An Act to Eliminate the Requirement that the State Board of Education Develop a High School Exit Exam.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C‑12(9a) and G.S. 115C‑12(9b) are repealed.
SECTION 2.  G.S. 115C‑12 is amended by adding a new subdivision to read:
"(9c)	Power to develop content standards and exit standards. – The Board shall develop a comprehensive plan to revise content standards and the standard course of study in the core academic areas of reading, writing, mathematics, science, history, geography, and civics. The Board shall involve and survey a representative sample of parents, teachers, and the public to help determine academic content standard priorities and usefulness of the content standards. A full review of available and relevant academic content standards that are rigorous, specific, sequenced, clear, focused, and measurable, whenever possible, shall be a part of the process of the development of content standards. The revised content standards developed in the core academic areas shall (i) reflect high expectations for students and an in‑depth mastery of the content; (ii) be clearly grounded in the content of each academic area; (iii) be defined grade‑by‑grade and course‑by‑course; (iv) be understandable to parents and teachers; (v) be developed in full recognition of the time available to teach the core academic areas at each grade level; and (vi) be measurable, whenever possible, in a reliable, valid, and efficient manner for accountability purposes.
High school course content standards shall include the knowledge and skills necessary to pursue further postsecondary education or to attain employment in the 21st century economy. The high school course content standards also shall be aligned with the minimum undergraduate course requirements for admission to the constituent institutions of The University of North Carolina. The Board may develop exit standards that will be required for high school graduation.
The Board also shall develop and implement an ongoing process to align State programs and support materials with the revised academic content standards for each core academic area on a regular basis. Alignment shall include revising textbook criteria, support materials, State tests, teacher and school administrator preparation, and ongoing professional development programs to be compatible with content standards. The Board shall develop and make available to teachers and parents support materials, including teacher and parent guides, for academic content standards. The State Board of Education shall work in collaboration with the Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina to ensure that teacher and school administrator degree programs, ongoing professional development, and other university activity in the State's public schools align with the State Board's priorities."
SECTION 3.  G.S. 115C‑174.11 reads as rewritten:
"§ 115C‑174.11.  Components of the testing program.
…
(c)	Annual Testing Program.
(1)	The State Board of Education shall adopt a system of annual testing for grades three through 12. These tests shall be designed to measure progress toward reading, communication skills, and mathematics for grades three through eight, and toward competencies designated by the State Board for grades nine through 12. The State Board may develop and implement a plan for high school end‑of‑course tests that must be aligned with the content standards developed under G.S. 115C‑12(9c). Students who do not pass the tests adopted for eighth grade shall be provided remedial instruction in the ninth grade. This assistance shall be calculated to prepare the students to pass the competency test administered under subsection (b) of this section. 

(2)	If the State Board of Education finds that additional testing in grades three through 12 is desirable to allow comparisons with national indicators of student achievement, that testing shall be conducted with the smallest size sample of students necessary to assure valid comparisons with other states."

SECTION 4.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 23rd day of August, 2005.

	s/	 Beverly E. Perdue
	 President of the Senate

	s/	 James B. Black
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives

	s/	 Michael F. Easley
	 Governor

Approved 12:12 p.m. this 2nd day of October, 2005