A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to replace or eliminate certain tests administered to students in public schools and to prohibit high school graduation projects as a condition of graduation.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Part I. eliminate nc final exam
SECTION 1.(a)  The State Board of Education shall eliminate the use of the NC Final Exam as part of the statewide testing program to assess teacher performance and professional growth. The NC Final Exam shall not be administered as part of the statewide testing program for any other purpose.
SECTION 1.(b)  This section is effective when it becomes law and applies beginning with the 2019‑2020 school year.

Part II. replace eogs with THROUGH‑GRADE ASSESSMENT MODEL SIMILAR TO nc check‑ins
SECTION 2.(a)  The State Board of Education shall eliminate the use of End‑of‑Grade (EOG) tests for grades three through eight. The State Board shall adopt a policy to require administration of a through‑grade assessment model with three interim assessments similar to NC Check‑Ins in grades three through eight three times per school year as follows: The first through‑grade assessment shall be administered no later than November 15, the second through‑grade assessment shall be administered no later than the end of February, and the third through‑grade assessment shall be administered within the final 10 instructional days of the school year for year‑long courses and within the final five instructional days of the semester for semester courses. The average of the combined scores earned for at least two of the through‑grade assessments shall constitute the annual assessment for grades three through eight, and all provisions of Subchapter IV of Chapter 115C of the General Statutes concerning annual assessments for grades three through eight shall apply to this averaged score.
In addition to making any necessary adjustments to currently developed through‑grade assessments, the State Board shall develop through‑grade assessments for science for grade five and grade eight and for reading for grade three. A third grade student who fails to demonstrate reading proficiency, as demonstrated by the averaged score of the relevant through‑grade assessments for reading, may retake the third through‑grade assessment for reading prior to the end of the school year, and the score of the readministered third through‑grade assessment for reading may be used for the purpose of demonstrating reading proficiency.
Policies regarding participation in the NCEXTEND1 alternative assessment may be applied in the same manner as prior to the enactment of this act, and the State Board of Education may continue use of the NCEXTEND1 for students with disabilities, as appropriate.
The State Board of Education shall review existing testing security policies and shall revise them as necessary to provide for as secure a testing environment as required by federal law or as a condition of a federal grant. The State Board shall not require testing security measures in excess of those required for federal compliance.
SECTION 2.(b)  G.S. 115C‑81.36(b) reads as rewritten:
"(b)	When advanced courses are offered in mathematics, any student scoring at a level that denotes superior command of knowledge and skills for the mathematics course in which the student was most recently enrolled shall be enrolled in the advanced course for the next mathematics course in which the student is enrolled. A student in seventh grade scoring at a level that denotes superior command of knowledge and skills shall be enrolled in a high school level mathematics course in eighth grade. No student who qualifies under this subsection shall be removed from the advanced or high school mathematics course in which the student is enrolled unless a parent or guardian of the student provides written consent for the student to be excluded or removed from that course."
SECTION 2.(c)  G.S. 115C‑105.41(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	In order to implement Part 1A of Article 8 of this Chapter, local school administrative units shall identify students who are at risk for academic failure and who are not successfully progressing toward grade promotion and graduation, beginning in kindergarten. Identification shall occur as early as can reasonably be done and can be based on grades, observations, diagnostic and formative assessments, State assessments, and other factors, including reading on grade level, that impact student performance that teachers and administrators consider appropriate, without having to await the results of State‑mandated tests."
SECTION 2.(d)  G.S. 115C‑276(q) reads as rewritten:
"(q)	To Assign School Principals. – Subject to local board policy, the superintendent shall have the authority to assign principals to school buildings. When making an assignment, the superintendent shall consider (i) whether a principal has demonstrated the leadership ability to increase student achievement at a school where conditions indicated a significant risk of low student performance; and (ii) how to maintain stability at a school where, during the time the principal has been at a school, there has been significant improvement on accountability measures developed by the State Board of Education."
SECTION 2.(e)  This section is effective when it becomes law and applies beginning with testing administered for the 2022‑2023 school year.

Part III. replace eocs with the aCT or Other nationally recognized assessment of high school achievement and college readiness and eliminate required administration of act workkeys
SECTION 3.(a)  The State Board of Education shall eliminate use of End‑of‑Course (EOC) tests for grades nine through 12. The nationally recognized assessment of high school achievement and college readiness, or the alternate assessment, administered to all students in eleventh grade pursuant to G.S. 115C‑174.11(c)(4) as amended by subsection (d) of this section, shall constitute the State‑mandated testing in grades nine through 12 required by G.S. 115C‑174.11(c)(1). Policies regarding participation in the NCEXTEND1 alternative assessment may be applied in the same manner as prior to the enactment of this act, and the State Board of Education may continue the use of the NCEXTEND1 for students with disabilities, as appropriate.
SECTION 3.(b)  The State Board of Education shall eliminate required administration of ACT WorkKeys for career and technical education students. For school performance grades issued based on data from the 2019‑2020 school year, the career readiness indicator described in G.S. 115C‑83.15(b)(2)f. and G.S. 115C‑83.16(a)(2)b.4. shall not be considered in the calculation of school performance grades.
SECTION 3.(c)  G.S. 115C‑83.15(b)(2) reads as rewritten:
"(2)	For schools serving any students in ninth through twelfth grade, the State Board shall assign points on the following measures available for that school:
a.	One point for each percent of students who score at or above proficient on the math subtest of a nationally recognized assessment of high school achievement and college readiness.
b.	One point for each percent of students who score at or above proficient on the reading subtest of a nationally recognized assessment of high school achievement and college readiness.
c.	One point for each percent of students who score at or above proficient on the science subtest or the science subject test of a nationally recognized assessment of high school achievement and college readiness.
d.	One point for each percent of students who complete Algebra II or Integrated Math III with a passing grade.
e.	One point for each percent of students who achieve the minimum score required for admission into a constituent institution of The University of North Carolina on a nationally normed test of college readiness.
	
g.	One point for each percent of students who graduate within four years of entering high school.
h.	One point for each percent of students who progress in achieving English language proficiency."
SECTION 3.(d)  G.S. 115C‑83.16(a)(2) reads as rewritten:
"(2)	For schools serving any students in ninth through twelfth grade, the State Board shall define the indicators as follows:
a.	Academic indicators. –
1.	The academic achievement indicator shall include the following measures:
I.	Proficiency on the math subtest of a nationally recognized assessment of high school achievement and college readiness.
II.	Proficiency on the reading subtest of a nationally recognized assessment of high school achievement and college readiness.
III.	The growth score earned by schools.
2.	Repealed by Session Laws 2017‑206, s. 1(b), effective August 30, 2017, and applicable beginning with the 2017‑2018 school year.
3.	The graduation rate indicator shall be the percentage of students who graduate within four years of entering high school.
4.	The English language proficiency indicator shall be the percentage of students who progress in achieving English language proficiency.
b.	School quality and student success indicator. – The school quality and student success indicator shall be made up of the following measures:
1.	Proficiency on the science subtest of a nationally recognized assessment of high school achievement and college readiness.
2.	The percentage of students who complete Algebra II or Integrated Math III with a passing grade.
3.	The percentage of students who achieve the minimum score required for admission into a constituent institution of The University of North Carolina on a nationally normed test of college readiness.
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SECTION 3.(e)  G.S. 115C‑174.11(4) reads as rewritten:
"(4)	The State Board of Education shall use a competitive bid process to adopt one nationally recognized assessment of high school achievement and college readiness to make available to local school administrative units, regional schools, and charter schools to administer to all students. The State Board of Education shall require the administration of an alternate to the nationally recognized assessment of high school achievement and college readiness or an alternate precursor test to the nationally recognized assessment of high school achievement and college readiness to a student in accordance with federal law.

Alternate assessment results and nationally recognized assessment of high school achievement and college readiness results of students with disabilities shall be included in school accountability reports, including charter and regional schools, provided by the State Board of Education."
SECTION 3.(f)  G.S. 115C‑174.25 is repealed.
SECTION 3.(g)  G.S. 116‑11(10a) reads as rewritten:
"(10a)	The Board of Governors, the State Board of Community Colleges, and the State Board of Education, in consultation with nonprofit postsecondary educational institutions shall plan a system to provide an exchange of information among the public schools and institutions of higher education to be implemented no later than June 30, 1995. As used in this section, "institutions of higher education" shall mean (i) public higher education institutions defined in G.S. 116‑143.1(a)(3), and (ii) those nonprofit postsecondary educational institutions as described in G.S. 116‑280 that choose to participate in the information exchange. The information shall include:
a.	The number of high school graduates who apply to, are admitted to, and enroll in institutions of higher education;
b.	College performance of high school graduates for the year immediately following high school graduation including each student's: need for remedial coursework at the institution of higher education that the student attends; performance in standard freshmen courses; and continued enrollment in a subsequent year in the same or another institution of higher education in the State;
c.	The progress of students from one institution of higher education to another; and
d.	Consistent and uniform public school course information including course code, name, and description.
The Department of Public Instruction shall generate and the local school administrative units shall use standardized transcripts in an automated format for applicants to higher education institutions. The standardized transcript shall include grade point average, class rank, scores from the nationally recognized assessment of high school achievement and college readiness administered pursuant to G.S. 115C‑174.11(c), and uniform course information including course code, name, units earned toward graduation, and credits earned for admission from an institution of higher education. The grade point average and class rank shall be calculated by a standard method to be devised by the institutions of higher education."
SECTION 3.(h)  Subsections 3(a) and 3(e) of this section become effective January 1, 2020, and apply beginning with testing administered for the 2020‑2021 school year. Subsections 3(b) and 3(f) of this section are effective when they become law and apply beginning with the 2019‑2020 school year. Subsections 3(c) and 3(d) of this section become effective January 1, 2021, and apply beginning with school performance grades issued based on data from the 2020‑2021 school year. Subsection 3(g) of this section becomes effective July 1, 2020, and applies beginning with students entering their junior year in the 2020‑2021 school year.

Part Iv. prohibit standardized testing by local school administrative units except as required by the state board of education
SECTION 4.(a)  G.S. 115C‑174.11, as amended by subsection (d) of Section 3 of this act, is amended by adding a new subsection to read:
"(e)	Local school administrative units shall use the tests provided to them by the State Board and shall not require any additional standardized tests."
SECTION 4.(b)  G.S. 115C‑174.12 reads as rewritten:
"§ 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, for minimizing the frequency of field testing at any one school, and for otherwise carrying out the provisions of this Article. These policies and guidelines shall include the following:
(1)	Schools shall devote no more than two days of instructional time per year to the taking of practice tests that do not have the primary purpose of assessing current student learning.
(2)	Students in a school shall not be subject to field tests or national tests during the two‑week period preceding the administration of a State‑mandated through‑grade assessment, a State‑mandated nationally recognized assessment of high school achievement and college readiness, or the school's regularly scheduled final exams.
(3)	No school shall participate in more than two field tests at any one grade level during a school year.
(4)	All annual assessments of student achievement adopted by the State Board of Education pursuant to G.S. 115C‑174.11(c)(1) and (3) and all final exams for courses shall be administered within the final 10 instructional days of the school year for year‑long courses and within the final five instructional days of the semester for semester courses. Exceptions shall be permitted to accommodate a student's individualized education program and section 504 (29 U.S.C. § 794) plans and for the administration of final exams for courses with national or international curricula required to be held at designated times.
These policies shall reflect standard testing practices to insure reliability and validity of the sample testing. The results of the field tests shall be used in the final design of each test. 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 student'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 student's graduation or promotion, and (iii) provide parents with information about the Statewide Testing Program and options for children 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.
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(e)	By November 1 of each year, the State Board of Education shall submit a report to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee containing information regarding the statewide administration of the testing program, including the number and type of tests and the testing schedule.
(e1)	By September 1 of each year, the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall publish on the Web site of the Department of Public Instruction a uniform calendar that includes schedules for State‑required testing and reporting results of tests for at least the next two school years, including estimates of the average time for administering State‑required standardized tests. The uniform calendar shall be provided to local boards of education in an electronic format that allows each local board of education to populate the calendar with any additional testing information specific to the local school administrative unit."
SECTION 4.(c)  G.S. 115C‑174.15 is repealed.
SECTION 4.(d)  This section is effective when it becomes law and applies beginning with testing administered for the 2019‑2020 school year.

Part V. prohibit graduation projects as a condition of graduation
SECTION 5.(a)  G.S. 115C‑12(9d) reads as rewritten:
"(9d)	Power to Develop Exit Standards and Graduation Requirements. –
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b.	The following restrictions apply to the Board regarding Algebra I and high school graduation projects:
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2.	The Board shall not require any student to prepare a high school graduation project as a condition of graduation from high school."
SECTION 5.(b)  G.S. 115C‑47 is amended by adding a new subdivision to read:
"(54a)	To ensure that graduation is not conditioned on a graduation project. – A student shall not be required to complete a high school graduation project as a condition of graduation from high school. Requirements for graduation shall be connected only to the completion of required courses."
SECTION 5.(c)  This section is effective when it becomes law and applies beginning with the 2019‑2020 school year.

part vi. Effective date
SECTION 6.  Except as otherwise provided, this act is effective when it becomes law.