April 7, 2025 Committee of the Full Board Item 2
Adoption of Review of 19 TAC Chapter 101, Assessment, Subchapter A, General Provisions, Subchapter B, Implementation of Assessments, and Subchapter C, Local Option
(Adoption of Review)
April 11, 2025
COMMITTEE OF THE FULL BOARD: ACTION
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION: ACTION
SUMMARY: Texas Government Code, §2001.039, establishes a four-year rule review cycle for all state agency rules, including State Board of Education (SBOE) rules. This item presents the adoption of the review of 19 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) Chapter 101, Assessment, Subchapter A, General Provisions, Subchapter B, Implementation of Assessments, and Subchapter C, Local Option. The rules being reviewed address the development and administration of tests, voluntary assessment of private school students, the schedule for the release of tests, and administration and reporting of group-administered achievement tests.
STATUTORY AUTHORITY: The statutory authority for the rule review is Texas Government Code (TGC), §2001.039. The statutory authority for 19 TAC Chapter 101, Subchapters A-C, is Texas Education Code (TEC), §§39.021, 39.022, 39.023, 39.025, 39.032, and 39.033.
Texas Government Code, §2001.039, requires all state agencies to review their rules at least once every four years.
TEC, §39.021, requires that the SBOE by rule establish the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) that all students should learn.
TEC, §39.022, requires that the SBOE by rule create and implement a statewide assessment program that is knowledge- and skills-based to ensure school accountability for student achievement.
TEC, §39.023, requires school districts to administer the Grades 3-8 state-developed assessments and the end-of-course assessments to all eligible students.
TEC, §39.025, requires a student to pass each end-of-course assessment listed in TEC, §39.023(c), only for a course in which the student is enrolled and for which an end-of-course assessment is administered to receive a Texas diploma.
TEC, §39.032, requires the SBOE to adopt rules to implement assessment instrument standards for group-administered achievement tests.
TEC, §39.033, allows for the voluntary assessment of private school students and requires the SBOE to determine the cost of administering the assessment instruments.
The full text of statutory citations can be found in the statutory authority section of this agenda.
PREVIOUS BOARD ACTION: The review of 19 TAC Chapter 101, Subchapters A-C, was presented to the Committee of the Full Board for discussion at the January 2025 SBOE meeting.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND JUSTIFICATION: The goal of the Texas Assessment Program is to measure and support student progress toward achieving academic success. The primary purpose of the state student assessment program is to provide an accurate measure of student achievement in the areas of mathematics, reading language arts, science, and social studies. Based on the requirements of the TEC, the assessment program evaluates the degree to which students have mastered the state-mandated curriculum, the TEKS.
According to the TEC, the SBOE is responsible for adopting rules related to the general establishment of the assessment program for purposes of accountability. This SBOE requirement is met through the following rules in 19 TAC Chapter 101.
In Subchapter A, §101.1, Scope of Rules; §101.3, Policy; and §101.5, Student Testing Requirements, establish the assessment program and require all students receiving instruction in the TEKS to be assessed.
In Subchapter B, §101.25, Schedule, and §101.27, Administrative Procedures, specify that the commissioner will adopt a schedule for administering the assessments and require uniform administrative procedures. Section 101.31, Private Schools, establishes provisions for the voluntary assessment of private school students. As provided by TEC, §39.033(c), the SBOE approves the per-student costs for private schools that administer state assessments. Section 101.33, Release of Tests, establishes a release test schedule in accordance with TEC, §39.023(e).
In Subchapter C, §101.101, Group-Administered Tests, governs the administration of local option group-administered assessments as authorized under TEC, §39.032.
PUBLIC COMMENTS: TEA filed the notice of proposed review of 19 TAC Chapter 101, Subchapters A-C, with the Texas Register following the January 2025 SBOE meeting. The public comment period on the proposed review began February 28, 2025, and ended at 5:00 p.m. on March 31, 2025. At the time this item was prepared, no comments had been received regarding this review. Any public comments received will be provided to the SBOE during the April 2025 meeting. The SBOE will take registered oral and written comments on the proposed review at the appropriate committee meeting in April 2025 in accordance with the SBOE board policies and procedures.
MOTION TO BE CONSIDERED: The State Board of Education:
Adopt the review of 19 TAC Chapter 101, Assessment, Subchapter A, General Provisions, Subchapter B, Implementation of Assessments, and Subchapter C, Local Option.
Staff Members Responsible:
Iris Tian, Deputy Commissioner of Analytics, Assessment, and Reporting
José Ríos, Associate Commissioner of Assessment and Reporting
Julie Cole, Director of Policy and Publications, Student Assessment
Greg Reck, Policy Analyst, Student Assessment
Attachment:
Text of 19 Chapter 101, Assessment, Subchapter A, General Provisions, Subchapter B, Implementation of Assessments, and Subchapter C, Local Option