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Session of 2000
          Substitute for HOUSE BILL No. 2794           By Committee on Education           2-23          

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  9             AN  ACT requiring the state board of education to prepare a strategy for
10             developing and implementing a mastery of basic skills program in
11             school districts.
12      
13       Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
14             Section  1. (a) The state board of education shall prepare a strategy
15       for identifying, developing, and implementing a mastery of basic skills
16       program in kindergarten and each of grades one through three of Kansas
17       school districts based upon the goal of basic skill mastery by pupils who
18       complete the third grade. In carrying out this directive, the state board
19       shall:
20             (1) Prepare a mastery of basic skills program appropriate for imple-
21       mentation in each school district;
22             (2) identify state standards and outcomes of mastery for basic skills
23       in the areas of reading, writing, and mathematics for kindergarten and
24       each of grades one through three, which, if mastered, will result in the
25       pupil having acquired foundational skills sufficient to achieve academic
26       success at the fourth grade and beyond;
27             (3) prepare a plan for monitoring the progress of pupils at each grade
28       level in achieving mastery of basic skills;
29             (4) specify the means to be used for determining mastery of the basic
30       skills by each pupil upon completion of grade three; and
31             (5) identify a professional development sequence for primary grade
32       teachers to enable them to learn the best practices for teaching basic
33       skills.
34             (b) The state board's strategy shall include a component for requiring
35       school districts to provide interventions for pupils who are not making
36       satisfactory progress toward mastering the basic skills such as, but not
37       limited to, a restructured school day, additional school days, summer
38       school, or individualized instruction.
39             (c) The state board of education shall report to the 2001 legislature
40       a strategy and proposed plan for implementing the mastery of basic skills
41       program with development of standards during the 2001-02 school year
42       and commencement of the plan in the 2002-03 school year. The state
43       board report to the 2001 legislature shall include estimates of the cost to

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  1       the state of implementing this program.
  2        Sec.  2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its
  3       publication in the statute book.