated proficiency in a common core of skills, competencies and knowledge in these areas, as measured by a variety of assessment instruments.  Said assessment instruments shall be determined by the local public school district after review and comment by the department.  However, under no circumstances may the results of a single means of assessment or test be used as a condition of high school graduation.

SECTION 2.   Section 1I of said chapter 69 is hereby amended by striking, in lines 20 and 21, the following words:- “As much as is practicable, especially”  and said section is further amended by adding in line 24 after the words “student performance.” the following new sentence:- “Students whose performance may be difficult to assess shall include, but not be limited to, student with special needs, students enrolled in a vocational education program and students with limited English proficiency.”