A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to enact the truth in education act.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Part I.  calculation of the dropout rate

SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C‑12(27) and (27a) read as rewritten:
"§ 115C‑12.  Powers and duties of the Board generally.
The general supervision and administration of the free public school system shall be vested in the State Board of Education. The State Board of Education shall establish policy for the system of free public schools, subject to laws enacted by the General Assembly. The powers and duties of the State Board of Education are defined as follows:
…
(27)	Reporting Dropout Rates, Suspensions, Expulsions, and Alternative Placements. – The State Board shall report annually to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee on the numbers of students who have dropped out of school, been suspended, been expelled, or been placed in an alternative program. The data shall be compiled from every public and charter school in the state and shall be reported in a manner that can be measured against the previous years. The Board shall maintain the data and make it readily available to the public. The State Board shall not include students that have been expelled from school when calculating the dropout rate.
The dropout rate shall be calculated by subtracting the graduation rate from one hundred percent (100%). The graduation rate shall be calculated as the number of students graduating divided by the sum of the number of students who began the ninth grade at the same school four years earlier minus the number of students who transferred in and out. Separate rates shall be calculated in the same manner for students who completed the tenth and eleventh grades but do not graduate.The Board shall maintain a separate record of the number of students who are expelled from school.
(27a)	Reducing School Dropout Rates. – The State Board of Education shall develop a statewide plan to improve the State's tracking of dropout data so that accurate and useful comparisons can be made over time. The plan shall include, at a minimum, how dropouts are counted, the ability to track students' movements among schools and districts, and the ability to provide information on who drops out and why."

part II.  statewide testing program reform

SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C‑12(9c) reads as rewritten:
"§ 115C‑12.  Powers and duties of the Board generally.
The general supervision and administration of the free public school system shall be vested in the State Board of Education. The State Board of Education shall establish policy for the system of free public schools, subject to laws enacted by the General Assembly. The powers and duties of the State Board of Education are defined as follows:
…
(9c)	Power to develop content standards and exit standards. – The Board shall develop a comprehensive plan to revise content standards and the standard course of study in the core academic areas of reading, writing, mathematics, science, history, geography, and civics. The Board shall involve and survey a representative sample of parents, teachers, and the public to help determine academic content standard priorities and usefulness of the content standards. A full review of available and relevant academic content standards that are rigorous, specific, sequenced, clear, focused, and measureable shall be a part of the process of the development of content standards. The revised content standards developed in the core academic areas shall (i) reflect high expectations for students and an in‑depth mastery of the content; (ii) be clearly grounded in the content of each academic area; (iii) be defined grade‑by‑grade and course‑by‑course; (iv) be understandable to parents and teachers; (v) be developed in full recognition of the time available to teach the core academic areas at each grade level; (vi) be measurable in grades three through 12 by nationally normed achievement tests, and (vii) be measurable in a reliable, valid, and efficient manner for accountability purposes.
High school course content standards shall include the knowledge and skills necessary to pursue further postsecondary education or to attain employment in the 21st century economy. The high school course content standards also shall be aligned with the minimum undergraduate course requirements for admission to the constituent institutions of The University of North Carolina. The Board may develop exit standards that will be required for high school graduation.
The Board also shall develop and implement an ongoing process to align State programs and support materials with the revised academic content standards for each core academic area on a regular basis. Alignment shall include revising textbook criteria, support materials, State tests, teacher and school administrator preparation, and ongoing professional development programs to be compatible with content standards. The Board shall develop and make available to teachers and parents support materials, including teacher and parent guides, for academic content standards. The State Board of Education shall work in collaboration with the Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina to ensure that teacher and school administrator degree programs, ongoing professional development, and other university activity in the State's public schools align with the State Board's priorities."
SECTION 2.  Part 2 of Article 10A of Chapter 115C of the General Statutes reads as rewritten:
"Part 2. Statewide Testing Program.
"§ 115C‑174.10.  Purposes of the Statewide Testing Program.
The three testing programs in this Article have four purposes: (i) to assure that all high school graduates possess those minimum skills and that knowledge thought necessary to function as a member of society; (ii) to provide a means of identifying strengths and weaknesses in the education process in order to improve instructional delivery (iii) to establish additional means for making the education system at the State, local, and school levels accountable to the public for  results; and (iv) to facilitate comparison of student performance in North Carolina to student performance nationally.
Except as required by federal law or as provided by G.S. 115C‑174.11(a) and (b), all State tests shall be nationally standardized.
"§ 115C‑174.11.  Components of the testing program.
(a)	Assessment Instruments for First and Second Grades. – The State Board of Education shall adopt and provide to the local school administrative units developmentally appropriate individualized assessment instruments consistent with the Basic Education Program for the first and second grades, rather than standardized tests. Local school administrative units may use these assessment instruments provided to them by the State Board for first and second grade students, and shall not use standardized tests except as required as a condition of receiving a federal grant under the Reading First Program.
(b)	Competency Testing Program.
(1)	The State Board of Education shall adopt nationally standardized tests or other nationally standardized measurement devices which may be used to assure that graduates of the public high schools and graduates of nonpublic schools supervised by the State Board of Education pursuant to the provisions of Part 1 of Article 39 of this Chapter possess the skills and knowledge necessary to function independently and successfully in assuming the responsibilities of citizenship.
	The tests shall be administered annually to all ninth grade students in the public schools. Students who fail to attain the required minimum standard for graduation in the ninth grade shall be given remedial instruction and additional opportunities to take the test up to and including the last month of the twelfth grade. Students who fail to pass parts of the test shall be retested on only those parts they fail. Students in the ninth grade who are enrolled in special education programs or who have been officially designated as eligible for participation in such programs may be excluded from the testing programs.
(3)	The State Board of Education 		shall develop and validate alternate means and standards for demonstrating minimum competence. These standards must be as difficult as the tests adopted pursuant to subdivision (1) of this subsection.
The State Board of Education shall adopt a policy to identify which students and under what circumstances students may pass one of these alternate means and standards for demonstrating minimum competence in lieu of the testing requirement of subdivision (1) of this subsection.
(3a)	Students with disabilities who fail to pass the competency test adopted pursuant to subdivision (1) of this subsection after two attempts shall be given the opportunity to take and pass one of the alternate means and standards for demonstrating minimum competence adopted pursuant to subdivision (3) of this subsection.
(4)	Repealed by Session Laws 1996, Second Extra Session, c. 18, s. 18.14.
(c)	Annual Testing Program.
(1)	The State Board of Education shall adopt a system of annual testing for grades three through 12. These tests shall be nationally standardized tests or other nationally standardized equivalent measures and shall measure academic progress for grades three through eight, and academic progress toward competencies designated by the State Board for grades nine through 12.

The end‑of‑grade and end‑of‑course tests adopted for grades three through 12 shall be nationally normed achievement tests developed by a testing company. The end‑of‑course tests adopted shall be aligned with the content standards developed under G.S. 115C‑12(9c), to the extent that such tests are available. The State Board shall adopt these tests after consultation with the advisory committee established under subdivision (1a) of this subsection. These tests shall be administered for no more than five days in a school year or the minimum amount of days required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
Students who score below the national average in reading or mathematics for eighth grade shall be provided remedial instruction in the ninth grade. This assistance shall be calculated to prepare the students to pass the competency test administered under subsection (b) of this section.
(1a)	There is hereby established an advisory committee to assist the State Board of Education with test selection. The advisory committee shall consist of:
a.	Three members of the Senate, appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate;
b.	Three members of the House of Representatives, appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives;
c.	The chair of the State Board of Education;
d.	The Superintendent of Public Instruction;
e.	One representative of higher education, one teacher, and one parent, appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate; and
f.	One teacher certified in special education, one other teacher, and one parent, appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The Legislative Services Office shall provide staff to the advisory committee.
(2)	If the State Board of Education finds that additional testing in grades nine through 12 is desirable to allow comparisons with national indicators of student achievement, that testing shall be conducted with the smallest size sample of students necessary to assure valid comparisons with other states."
"§ 115C‑174.12.  Responsibilities of agencies.
(a)	The State Board of Education shall establish policies and guidelines necessary for minimizing the time students spend taking tests administered through State and local testing programs and for otherwise carrying out the provisions of this Article. These policies and guidelines shall  ensure that schools devote no more than two days of instructional time per year to practice tests.			
The State Board of Education's policies regarding the testing of children with disabilities shall (i) provide broad accommodations and alternate methods of assessment that are consistent with a child's individualized education program and section 504 (29 U.S.C. § 794) plans, (ii) prohibit the use of statewide tests as the sole determinant of decisions about a child's graduation or promotion, and (iii) provide parents with information about the Statewide Testing Program and options for students with disabilities. The State Board shall report its proposed policies and proposed changes in policies to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee prior to adoption.
The State Board of Education may appoint an Advisory Council on Testing to assist in carrying out its responsibilities under this Article.
(a1)	The State Board of Education shall adopt rules prohibiting schools from using guidance counselors to coordinate or administer the testing program for more than 10 days during the school year.(b)	The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall be responsible, under policies adopted by the State Board of Education, for the statewide administration of the testing program provided by this Article.
	(c)	Local boards of education shall cooperate with the State Board of Education in implementing the provisions of this Article, including the regulations and policies established by the State Board of Education. Local school administrative units shall use the annual and competency testing programs to fulfill the purposes set out in this Article. Local school administrative units are encouraged to continue to develop local testing programs designed to further diagnose student needs; however, local school administrative units shall not administer locally adopted standardized tests in addition to the nationally normed achievement tests adopted by the State Board of Education for grades three through 12."
"§ 115C‑174.13.  Public records exemption.
Any written material containing the identifiable scores of individual students on any test taken pursuant to the provisions of this Article is not a public record within the meaning of G.S. 132‑1 and shall not be made public by any person, except as permitted under the provisions of the Family Educational and Privacy Rights Act of 1974, 20 U.S.C. 1232g.
"§ 115C‑174.14.  Provisions for nonpublic schools.
All components of the Statewide Testing Program shall be made available to nonpublic schools in the manner prescribed in G.S. 115C‑551 and G.S. 115C‑559."
SECTION 3.  G.S. 115C‑12(9c) reads as rewritten:
"§ 115C‑12.  Powers and duties of the Board generally.
The general supervision and administration of the free public school system shall be vested in the State Board of Education. The State Board of Education shall establish policy for the system of free public schools, subject to laws enacted by the General Assembly. The powers and duties of the State Board of Education are defined as follows:
…
(9c)	Power to develop content standards and exit standards. – The Board shall develop a comprehensive plan to revise content standards and the standard course of study in the core academic areas of reading, writing, mathematics, science, history, geography, and civics. The Board shall involve and survey a representative sample of parents, teachers, and the public to help determine academic content standard priorities and usefulness of the content standards. A full review of available and relevant academic content standards that are rigorous, specific, sequenced, clear, focused, and measurable, whenever possible, shall be a part of the process of the development of content standards. The revised content standards developed in the core academic areas shall (i) reflect high expectations for students and an in‑depth mastery of the content; (ii) be clearly grounded in the content of each academic area; (iii) be defined grade‑by‑grade and course‑by‑course; (iv) be understandable to parents and teachers; (v) be developed in full recognition of the time available to teach the core academic areas at each grade level; and (vi) be measurable, whenever possible, by nationally standardized tests in a reliable, valid, and efficient manner for accountability purposes.
High school course content standards shall include the knowledge and skills necessary to pursue further postsecondary education or to attain employment in the 21st century economy. The high school course content standards also shall be aligned with the minimum undergraduate course requirements for admission to the constituent institutions of The University of North Carolina. The Board may develop exit standards that will be required for high school graduation.
The Board also shall develop and implement an ongoing process to align State programs and support materials with the revised academic content standards for each core academic area on a regular basis. Alignment shall include revising textbook criteria, support materials, teacher and school administrator preparation, and ongoing professional development programs to be compatible with content standards. The Board shall develop and make available to teachers and parents support materials, including teacher and parent guides, for academic content standards. The State Board of Education shall work in collaboration with the Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina to ensure that teacher and school administrator degree programs, ongoing professional development, and other university activity in the State's public schools align with the State Board's priorities."
SECTION 4.  G.S. 115C‑81(g) reads as rewritten:
"(g)	Civic Literacy. –
(1)	Local boards of education shall require during the high school years the teaching of the nation's founding and related documents, which shall include at least the major principles in the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution and its amendments, and the most important of the Federalist Papers.
(2)	Local boards of education shall require that high school students demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the nation's founding and related documents in order to receive a certificate or diploma of graduation from high school.
(3)	Local boards of education shall include among the requirements for graduation from high school a passing grade in all courses that include primary instruction in the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution and its amendments, and the most important of the Federalist Papers.
(3a)	Local boards of education shall allow and may encourage any public school teacher or administrator to read or post in a public school building, classroom, or event, excerpts or portions of writings, documents, and records that reflect the history of the United States, including, but not limited to, (i) the preamble to the North Carolina Constitution, (ii) the Declaration of Independence, (iii) the United States Constitution, (iv) the Mayflower Compact, (v) the national motto, (vi) the National Anthem, (vii) the Pledge of Allegiance, (viii) the writings, speeches, documents, and proclamations of the founding fathers and Presidents of the United States, (ix) decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, and (x) acts of the Congress of the United States, including the published text of the Congressional Record. Local boards, superintendents, principals, and supervisors shall not allow content‑based censorship of American history in the public schools of this State, including religious references in these writings, documents, and records. Local boards and professional school personnel may develop curricula and use materials that are limited to specified topics provided the curricula and materials are aligned with the standard course of study or are grade level appropriate.
(3b)	A local school administrative unit may display on real property controlled by that local school administrative unit documents and objects of historical significance that have formed and influenced the United States legal or governmental system and that exemplify the development of the rule of law, such as the Magna Carta, the Mecklenburg Declaration, the Ten Commandments, the Justinian Code, and documents set out in subdivision (3a) of this subsection. This display may include, but shall not be limited to, documents that contain words associated with a religion; provided however, no display shall seek to establish or promote religion or to persuade any person to embrace a particular religion, denomination of a religion, or other philosophy. The display of a document containing words associated with a religion shall be in the same manner and appearance generally as other documents and objects displayed and shall not be presented or displayed in any fashion that results in calling attention to it apart from the other displayed documents and objects. The display also shall be accompanied by a prominent sign quoting the First Amendment of the United States Constitution as follows: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
(4)	The State Board of Education shall require that any high school level curriculum‑based tests administered statewide beginning with academic year 1990‑91 include questions related to the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution and its amendments, and the most important of the Federalist Papers, if nationally standardized tests containing such questions are available.
(5)	The State Department of Public Instruction and the local boards of education, as appropriate, shall establish curriculum content and provide for teacher training to ensure that the intent and provisions of this subsection are carried out. The curriculum content established shall include a review of the contributions made by Americans of all races."
SECTION 5.  G.S. 115C‑105.35(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	The School‑Based Management and Accountability Program shall (i) focus on student performance in the basics of reading, mathematics, and communications skills in elementary and middle schools, (ii) focus on student performance in courses required for graduation and on other measures required by the State Board in the high schools, and (iii) hold schools accountable for the educational growth of their students. To those ends, the State Board shall design and implement an accountability system that sets annual performance standards based on nationally standardized tests for each school in the State in order to measure the growth in performance of the students in each individual school. During the 2004‑2005 school year and at least every five years thereafter, the State Board shall evaluate the accountability system and, if necessary, modify the testing standards to assure the testing standards continue to reasonably reflect the level of performance necessary to be successful at the next grade level or for more advanced study in the content area.
As part of this evaluation, the Board shall, where available, review the historical trend data on student academic performance on State tests. To the extent that the historical trend data suggest that the current standards for student performance may not be appropriate, the State Board shall adjust the standards to assure that they continue to reflect the State's high expectations for student performance."

part iii. effective date

SECTION 1.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2007, and applies beginning with the 2007‑2008 school year.