(a) To assess a student’s academic growth during placement in a disciplinary alternative education program, a school district shall administer to a student placed in a program for a period of 90 school days or longer an assessment instrument approved by the commissioner for that purpose. The instrument shall be administered:
(1) initially on placement of the student in the program; and
(2) subsequently on the date of the student’s departure from the program, or as near that date as possible.
(b) The assessment instrument required by this section:
(1) must be designed to assess at least a student’s basic skills in reading and mathematics;
(2) may be:
(A) comparable to any assessment instrument generally administered to students placed in juvenile justice alternative education programs for a similar purpose; or
(B) based on an appropriate alternative assessment instrument developed by the agency to measure student academic growth; and
(3) is in addition to the assessment instruments required to be administered under Chapter 39.