A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to require all students who receive a high school diploma endorsement to demonstrate a certain level of reading achievement and to require the SUPERINTENDENT of public instruction to study best practices to ensure students complete high school with the necessary literacy skills for career and college readiness.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C‑12(40) reads as rewritten:
"(40)	To Establish High School Diploma Endorsements. – The State Board of Education shall establish, implement, and determine the impact of adding (i) college, (ii) career, and (iii) college and career endorsements to high school diplomas to encourage students to obtain requisite job skills necessary for that student to be successful in a wide range of high‑quality careers and to reduce the need for remedial education in institutions of higher education. These endorsements shall reflect courses completed, overall grade point average, reading achievement, and other criteria as developed by the State Board of Education. A student shall only receive a high school diploma endorsement if that student receives on a nationally norm‑referenced college admissions test for reading, either administered under G.S. 115C‑174.11(c)(4) or as an alternative nationally norm‑referenced college admissions test approved by the State Board, at least the benchmark score established by the testing organization that represents the level of achievement required for students to have approximately a fifty percent (50%) chance of obtaining a grade B or higher or a seventy‑five percent (75%) chance of obtaining a grade C or higher in a corresponding credit‑bearing first‑year college course. A student may retake a nationally norm‑referenced test as many times as necessary to achieve the required benchmark score for reading in order to receive a high school diploma endorsement prior to the student's graduation. The State Board of Education shall report annually to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee on (i) the impact of awarding these endorsements on high school graduation, college acceptance and remediation, and post‑high school employment rates, (ii) the number of students who had to retake a nationally norm‑referenced college admissions test to meet the reading benchmark score required by this subdivision to receive a high school diploma endorsement, and (iii) the number of students who were not awarded a high school diploma endorsement solely because of the inability to meet the benchmark score for reading as required by this subdivision."
SECTION 2.  The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall study and make recommendations on best practices for public schools in the State to improve reading comprehension, understanding, and application for students in grades four through 12 to ensure that students complete high school with literacy skills necessary for career and college readiness. The study shall include recommendations on appropriate methods to monitor student progress and provide appropriate and timely remediation to students to ensure success on nationally norm‑referenced college admissions tests. The Superintendent may appoint an advisory group to assist and advise in this study that may include superintendents, principals, reading instructors, representatives from research institutions, and other individuals as determined by the Superintendent. The Superintendent may contract with an independent research organization from funds available to the Department of Public Instruction to assist in the study. The Superintendent shall report to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the State Board of Education on the study, including any findings and recommendations, no later than January 15, 2019. The State Board of Education may use the findings and recommendations to inform the Board's policies and may submit additional comments on the report to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives no later than February 15, 2019.
SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law and applies beginning with high school diploma endorsements awarded in the 2019‑2020 school year.