HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2153        FILED ON: 2/16/2021

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 641

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

James M. Kelcourse and Meghan Kilcoyne

_________________

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:

James M. Kelcourse

1st Essex

2/16/2021

Meghan Kilcoyne

12th Worcester

2/16/2021

Diana DiZoglio

First Essex

3/25/2021

Harriette L. Chandler

First Worcester

3/25/2021

Mathew J. Muratore

1st Plymouth

4/14/2021

Carmine Lawrence Gentile

13th Middlesex

4/21/2021

Ruth B. Balser

12th Middlesex

5/14/2021

Jack Patrick Lewis

7th Middlesex

12/21/2021


HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2153        FILED ON: 2/16/2021

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 641

By Representatives Kelcourse of Amesbury and Kilcoyne of Northborough, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 641) of James M. Kelcourse, Meghan Kilcoyne and others relative to academic acceleration of students in kindergarten through grade twelve.  Education.

 

[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE HOUSE, NO. 543 OF 2019-2020.]

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

_______________

In the One Hundred and Ninety-Second General Court
(2021-2022)

_______________

 

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.”