ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2050
(By Delegate Kiss)(By Request)
[Passed March 11, 1995; in effect ninety days from passage.]
AN ACT to amend and reenact section three, article twenty-eight,
chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to exempting
private, parochial and religious schools who exclusively
service special education students or students with learning
disabilities from complying with the requirements that they
administer only group tests and that achievement be above the
fortieth percentile.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three, article twenty-eight, chapter eighteen of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
§18-28-3. Standardized testing requirements.
(a) Each private, parochial or church school or school of a
religious order or other nonpublic school electing to operate under
this statute in lieu of the approval requirements set forth as part
of section one, article eight, chapter eighteen, exemption A shall administer on an annual basis during each school year to every
child enrolled therein between the ages of seven and sixteen years
either the comprehensive test of basic skills, the California
achievement test, the Stanford achievement test or the Iowa tests
of basic skills tests of achievement and proficiency, which test
will be selected by the chief administrative officer of each school
in the subjects of English, grammar, reading, social studies,
science and mathematics; and shall be administered under
standardized conditions as set forth by the published instructions
of the selected test; Provided, That any private, parochial, church
school, school of a religious order or other nonpublic school that
exclusively teaches special education students or children with
learning disabilities shall not be required to comply with this
subsection or subsection (d) of this section, but shall
academically assess every child enrolled therein between the ages
of seven and sixteen years on an annual basis during each school
year by one or more of the following methods: (1) A standardized
group achievement test; (2) a standardized individual achievement
test; (3) a written narrative of an evaluation of a portfolio of
samples of a child's work; (4) an alternative academic assessment
of the child's proficiency as mutually agreed by the county
superintendent, parent(s) or legal guardian(s) and the school.
(b) Each child's testing results and the school composite test
results shall be made available to such child's parents or legal
guardians. Upon request of a duly authorized representative of the
West Virginia department of education, the school composite test results shall be furnished by the school or by a parents
organization composed of the parents or guardians of children
enrolled in said school to the state superintendent of schools.
(c) Each school to which this article applies shall:
(1) Establish curriculum objectives, the attainment of which
will enable students to develop the potential for becoming literate
citizens.
(2) Provide an instructional program that will make possible
the acquisition of competencies necessary to become a literate
citizen.
(d) If such school composite test results for any single year
for English, grammar, reading, social studies, science and
mathematics fall below the fortieth percentile on the selected
tests, the school as herein described shall initiate a remedial
program to foster achievement above that level. If after two
consecutive calendar years school composite test results are not
above the fortieth percentile level, attendance at the school may
no longer satisfy the compulsory school attendance requirement
exemption of exemption K, section one, article eight, chapter
eighteen, until such time as the percentile standards herein set
forth are met.