Florida Senate - 2013                                    SB 1624
       
       
       
       By Senator Garcia
       
       
       
       
       38-01433-13                                           20131624__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to Voluntary Prekindergarten Education
    3         Program; amending s. 1002.67, F.S.; requiring the
    4         Department of Education to develop and adopt
    5         performance standards for students in the Voluntary
    6         Prekindergarten Education Program which address the
    7         age-appropriate progress of students in the
    8         development of student learning growth; requiring
    9         measures of student learning growth to be based on
   10         interval data; requiring the State Board of Education
   11         to periodically align the performance standards for
   12         the statewide kindergarten screening to certain other
   13         standards and recommendations; amending s. 1002.69,
   14         F.S.; requiring the Department of Education to require
   15         a school district to administer the statewide
   16         kindergarten screening in a student’s primary
   17         language; providing an effective date.
   18  
   19  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   20  
   21         Section 1. Subsection (1) of section 1002.67, Florida
   22  Statutes, is amended to read:
   23         1002.67 Performance standards; curricula and
   24  accountability.—
   25         (1)(a) The department shall develop and adopt performance
   26  standards for students in the Voluntary Prekindergarten
   27  Education Program. The performance standards must address the
   28  age-appropriate progress of students in the development of:
   29         1. The capabilities, capacities, and skills required under
   30  s. 1(b), Art. IX of the State Constitution; and
   31         2. Emergent literacy skills, including oral communication,
   32  knowledge of print and letters, phonemic and phonological
   33  awareness, and vocabulary and comprehension development; and
   34         3. Student learning growth as defined in s. 1012.34.
   35  Measures of student learning growth must be based on interval
   36  data.
   37         (b) The State Board of Education shall periodically review
   38  and revise the performance standards for the statewide
   39  kindergarten screening administered under s. 1002.69 and align
   40  the standards to the following standards and recommendations:
   41         1. Standards established by the state board for student
   42  performance on the statewide assessments administered pursuant
   43  to s. 1008.22.
   44         2. Performance standards for children from birth to 5 years
   45  of age in school readiness programs pursuant to s. 411.01(4)(d).
   46         3. Next Generation Sunshine State Standards that are based
   47  by rule on the Common Core State Standards from the National
   48  Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council
   49  of Chief State School Officers.
   50         4. Recommendations of the Committee on Developmental
   51  Outcomes and Assessments for Young Children, a component of The
   52  National Academies.
   53         Section 2. Subsection (1) of section 1002.69, Florida
   54  Statutes, is amended to read:
   55         1002.69 Statewide kindergarten screening; kindergarten
   56  readiness rates; state-approved prekindergarten enrollment
   57  screening; good cause exemption.—
   58         (1) The department shall adopt a statewide kindergarten
   59  screening that assesses the readiness of each student for
   60  kindergarten based upon the performance standards adopted by the
   61  department under s. 1002.67(1) for the Voluntary Prekindergarten
   62  Education Program. The department shall require that each school
   63  district administer the statewide kindergarten screening to each
   64  kindergarten student in the school district, in the student’s
   65  primary language, within the first 30 school days of each school
   66  year. Nonpublic schools may administer the statewide
   67  kindergarten screening to each kindergarten student in a
   68  nonpublic school who was enrolled in the Voluntary
   69  Prekindergarten Education Program.
   70         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2013.