Chapter 320
2012 -- H 7108 SUBSTITUTE A
Enacted 06/20/12
A N A C T
RELATING TO
EDUCATION - THE COLLEGE AND CAREER SUCCESS FOR ALL
STUDENTS ACT
Introduced By: Representatives McNamara, Jacquard, and Malik
Date Introduced: January 12, 2012
It is enacted by the
General Assembly as follows:
SECTION 1. Title 16 of the General Laws entitled
"EDUCATION" is hereby amended
by adding thereto the following chapter:
CHAPTER
96
THE
COLLEGE AND CAREER SUCCESS FOR ALL STUDENTS ACT
16-96-1.
Short title. -- This act shall be known and may
be cited as "The College and
Career Success For All
Students Act."
16-96-2.
Purpose. -- The purpose of this chapter shall
be to ensure that each Rhode
Island student has a sufficient education for success
after high school and that all students have
equal access to a substantive and rigorous curriculum that
is designed to challenge their minds,
enhance their knowledge and skills, and prepare them for
success in college and work.
16-96-3.
Definitions. -- As used in this chapter:
(1) "Advanced
Placement course" means a course sponsored by the college
board and
offered for college credit at the high school level.
(2) "Advanced
Placement teacher" means a teacher of an advanced placement course.
(3)
"Pre-Advanced Placement" means set professional development resources
and
services that equip all middle and high school teachers with
the strategies and tools they need to
engage their students in active, high-level learning, thereby
ensuring that every middle and high
school student develops the skills, habits of mind, and
concepts they need to succeed in advanced
placement courses.
(4) "Board of
regents" means the board of regents for elementary and secondary
education.
(5) "Vertical
team" means a group of teachers and educators from different grade levels
in a given discipline who work cooperatively to develop
and implement a vertically aligned
program aimed at helping students from diverse backgrounds
acquire the academic skills
necessary for success in advanced placement courses and other
challenging courses.
16-96-4.
Teacher training. -- (a) Subject to
appropriation, the state board of governors
for higher education and the state board of regents for
elementary and secondary education will
work jointly to establish clear, specific, and challenging
training guidelines that require teachers
of advanced placement courses to obtain recognized
advanced placement training endorsed by the
college board.
(b) Advanced
placement and pre-advanced placement training to teachers in Rhode
Island high schools must do all of the following:
(1) Provide teachers
of advanced placement and teachers in courses that lead to advanced
placement with the necessary content knowledge and
instructional skills to prepare students for
success in advanced placement courses and examinations and
other advanced course
examinations and mastery of postsecondary course content.
(2) Provide
administrators, including principals and counselors, with professional
development that will be enable them to create strong and
effective advanced placement
programs in their schools.
(3) Provide middle
grade, junior high, and high school teachers with advanced placement
vertical team training and other pre-advanced placement
professional development that prepares
students for success in advanced placement courses.
(4) Support the
implementation of an instructional program for students in grades 6
through 12 that provides an integrated set of instructional
materials, diagnostic assessments, and
teacher professional development in reading, writing, and
mathematics that prepares all students
for enrollment and success in advanced placement courses
and in college.
16-96-5. Duties of
the state board of regents. -- (a) In order to fulfill the purposes
of
this act, the state board of regents shall encourage
school districts to offer rigorous courses in
grades 6 through 11 that prepare students for the demands of
advanced placement course work.
The state board of regents shall also encourage school
districts to make it a goal that all 10th
graders take the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude
Test/National Merit Scholars Qualifying Test
(PSAT/NMSQT) so that test results will provide each
high school with a database of student
assessment data that guidance counselors and teachers will be
able to use to identify students who
are prepared or who need additional work to be prepared
to enroll and be successful in advanced
placement courses, using a research-based advanced placement
identification program provided
by the college board.
(b) The state board
of regents shall do all of the following:
(1) Seek federal
funding through the advanced placement incentive program and the
Math-Science partnership program and use it to support
advanced placement and pre-advanced
placement teacher professional development and to support the
implementation of an integrated
instructional program for students in grades 6 through 12 in
reading, writing, and mathematics
that prepares all students for enrollment and success in
advanced placement courses and in
college.
(2) Focus state and
federal funding with the intent to carry-out activities that target school
districts serving high concentrations of low-income students.
(3) Subject to
appropriation, provide a plan of communication that includes, without
limitation, disseminating to parents materials that emphasize the
importance of advanced
placement or other advanced courses to a student's ability to
gain access to, and to succeed in,
postsecondary education and materials that emphasize the importance
of the Preliminary
Scholastic Aptitude Test/National Merit Scholars
Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which
provides diagnostic feedback on skills and relates students’
scores to the probability of success in
advanced placement courses and examinations, and disseminating
this information to students,
teachers, counselors, administrators, school districts, public
community colleges, and state
universities.
(4) Subject to
appropriation, annually evaluate the impact of this act on rates of student
enrollment and success in advanced placement courses, on high
school graduation rates, and on
college enrollment retention and completion rates.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.
=======
LC00107/SUB A
=======