The Texas Education Agency (TEA) adopts an amendment to §101.4002, concerning end-of-course (EOC) substitute assessments. The amendment is adopted without changes to the proposed text as published in the December 25, 2020 issue of the Texas Register (45 TexReg 9384) and will not be republished. The adopted amendment adds the new Texas Success Initiative Assessment, Version 2.0 (TSIA2) to the list of approved substitute assessments.

REASONED JUSTIFICATION: Section 101.4002 specifies the assessments the commissioner of education recommends as substitute assessments that a student may use to meet EOC assessment graduation requirements and establishes the cut scores needed for graduation purposes. The adopted amendment updates the rule text to include the new TSIA2. The adopted amendment also updates the figure in subsection (b) to include the new TSIA2 and the passing scores that are required to use this assessment as a substitute assessment.

SUMMARY OF COMMENTS AND AGENCY RESPONSES: The public comment period on the proposal began December 25, 2020, and ended January 25, 2021. Following is a summary of the public comment received and the corresponding response.

Comment: The College Board expressed support for the addition of TSIA2 to the rule and recommended that TEA include alternative passing scores that were adopted by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Response: The agency disagrees that the alternative passing scores should be included in §101.4002. Since the alternative scoring pathway requires the administration of an additional assessment instrument that is not administered to all students taking the TSIA2, it cannot be used as a qualifying score for a substitute assessment to fulfill graduation requirements.

STATUTORY AUTHORITY. The amendment is adopted under Texas Education Code (TEC), §39.023(c), which requires the agency to adopt end-of-course (EOC) assessment instruments for secondary-level courses in Algebra I, biology, English I, English II, and United States history; and TEC, §39.025, which establishes the secondary-level performance required to receive a Texas high school diploma. TEC, §39.025(a), requires the commissioner of education to adopt rules requiring students to achieve satisfactory performance on each EOC assessment listed under TEC, §39.023(c), in order to receive a Texas high school diploma. TEC, §39.025(a-1), (a-2), and (a-3), allow for the use of specific substitute assessments to satisfy the EOC assessment graduation requirements under certain conditions.

CROSS REFERENCE TO STATUTE. The amendment implements Texas Education Code, §39.023 and §39.025.