Committee advances several rules: R277-716 continued; secondary diplomas updated; civics credit wording deferred until standards are ready

The Standards and Assessment Committee took multiple actions on administrative rules.

R277-716 (Alternative Language Services for Utah Students): Committee members approved continuation of R277-716 on first reading and forwarded the draft to the full board for continuation and final approval. Staff said language edits were primarily clerical and intended to align the rule with current code and practice.

R277-705-2 (Secondary School Completion and Diplomas): The committee approved a targeted amendment to define the statutory phrase "most significant cognitive disabilities" to help districts implement Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requirements. The definition is intended to limit use of alternate assessments (Dynamic Learning Maps) to students who meet the "most significant" threshold and to improve state monitoring under the 1% cap on alternate-assessment participation.

R277-700 (Elementary and Secondary School General Core): Staff proposed an amendment to allow up to 0.5 credits of school-sponsored activity or verbal communication (up to 2.5 credits in total under specified conditions) to count toward the required American constitutional government and citizenship credit, provided the local education agency documents how the activity meets the standards. Committee members raised concerns about how the half-credit would be documented and whether the rule should reflect a single full-credit course that can be satisfied in two parts. After discussion, committee staff advised waiting for the written standards (to be developed by the UVU-affiliated writers) before finalizing rule wording; the committee voted to forward the current draft to the board but to return this item to the Standards & Assessment committee in January for fuller consideration of the credit structure.

What happens next: R277-716 and R277-705-2 will go to the full board for final consideration and potential adoption; staff will return R277-700 to committee in January with proposed alternate wording after standards are published so the committee can decide the credit structure before final rule adoption.

Speakers quoted in this article are drawn from the committee transcript and limited to meeting participants named on the record.