Individual Graduation Committees for Seniors in SY 2020-2021

This weekend, the 87th Texas Legislature passed House Bill (HB) 999, which amends state law related to individual graduation committees (Texas Education Code §28.0258) for seniors in the 2020-2021 school year. The legislation, which went into effect on May 31, 2021, establishes that students in grade 12 in the 2020-2021 school year are eligible to graduate via an individual graduation committee (IGC) decision regardless of the number of State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR®) end-of-course exams on which a student has failed to perform satisfactorily. Additionally, the legislation states that, when determining if a student is qualified to graduate, an IGC is not required to consider student performance on end-of-course exam(s), including those the student failed.

Please note that, with the exception of the two provisions in the legislation, all other IGC requirements must be met and the IGC process must be followed. Below is an outline of the process for an IGC.

• Students must successfully complete all curriculum requirements for high school graduation as identified in 19 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) Chapter 74, Subchapter B. Districts and charter schools must determine if a student has met all other graduation requirements under TEC, §28.025(c), including successful completion of all curriculum requirements or an individualized education program.
• Districts and campuses must convene an IGC that complies with the requirements of 19 TAC §74.1025(f). Administrative rules permit flexibility if the membership specified in rule is unavailable. Please refer to 19 TAC §74.1025(g)–(i) for more details.
• IGCs must establish an IGC plan that the student must complete to be eligible to graduate. The IGC plan must require additional remediation and—for each course with an associated IGC that the student has not yet passed—
  • completion of a project related to the subject area of the course that demonstrates proficiency in the subject area, or
  • preparation of a portfolio of work samples in the subject area of the course, including work samples from the course that demonstrate proficiency in the subject area.
• The IGC must ensure that adequate time is provided for the student to complete the required IGC plan.
• The IGC must make a final determination regarding graduation. A student may graduate and receive a high school diploma only if the student successfully completes all curriculum requirements for graduation and all requirements recommended by the committee and the committee’s vote is unanimous.

Administrative rules in 19 TAC §74.1025(d) state that an IGC must make a decision to award a diploma no later than August 31 of each school year in order for the student to be included as a graduate in the district or charter school's graduation data in the school year in which the student meets the requirements. Please note that a decision to award a diploma via an IGC determination can be made after this date. In such cases, a student would be reported in the subsequent year's graduation data.

As more information related to this legislation becomes available, it will be posted to the Individual Graduation Committee web page at https://tea.texas.gov/academics/graduation-information/individual-graduation-committees. If you have additional questions regarding this correspondence, please contact the Curriculum Standards and Student Support Division at (512) 463-9581 or curriculum@tea.texas.gov.