Overview: S.L. 2017-57, Sec. 7.26B (SB 257, Sec. 7.26B) requires, beginning with high school diploma endorsements awarded in the 2019-2020 school year, that career and college diploma endorsements be awarded only to students that receive scores on a nationally norm-referenced college admissions test for reading indicating the level of achievement required for students to have approximately a 50% chance of obtaining a grade B or higher or a 75% chance of obtaining a grade C or higher in a corresponding credit-bearing, first-year college course. Students may retake the college admissions test to achieve the required score, and the State Board of Education (SBE) must include in its annual report on the endorsements both the number of students who had to retake a nationally norm-referenced college admissions test to meet the reading benchmark score needed to receive a high school diploma endorsement and the number of students who were not awarded an endorsement solely because of the inability to meet the benchmark score for reading.
The Superintendent of Public Instruction (Superintendent) must establish a Reading Improvement Commission within the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) to study and make recommendations on best practices for public schools to improve reading comprehension, understanding, and application for students in grades 4 through 12 to ensure that students complete high school with literacy skills necessary for career and college readiness. The Superintendent must report to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the SBE on the study, including any findings and recommendations, by January 15, 2019. The SBE may use the findings and recommendations to inform the SBE's policies and may submit additional comments on DPI's report no later than February 15, 2019.