Senate Approves Education Accountability Reform Bill Removes PACT
Filed Under Caucus, Hayes, Top News
Columbia, SC - The South Carolina Senate today gave key approval to the Education Accountability Act Reform Bill (H.4662). The bill specifically stipulates, “the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test (PACT) no longer meets the requirements” for a statewide assessment test. The bill does not make any changes to the grades to be tested (3-8) or the four core-subjects currently tested. The State Board of Education, the Department of Education and the Education Oversight Committee must now establish a new assessment test for the 2008-09 school year.
“This is possibly the most important education bill that we will pass in the General Assembly this session,” says Senator Wes Hayes (R-York). “This bill makes some significant changes to the accountability system. Testing will not only measures how our schools and students are performing, but provide teachers the diagnostic feedback needed to help individual students improve.” Senator Hayes served as the chairman of the subcommittee that worked on the Education Accountability Act Reform Bill.
In addition to improving testing accountability the bill also makes changes to school accountability requirements. Currently, schools are required to produce an annual report card on their performance which is typically about ten-pages in length. The bill now requires that only a two-page synopsis be printed with the balance of the report card to be made available online. This change will provide parents with the information needed to evaluate their child’s school and save approximately $500,000 annually.
The Accountability Reform bill also streamlines teacher paperwork by removing the requirement for an individual academic plan, aligns student performance evaluations with other states, and ensures a five-year review process. The bill changes the designation given to under performing schools from “unsatisfactory” to “schools at-risk.”
The bill will receive a routine third reading before being returned to the House. Senator Hayes says he does not anticipate any major obstacles preventing the bill from making it to the Governor’s desk before the end of this legislative session.
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