A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to exempt students enrolled in the occupational course of study and the extended course of study from the Act and act precursor testing requirements.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C‑174.11(c)(4) reads as rewritten:
"(4)	To the extent funds are made available, the State Board shall plan for and require the administration of the ACT test for all students in the eleventh grade unless the student has already taken a comparable test and scored at or above a level set by the State Board. The State Board shall not require the administration of the ACT test or any precursor test to the ACT test, such as PLAN or EXPLORE, to any student enrolled in the Occupational Course of Study or the Extended Course of Study. The State Board may develop alternative assessment measures for these students."
SECTION 2.   G.S. 115C‑174.22 reads as rewritten:
"§ 115C‑174.22.  Tools for student learning.
To the extent funds are made available for this purpose, and except as otherwise provided in G.S. 115C‑174.11(c)(4), the State Board shall plan for and require the administration of diagnostic tests in the eighth and tenth grades that align to the ACT test in order to help diagnose student learning and provide for students an indication of whether they are on track to be remediation‑free at a community college or university."
SECTION 3.  The State Board of Education shall apply to the U.S. Department of Education for an amendment to the federal waiver obtained by the State Board regarding accountability measures under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 6311, to implement the requirements of this act.
SECTION 4.  Sections 1 and 2 of this act become effective September 1, 2014, or upon the approval of the waiver amendment required to be submitted to the U.S. Department of Education in accordance with Section 3 of this act, whichever occurs earlier. The remainder of this act is effective when it becomes law.