HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2696        FILED ON: 1/17/2019

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 543

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Harold P. Naughton, Jr. and James M. Kelcourse

_________________

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act relative to academic acceleration of K-12 students.

_______________

PETITION OF:

 

Name:

District/Address:

Date Added:

Harold P. Naughton, Jr.

12th Worcester

1/17/2019

James M. Kelcourse

1st Essex

1/18/2019

Jason M. Lewis

Fifth Middlesex

1/30/2019

Jack Patrick Lewis

7th Middlesex

1/30/2019

Gerard J. Cassidy

9th Plymouth

1/30/2019

James B. Eldridge

Middlesex and Worcester

2/1/2019

Susannah M. Whipps

2nd Franklin

2/1/2019

Paul K. Frost

7th Worcester

2/1/2019

Diana DiZoglio

First Essex

2/1/2019

Mindy Domb

3rd Hampshire

2/1/2019

Harriette L. Chandler

First Worcester

2/1/2019


HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2696        FILED ON: 1/17/2019

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 543

By Messrs. Naughton of Clinton and Kelcourse of Amesbury, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 543) of Harold P. Naughton, Jr., James M. Kelcourse and others relative to academic acceleration of students in kindergarten through grade twelve.  Education.

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

_______________

In the One Hundred and Ninety-First General Court
(2019-2020)

_______________

 

An Act relative to academic acceleration of K-12 students.

 

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 1B of chapter 69 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2016 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the twenty fifth paragraph, in lines 151-167,  the following paragraph:-

“The board of elementary and secondary education shall establish regulations regarding the use of whole-grade and content-specific academic acceleration in the public schools of the Commonwealth. Said regulations will authorize and provide a framework for school districts to provide access to appropriate curriculum and instruction for students who demonstrate readiness for academic content, skills or understanding at a level beyond the curriculum ordinarily taught to students of a certain age. In developing said regulations, the department shall consider, at a minimum, the following acceleration strategies:

(a)Single subject acceleration;

(b)Combined classes (multi-age);

(c)Online and correspondence courses;

(d)Concurrent or dual enrollment;

(e)Curriculum compacting;

(f)Credit by examination or prior experience;

(g)Competency/mastery based learning;

(h)Whole-grade acceleration (one or more);

(i)Self-paced instruction;

(j)Mentoring;

(k)Early graduation;

Said regulations shall require the use of a tool, such as the Iowa Acceleration Scale, designed to take personal bias out of the decision-making process when considering a child for acceleration, and to ensure that acceleration decisions are systematic, thoughtful, well-reasoned, and defensible.”