Florida Senate - 2012 SB 420
By Senator Smith
29-00331-12 2012420__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to career and education planning;
3 amending s. 1003.4156, F.S.; revising the general
4 requirements for middle grades promotion to require
5 that a course in career and education planning explore
6 the Florida Career Clusters; deleting a provision that
7 requires the Department of Education to develop course
8 frameworks and professional development materials for
9 a career exploration and education planning course;
10 providing an effective date.
11
12 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
13
14 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section
15 1003.4156, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
16 1003.4156 General requirements for middle grades
17 promotion.—
18 (1) Promotion from a school composed of middle grades 6, 7,
19 and 8 requires that:
20 (a) The student must successfully complete academic courses
21 as follows:
22 1. Three middle school or higher courses in English. These
23 courses shall emphasize literature, composition, and technical
24 text.
25 2. Three middle school or higher courses in mathematics.
26 Each middle school must offer at least one high school level
27 mathematics course for which students may earn high school
28 credit. Successful completion of a high school level Algebra I
29 or geometry course is not contingent upon the student’s
30 performance on the end-of-course assessment required under s.
31 1008.22(3)(c)2.a.(I). However, beginning with the 2011-2012
32 school year, to earn high school credit for an Algebra I course,
33 a middle school student must pass the Algebra I end-of-course
34 assessment, and beginning with the 2012-2013 school year, to
35 earn high school credit for a geometry course, a middle school
36 student must pass the geometry end-of-course assessment.
37 3. Three middle school or higher courses in social studies,
38 one semester of which must include the study of state and
39 federal government and civics education. Beginning with students
40 entering grade 6 in the 2012-2013 school year, one of these
41 courses must be at least a one-semester civics education course
42 that a student successfully completes in accordance with s.
43 1008.22(3)(c) and that includes the roles and responsibilities
44 of federal, state, and local governments; the structures and
45 functions of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches
46 of government; and the meaning and significance of historic
47 documents, such as the Articles of Confederation, the
48 Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution of the United
49 States.
50 4. Three middle school or higher courses in science.
51 Successful completion of a high school level Biology I course is
52 not contingent upon the student’s performance on the end-of
53 course assessment required under s. 1008.22(3)(c)2.a.(II).
54 However, beginning with the 2012-2013 school year, to earn high
55 school credit for a Biology I course, a middle school student
56 must pass the Biology I end-of-course assessment.
57 5. One course in career and education planning to be
58 completed in 7th or 8th grade. The course may be taught by any
59 member of the instructional staff; must include career
60 exploration aligned to the Florida Career Clusters supported by
61 Florida’s Career Clusters Initiative; must include career
62 exploration using Florida CHOICES or a comparable cost-effective
63 program; must include educational planning using the online
64 student advising system known as Florida Academic Counseling and
65 Tracking for Students at the Internet website FACTS.org; and
66 shall result in the completion of a personalized academic and
67 career plan. The required personalized academic and career plan
68 must inform students of high school graduation requirements,
69 high school assessment and college entrance test requirements,
70 Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program requirements, state
71 university and Florida College System institution admission
72 requirements, and programs through which a high school student
73 can earn college credit, including Advanced Placement,
74 International Baccalaureate, Advanced International Certificate
75 of Education, dual enrollment, career academy opportunities, and
76 courses that lead to national industry certification.
77
78 A student with a disability, as defined in s. 1007.02(2), for
79 whom the individual education plan team determines that an end
80 of-course assessment cannot accurately measure the student’s
81 abilities, taking into consideration all allowable
82 accommodations, shall have the end-of-course assessment results
83 waived for purposes of determining the student’s course grade
84 and completing the requirements for middle grades promotion.
85 Each school must hold a parent meeting either in the evening or
86 on a weekend to inform parents about the course curriculum and
87 activities. Each student shall complete an electronic personal
88 education plan that must be signed by the student; the student’s
89 instructor, guidance counselor, or academic advisor; and the
90 student’s parent. The Department of Education shall develop
91 course frameworks and professional development materials for the
92 career exploration and education planning course. The course may
93 be implemented as a stand-alone course or integrated into
94 another course or courses. The Commissioner of Education shall
95 collect longitudinal high school course enrollment data by
96 student ethnicity in order to analyze course-taking patterns.
97 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2012.