19 Tex. Admin. Code § 89.1220 - Language Proficiency Assessment Committee (LPAC)
(a) School districts shall by local board
policy establish and operate one or more Language Proficiency Assessment
Committees (LPACs). The school district shall have on file a policy and
procedures for the selection, appointment, and orientation of members of the
LPAC(s).
(b) The LPAC shall include
an appropriately certified bilingual educator (for students served through a
bilingual program), an appropriately certified English as a second language
(ESL) educator (for students served through an ESL program), a parent of an
emergent bilingual (EB) student participating in a bilingual or ESL program,
and a campus administrator in accordance with Texas Education Code (TEC),
§29.063.
(c) In addition to the
three required members of the LPAC, the school district may add other members
to the committee. All required members of an LPAC must be present either in
person or virtually to make individualized student decisions.
(d) No parent serving on the LPAC shall be an
employee of the school district.
(e) A school district shall establish and
operate a sufficient number of LPACs to enable them to discharge their duties
within four calendar weeks of the enrollment of an EB student.
(f) All members of the LPAC, including
parents, shall be acting for the school district and shall observe all laws and
rules governing confidentiality of information concerning individual students.
The school district shall be responsible for the orientation of all members of
the LPAC, including the parents. The LPAC may use alternative meeting methods,
such as phone or video conferencing and the use of electronic signatures that
adhere to district policy.
(g) Upon
a student's initial enrollment in Texas public schools, a student's transfer
from a previous Texas public school district, and at the end of each school
year, the LPAC shall review all pertinent information on all potential and
identified EB students, including EB students with a parental denial of program
participation, in accordance with §89.1226 of this title (relating to
Testing and Classification of Students).
(1)
For students initially enrolling in Texas public schools, the LPAC shall:
(A) designate the language proficiency level
of each EB student in accordance with the guidelines issued pursuant to
§89.1226(b)-(f) of
this title;
(B) recommend, subject
to parental approval, the initial instructional placement of each EB student in
the required bilingual or ESL program without restricting access due to
scheduling, staffing, or class size constraints; and
(C) facilitate the participation of EB
students in other programs for which they are eligible while ensuring full
access to the language program required under TEC, §29.053.
(2) For transferring students previously
enrolled in a Texas public school district, the LPAC shall:
(A) review permanent record and LPAC
documentation from the previous Texas school district to determine if the
student has been identified as an EB student based on the original home
language survey and initial identification process;
(B) identify previous program participation
with parental approval and recommend appropriate program placement based on
student data and available program models or determine the need for monitoring
of students who have previously met reclassification and are in their first two
years of monitoring;
(C) inform
parents who have previously denied program services of recommended bilingual or
ESL programs available in the current district;
(D) review linguistic progress and academic
achievement data of each EB student to inform instructional practices;
and
(E) facilitate the
participation of EB students in other programs for which they are eligible
while ensuring full access to the language program required under TEC,
§29.053.
(3) At the end of the school year, for all
identified EB students, including EB students with a parental denial of program
participation, the LPAC shall:
(A) review
English language proficiency progress and academic achievement data in English
for ESL program students;
(B)
review English and home/partner language progress as well as academic
achievement data in English and the home/partner language for bilingual program
students;
(C) reclassify eligible
EB students as English proficient in accordance with the criteria described in
§89.1226(i) of
this title;
(D) recommend exit from
program of reclassified English proficient students, pending parental approval,
or continuation of program participation for reclassified students
participating in a dual language immersion one-way or two-way program model,
according to the goals of the program; and
(E) prepare parental reports on student
progress for all identified EB students to be provided to parents within the
first 30 calendar days after the beginning of the next school year, which
include data on linguistic and academic progress, benefits of bilingual or ESL
program participation, and the criteria for reclassification as English
proficient.
(h)
The LPAC shall give written notice to the student's parent, informing the
parent that the student has been identified as an EB student and requesting
approval to place the student in the required bilingual or ESL program not
later than the 10th calendar day after the date of the student's identification
in accordance with TEC, §29.056. The notice
shall include information about the benefits of the recommended bilingual or
ESL program and that it is an integral part of the school program.
(i) Before the administration of the state
criterion-referenced test each year, the LPAC shall determine the appropriate
assessment option for each EB student as outlined in Chapter 101, Subchapter
AA, of this title (relating to Commissioner's Rules Concerning the
Participation of English Language Learners in State Assessments).
(j) Pending completion of the identification
process, receipt of LPAC documentation for transferring students, or parental
approval of an identified EB student's placement into the bilingual or ESL
program recommended by the LPAC, the school district shall place the student in
the recommended program. Only EB students with parental approval for bilingual
or ESL program participation will be included in the bilingual education
allotment (BEA).
(k) The LPAC shall
monitor the academic progress of each student, including any student who
previously had a parental denial of program participation, who has met criteria
for reclassification in accordance with TEC, §29.056(g),
for the first two years after reclassification. If the student earns a failing
grade in a subject in the foundation curriculum under TEC, §28.002(a)(1),
during any grading period in the first two school years after the student is
reclassified, the LPAC shall determine, based on the student's English language
acquisition needs, whether the student may require targeted instruction or,
after careful consideration of multiple linguistic and academic data points,
should be reconsidered for placement in a bilingual or ESL program. In
accordance with TEC, §29.0561,
the LPAC shall review the student's performance and consider, at a minimum, the
following:
(1) the total amount of time the
student was enrolled in a bilingual or ESL program;
(2) the student's grades each grading period
in each subject in the foundation curriculum under TEC, §28.002(a)(1);
(3) the student's performance on each
assessment instrument administered under TEC, §39.023(a) or
(c);
(4) the number of credits the student has
earned toward high school graduation, if applicable; and
(5) any disciplinary actions taken against
the student under TEC, Chapter 37, Subchapter A (Alternative Settings for
Behavior Management).
(l)
The student's permanent record shall contain documentation of all actions
impacting the EB student.
(1) Documentation
shall include:
(A) the original home language
survey;
(B) the identification as
an EB student;
(C) the designation
of the student's level of language proficiency;
(D) the recommendation of program
placement;
(E) parental approval or
denial of placement into the program;
(F) the date of placement in the
program;
(G) assessment information
as outlined in Chapter 101, Subchapter AA, of this title;
(H) additional instructional linguistic
accommodations provided to address the specific language needs of the
student;
(I) the date of
reclassification and the date of exit from the program with parental approval;
and
(J) the results of monitoring
for academic success, including students formerly identified as EB students, as
required under TEC, §29.063(c)(4).
(2) Current documentation as described in
paragraph (1) of this subsection shall be forwarded in the same manner as other
student records to another school district in which the student
enrolls.
(m) A school
district may place a student in or exit a student from a program without
written approval of the student's parent if:
(1) the student is 18 years of age or has had
the disabilities of minority removed;
(2) the parent provides approval through a
phone conversation or e-mail that is documented in writing and retained;
or
(3) an adult who the school
district recognizes as standing in parental relation to the student provides
written approval. This may include a foster parent or employee of a state or
local governmental agency with temporary possession or control of the
student.
Notes
State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.
No prior version found.