A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to reduce testing administered to students in public schools.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  Beginning with the 2020‑2021 school year, 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. No later than March 15, 2020, the State Board of Education and the Department of Public Instruction shall submit to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee a plan on how to use other means to accomplish the purposes for which data is collected by the NC Final Exam.
SECTION 2.(a)  G.S. 115C‑174.12 reads as rewritten:
"§ 115C‑174.12.  Responsibilities of agencies.
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(d1)	In each even‑numbered year, each local board of education shall review all local standardized testing administered to students by the local school administrative unit at the direction of the local board of education for the prior two school years, in order to determine the number of tests administered to students and the number of hours required for students to complete the tests. If the average over the prior two‑year period of either (i) the number of tests administered or (ii) the number of hours required for students to complete the tests exceeds the State average over the prior two‑year period, as published pursuant to subsection (e1) of this section, the local board of education shall submit to the Department of Public Instruction and the State Board of Education, by October 1 of the even‑numbered year, a plan to eliminate certain local standardized testing in order to ensure that neither the number of tests nor the number of hours required for students to complete the tests exceeds the State average. The State Board of Education shall waive the requirement that a local board develop and submit a plan if the State Board finds that the local board has made significant progress toward reducing local testing to the State average.
(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, and a summary of any local testing programs reported by local boards of education to the State Board of Education in accordance with subsection (d) of this section. The report shall also include a summary of any local plans provided to the State Board in accordance with subsection (d1) of this section.
(e1)	By September 1 of each year, the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall publish on the Web site of the Department of Public Instruction the following:
(1)	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, at a minimum, the information required by subsection (d) of this section. The uniform calendar shall be searchable by local school administrative unit and denote whether a test on the calendar is required by the State or required by a local board of education.
(2)	For the local standardized testing information populated by local boards of education under subdivision (1) of this subsection, a summary of the nature and extent of the local testing, including the average over the prior two‑year period of (i) the number of tests administered and (ii) the number of hours required for students to complete the tests."
SECTION 2.(b)  This section applies beginning with reports issued in 2020 based on data from the 2019‑2020 school year.
SECTION 3.  The Department of Public Instruction shall examine the End‑of‑Grade English Language Arts assessment administered in third grade as compared to the Read to Achieve alternative assessment in order to determine whether the End‑of‑Grade English Language Arts assessment should be modified to better meet the goals of Read to Achieve, pursuant to Part 1A of Article 8 of Chapter 115C of the General Statutes. Based on its examination, the Department shall develop any modifications needed. No later than March 15, 2020, the Department shall report to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee on the results of its examination and any modifications developed.
SECTION 4.  This act is effective when it becomes law.