§ 16-96-5. Duties of the state board of regents. (a) In order to fulfill the purposes of this act, the state board of regents shall encourage school districts to offer rigorous courses in grades 6 through 11 that prepare students for the demands of advanced placement course work. The state board of regents shall also encourage school districts to make it a goal that all 10th graders take the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/National Merit Scholars Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) so that test results will provide each high school with a database of student assessment data that guidance counselors and teachers will be able to use to identify students who are prepared or who need additional work to be prepared to enroll and be successful in advanced placement courses, using a research-based advanced placement identification program provided by the college board.

(b) The state board of regents shall do all of the following:

(1) Seek federal funding through the advanced placement incentive program and the Math-Science partnership program and use it to support advanced placement and pre-advanced placement teacher professional development and to support the implementation of an integrated instructional program for students in grades 6 through 12 in reading, writing, and mathematics that prepares all students for enrollment and success in advanced placement courses and in college.

(2) Focus state and federal funding with the intent to carry-out activities that target school districts serving high concentrations of low-income students.

(3) Subject to appropriation, provide a plan of communication that includes, without limitation, disseminating to parents materials that emphasize the importance of advanced placement or other advanced courses to a student's ability to gain access to, and to succeed in, postsecondary education and materials that emphasize the importance of the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/National Merit Scholars Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which provides diagnostic feedback on skills and relates students' scores to the probability of success in advanced placement courses and examinations, and disseminating this information to students, teachers, counselors, administrators, school districts, public community colleges, and state universities.

(4) Subject to appropriation, annually evaluate the impact of this act on rates of student enrollment and success in advanced placement courses, on high school graduation rates, and on college enrollment retention and completion rates.

History of Section. (P.L. 2012, ch. 320, § 1; P.L. 2012, ch. 350, § 1.)