HB 303 - AS INTRODUCED
2015 SESSION
04/10
HOUSE BILL 303
AN ACT relative to statewide assessment standards and relative to parental consent for psychological services to students.
SPONSORS: Rep. Ferreira, Hills 28; Rep. Seidel, Hills 28; Sen. Avard, Dist 12
This bill specifies additional criteria for the statewide educational improvement and assessment program and requires that no psychological services be provided to a pupil without the consent of a parent or legal guardian.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
15-0701
04/10
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Fifteen
AN ACT relative to statewide assessment standards and relative to parental consent for psychological services to students.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Statewide Educational Improvement and Assessment Program; Program Established. Amend RSA 193-C:4, III to read as follows:
III. The following criteria shall be used in the development of the program:
(a) Educational standards specifying what students should know and be able to do shall be clearly defined before assessment procedures and exercises are developed.
(b) The assessment exercises or tasks shall be valid and appropriate representations of the standards the students are expected to achieve.
(c) At each grade level assessed, the standards and expectations shall be the same for every New Hampshire student.
(d) Teachers shall be involved in designing and using the assessment system.
(e) Assessment frameworks and reports shall be understandable and widely disseminated to parents, teachers, administrators, other school personnel, school board members, teacher preparation programs, business people, government officials, and community members.
(f)(1) Assessments shall be:
(A) Validated for use with multiple ethnic groups and students with diverse economic backgrounds to prevent discrimination in scoring.
(B) Age-appropriate for the cognitive development of the student.
(C) Restricted to questions that may be objectively scored.
(D) Restricted to academic content questions only, and not questions regarding a student’s psychological or sociological disposition.
(2) Assessments shall not be used to:
(A) Survey or measure student dispositions, including student values, attitudes, or beliefs.
(B) Diagnose educational or behavioral disorders, or to facilitate educational treatment planning.
(g) The assessment system shall be subject to continuous review and improvement.
2 School Boards; Child Benefit Services. Amend RSA 189:49, IV to read as follows:
IV. School guidance and psychologist services. No psychological services shall be provided without written consent of the pupil’s parent or legal guardian, except as may be ordered by a court.
3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.