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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR:	Nava		DATE TYPED:	02/05/03		HB
SHORT TITLE:		High School Curricula and Tests				SB	62
					ANALYST:		Segura

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained		Estimated Additional Impact		Recurring or Non-Rec	Fund Affected
FY03	FY04	FY03	FY04
	N/A

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates HB 186.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

State Department of Education (SDE)

Commission on Higher Education (CHE)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 62 adds a new section of the Public School Code requiring SDE and CHE to collaborate in aligning high school curricula and end-of-course tests with entry-level placement tests at public colleges and universities in New Mexico.

Significant Issues

According to CHE, this legislation supports the Teacher Education Accountability Council (TEAC) P-16 partnership agenda and the Accelerated Learning Framework adopted by the Commission.

According to SDE, the legislation supports the State Board of Educations(SBE) Strategic Goal of Academic Achievement. The alignment of high school curricula and end-of-course tests with placement tests for entering freshman in New Mexico colleges and universities supports the work of the P-16 initiative to address the adequate preparation of students to enter postsecondary programs of study and be successful in their entry coursework.

In addition, the SDE supports the collaboration required between SDE and the CHE to ensure the standards and assessments used for meeting graduation requirements are aligned with academic expectations for entering freshmen at two-and four year institutions. The two-and four year institutions may require different academic expectations and levels of proficiency. Thus, aligning curricula and end-of-year tests may require developing common expectations among institutions of higher education.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

Both the SDE and CHE indicate that enactment of the bill would have a workload impact on the agencies.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

According to CHE, the Education Commission of the States indicates that “the lack of communication among education levels means that students have not had clear expectations of what they should know and be able to do in preparation for the next higher level of learning. Recent implementation of standards, coupled with new assessment and accountability policies, help to clarify what is expected within a given level. ECS asserts that P-16 initiatives can increase college participation and success rates through the alignment of curricula and the alignment of high school exit examinations with college entrance requirements.”

RMS/sb:prr