HBA-LJP H.B. 3620 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3620
By: Delisi
Higher Education
4/2/2001
Introduced


HBA-LJP H.B. 3620 77(R)   BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under current law, a student who is admitted to a public institution of
higher education (institution) must take the Texas Academic Skills Program
(TASP) test if the student performs below certain standards on either
exit-level exams, or the American College Test (ACT) or Scholastic
Assessment Test (SAT) college entrance exams.  Currently, some students are
unable to pursue education beyond high school because they are required to
take developmental education courses after failing a portion of the TASP
test.  TASP was developed to measure whether potential undergraduates are
capable of doing college-level work and to determine the necessity of
developmental or remedial courses to be taken in conjunction with regular
courses.  There is concern that TASP may not adequately meet these goals.
House Bill 3620 restructures TASP as the Developmental Education Program
(DEP) and provides for additional exemptions from the DEP test. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 3620 amends the Education Code to rename the Texas Academic
Skill Program (TASP) the Developmental Education Program (DEP).  The bill
provides that requirements under DEP do not apply to: 

_a deaf or blind student;

_a student who is a member or retiree of the armed forces of the United
States or of the state military forces; 


_a student who is a working or retired nurse;

_a student who is a working or retired peace officer or a full-time,
part-time, volunteer, or retired firefighter in this state; 

_a student who is a full-time, part-time, substitute, or retired teacher or
educational aid of a public or private school; 

_a student who is an employee or retiree of this state or a state agency,
an institution, or a political subdivision of this state; 

_a student who has been diagnosed as having dyslexia or a related disorder,
or a specific learning disability in mathematics by a qualified
professional; or 

_a student who will be 55 years of age or older on the first class day of a
term or semester for which the student will enroll. 
 
The bill removes provisions relating to the authority of the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board (THECB) to prescribe an alternative test
instrument for an institution to use.  The bill also removes the
prohibition on a student enrolling in any upper division courses that would
give the student 60 or more semester hours or the equivalent on completion
until the test results of the student meet or exceeded the minimum
standards in each skill area that the developmental education requires or
the student has earned certain grades. 

The bill removes the requirement that THECB prescribe circumstances under
which a student is exempt from being tested for reading, writing, and
mathematics skills prior to enrolling in any coursework at an institution. 

The bill provides that a student who performs at the state average
performance level on the exit-level assessment and the Scholastic
Assessment Test (SAT) or the American College Test (ACT) is exempt from the
DEP test.  The bill also removes the restrictions that an exemption is
effective for three years after the student performs at a certain standard
on the exit-level assessment and for five years after the student performs
at a certain standard on ACT or SAT.  The bill provides that an entering or
transferring student who, before admission to an institution of higher
education (institution) as a regular student, has successfully completed 12
hours of college coursework in residence at the institution or by placement
test is exempt from the DEP test. 

The bill removes the requirement that a student either be concurrently
enrolled at another institution or has graduated from an institution for a
student to be exempt from the DEP test as a temporary student.  The bill
provides that the institution determines what is the acceptable evidence
for a student to prove temporary student status. 

The bill removes the requirement that THECB encourage students to take the
required test while enrolled in high school. 

The bill repeals the provision that students who are deaf who enroll in an
institution must take the Stanford Achievement Test. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act
takes effect September 1, 2001.