First Substitute H.B. 341

1

MODIFIED SCHOOL WEEK PILOT PROGRAM
2 1997 GENERAL SESSION
3 STATE OF UTAH
4 Sponsor: Thomas Hatch
5 AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC EDUCATION; PROVIDING FOR A MODIFIED SCHOOL
6 WEEK PILOT PROGRAM IN SELECTED HIGH SCHOOLS; PROVIDING COMPONENTS
7 FOR THE PROGRAM; PROVIDING FOR AN EVALUATION; PROVIDING FOR
8 TERMINATION OF THE PROGRAM; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
9 This act affects sections of Utah Code Annotated 1953 as follows:
10 ENACTS:
11 53A-15-801, Utah Code Annotated 1953
12 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
13 Section 1. Section 53A-15-801 is enacted to read:
14 Part 8. Modified School Week Pilot Program
15 53A-15-801. Modified School Week Pilot Program -- Components -- Evaluation --
16 Termination.
17 (1) There is hereby established a Modified School Week Pilot Program to help determine
18 if rural high schools could benefit from a modified school week.
19 (2) (a) The State Board of Education, through the State Superintendent of Public
20 Instruction, shall select a participant group of rural schools from a geographically clustered area.
21 (b) The participating schools must agree to coordinate their scheduling of activities to
22 accommodate the modified school week.
23 (3) The State Board of Education shall structure the pilot program to include at least the
24 following components:
25 (a) a total of at least 990 hours of instructional time scheduled over the school year to be
26 included in the modified school week;
27 (b) the scheduling of extracurricular activities, such as sporting events, dances, musical

1 or dramatic events, speech activities, or programs of a similar nature on Thursday night, Friday,
2 or Saturday, so that students will not be involved in or travel to and from extracurricular activities
3 during the regular school day; and
4 (c) an assessment component that compares the test scores of the pilot high schools with
5 test scores of high schools throughout the state on at least the following tests:
6 (i) the Stanford Achievement Test or a similar achievement test required under Title 53A,
7 Chapter 1, Part 6, Achievement Tests;
8 (ii) the American College Test; and
9 (iii) end of level tests.
10 (4) (a) The State Board Of Education shall carefully monitor the pilot program and make
11 an annual report to the Legislature's Education Interim Committee prior to December 31.
12 (b) (i) Each pilot school shall submit an annual report to the state superintendent on the
13 amount of time students were out of class for school approved activities or field trips.
14 (ii) The report shall specify each activity, the date of occurrence, the number of students
15 involved, and the time missed.
16 (c) (i) At the conclusion of the second year of the program, the board shall perform an
17 evaluation on the overall academic performance of students at the participating high schools.
18 (ii) If the board determines that academic performance has declined at any of the
19 participating schools, then the board, through the state superintendent, shall notify the school
20 district and the school of the specific deficiencies and the need to remedy those deficiencies.
21 (d) (i) The pilot program shall terminate July 1, 2002.
22 (ii) During the fifth year of the program and prior to the 2002 General Session of the
23 Legislature, the board shall perform a final evaluation and present its findings as part of its annual
24 report under Subsection (4)(a) together with recommendations as to permanency of the program
25 and the need, if required, for further legislative action.
26 Section 2. Effective date.
27 This act takes effect on July 1, 1997.

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