SB 746

Present law generally prohibits the promotion of a student from third to fou rth grade unless the student is determined to be proficient in English language arts (ELA) based on the student's achieving a performance level rating of " on track "" or "" mastered "" on the ELA portion of the student's most recent TCAP test ; provided, however, a student may be promoted without meeting the general ELA proficiency requirement by completion of one of a series of a pathways to promotion. Present law provides six pathways to promotion for a student who scores ""approaching"" on the ELA portion of the student's most recent TCAP test . This bill adds a seventh pathway to promotion for a student who scores ""approaching"" on the ELA portion of the student's most recent TCAP test .. Under this bill, any such student may be promoted if a majority of the c ategories of participants in a conference convened by the student's LEA or public charter school recommends that the student be promoted. This bill requires a n LEA or public charter school to convene a conference to determine whether a student who achieve d a performance level rating of ""approaching"" on the ELA portion of the student's most recent TCAP test must be promoted to fourth grade or retained in third grade if the student has earned an overall letter grade of A or B in the student's third grade EL A class, and the student's parent or guardian has elected for their student not to attend a learning loss bridge camp as a pathway to promotion . The conference must be attended by the following categories of participants: the student's parent or guardian, the student's ELA teacher, and the student's school principal. The recommendation made by a majority of the categories of participants in the conference determines whether the student must be promoted to the fourth grade or retained in the third grade; p r ovided, that a student must not be retained in the third grade more than once. A student who is promoted to the fourth grade pursuant to this bill must be assigned a tutor for the entirety of the student's fourth-grade year based on tutoring requirements established by the department of education ."