Bill > HB1130

This bill, known as the "Trauma-Informed Student Assessment Exemption Act," recognizes that grief, trauma, and loss can negatively impact a student's academic performance, especially when they are required to take high-stakes tests, which are standardized assessments that significantly affect a student's promotion, graduation, or a school's accountability ratings. The act authorizes temporary exemptions from these tests for students experiencing qualifying trauma-or-loss events, such as the death of a family member, serious illness, or displacement due to disaster, and ensures these exemptions will not hinder a student's promotion, graduation eligibility, scholarship or financial aid opportunities, or access to advanced academic programs. Students receiving exemptions will be excluded from state and federal accountability metrics during their exemption period, with alternative measures of progress being used, and schools will not face penalties for honoring these approved exemptions. The bill also establishes procedures for requesting and approving exemptions in a way that is timely, fair, and sensitive to the student's well-being, requiring written notice of decisions and safeguarding student privacy, while mandating that the State Department of Education provide guidance and training on trauma-responsive assessment practices and report annually to the Legislature on exemption usage and impact without revealing personally identifiable student information.

Education

https://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2026/pdf/history/HB/HB1130.xml