Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Education Testing topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
House passes compromise on graduation test, allows state board latitude for alternative assessment
Summary
The House passed the second substitute to HB155 after debate and a successful amendment that clarifies diploma language and preserves accommodations for students with IEPs, incoming transfer students and adult/GED students; final vote 65-3, 7 absent.
The Utah House voted to pass Second Substitute House Bill 155 on a 65-3 vote with seven members absent, a measure the sponsor described as a compromise to address concerns about the Utah Basic Skills Competency Test (referred to in debate as the YouBiscuit/Ubiscuit test).
Sponsor Representative Veil Hansen said the bill “give[s] the state school board the latitude to put together a test for those students that are in those, special needs area,” and added it would provide reciprocity for students transferring into Utah and accommodation pathways for adult learners pursuing a GED (opening remarks).
Lawmakers debated an amendment that would strike language suggesting a student who fails the basic skills competency test “may receive a high school diploma.” Representative Newbold and other opponents of the amendment argued that removing the language could preserve the requirement that passing the competency test remain tied to a basic diploma. Representative Newbold asked, “Are we really intend to send them out of high school without a diploma?” Representative King warned of the risks of relying on a single high-stakes test and said it had already changed classroom instruction.
Representative Dayton argued for keeping the accommodation language for students with IEPs while also preserving standards: “If we wanted to stay in place with any significance, then we vote for this amendment, and that allows us to pass the bill out with some accommodation language for those students with IEPs” (summation on amendment).
The amendment to bracket the words “high school diploma” on specified lines passed on a recorded division (37 yes, 28 no). After further discussion the bill was approved by the House and will be sent to the Senate for further consideration.
Next steps: HB155 moves to the Senate; sponsors and committee staff indicated the measure is intended to let the State Board of Education implement alternative assessments and accommodations for the cohorts affected by the new competency requirement.
