1. A. Beginning with the 2001-2002 school year and every school year thereafter, for purposes of comparison with the state criterion-referenced tests for student academic achievement at the elementary level, the State Board of Education shall cause a norm-referenced test to be administered to every student in the fourth-grade of the public schools who is a resident of or transferree into the district in which the student is enrolled. The test used shall be selected by the Board and shall measure specific skills represented by learner objectives. The student skills to be tested at the fourth-grade level shall include reading, mathematics, and language arts. B. 1. The Board shall develop and administer a series of criterion-referenced tests designed to indicate whether competencies as defined by the State Board of Education which Oklahoma public school students are expected to have attained in grades five and eight in mathematics, science, reading and writing of English, history, constitution and government of the United States, geography, and the arts and for the subjects and grade levels specified in paragraphs 2,3 and 4 of this subsection have been achieved. Students who do not perform satisfactorily on the tests shall be provided opportunities for remediation. 2. The Board shall administer criterion-referenced tests in the reading and writing of English, mathematics, science, United States history, Constitution and government, geography, and the arts to every student in the fifth and eighth grades who are residents of or transferrees into the district in which they are currently enrolled. 3. Contingent upon the availability of funds appropriated for that purpose, the State Department of Education shall develop and field-test during the 1999-2000 school year a series of criterion-referenced tests in reading/language arts, and mathematics for every student in the third-grade of the public schools who is a resident of or transferree into the district in which the student is enrolled. If the necessary funds are made available, the tests shall be implemented in the 2000-2001 school year and administered every year thereafter. 4. Each student who completes the instruction for the specified secondary level competencies, beginning with the school year listed in this paragraph and each school year thereafter, shall complete an end-of-instruction test for those competencies in order to graduate from high school. The State Board of Education shall administer the criterion-referenced tests, to be implemented according to the following schedule: Subject Implementation English II 2000-2001 United States History 2000-2001 Biology I 2001-2002 Algebra I 2001-2002 The end-of-instruction tests shall serve the purpose of the criterion-referenced tests as provided in paragraph 1 of this subsection. Students shall be afforded the opportunity to retake the tests once prior to graduation. In order to provide an indication of the competency of attained by the students in a permanent record for potential future employers and institutions of higher education, school districts shall report the highest achieved state test performance index on the end-of-instruction tests on the student's high school transcript. Any student at the middle school level who passes a secondary course specified in this paragraph may, upon the student's request, be administered the appropriate end-of-instruction test. It is the intent of the Legislature that, following implementation of the secondary level end-of-instruction tests, the performance data and any available research shall be reviewed for consideration of additional consequences, including, but not limited to, high school graduation. C. All criterion-referenced tests required by this section shall measure academic competencies in correlation with the curricular standards adopted by the Board pursuant to Section 11-103.6 of this title. The State Board of Education shall evaluate academic competencies to ensure such competencies reflect high standards, are specific, well-defined, measurable, challenging, and will prepare elementary students for next-grade-level course work and secondary students for post-secondary studies at institutions of high education or vocational-technical schools without the need for remediation in core curriculum areas. All academic competencies shall reflect the goal of improving the state average American College Testing (ACT) score. The State Department of Education shall seek to ensure that data yielded from the tests required in this section are utilized at the school district level to prescribe skill reinforcement and/or remediation by requiring school districts to develop and implement a specific program of improvement based on the test results. D. 1. All results and reports of the criterion-referenced test series required in subsection B of this section for grades three, five and eight shall be returned, beginning with the 1998-99 school year, to each school district prior to May 1 of each year. 2. State, district, and site level results of all tests required in this section shall be returned to the State Department of Education and to the Education Oversight Board by June 15 of each year. Each school site shall notify the student's parents of the school's performance levels in the Oklahoma School Testing Program as reported in the Oklahoma Educational Indicators Program at the end of each school year. E. The State Board of Education shall be responsible for the development, field-testing, and validation of the criterion-referenced test series required in subsection B of this section. In the interest of economy the Board shall adapt criterion-referenced tests that have been developed by other states or are otherwise commercially available, or portions of such tests, to the extent that such tests are appropriate for use in the testing program to be administered to Oklahoma students. F. The Board shall develop, administer, and incorporate as a part of the Oklahoma School Testing Program, other testing programs or procedures, including appropriate accommodations for the testing of students with disabilities, as required by the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), P.L. No. 101-476.

Laws 1985, HB 1466, c. 329, § 7, emerg. eff. July 30, 1985; Amended by Laws 1986, SB 426, c. 259, § 42, emerg. eff. July 1, 1986; Amended by Laws 1989, SB 183, c. 335, § 10, emerg. eff. July 1, 1989; Amended by Laws 1989, 1st Extr. Sess., HB 1017, c. 2, § 19, emerg. eff. April 25, 1990; Amended by Laws 1992, SB 958, c. 292, § 1, emerg. eff. July 1, 1992; Amended by Laws 1993, HB 1383, c. 361, § 12, emerg. eff. July 1, 1993; Amended by Laws 1995, HB 1441, c. 188, § 2, emerg. eff. July 1, 1995; Amended by Laws 1989, HB 1049, c. 315, § 55 (repealed by Laws 1989, 1st Extr. Sess., HB 1017, c. 2, § 121, emerg. eff. July 1, 1990); Amended by Laws 1997, HB 1455, c. 341, § 1, emerg. eff. June 9, 1997 (superseded document available); Amended by Laws 1997, HB 1557, c. 343, § 6, emerg. eff. July 1, 1997 (superseded document available); Amended by Laws 1998, HB 3348, c. 5, § 25, emerg. eff. March 4, 1998 (superseded document available); Amended by Laws 1999, HB 1599, c. 356, § 2, emerg. eff. July 1, 1999 (superseded document available).