BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
391 (Torlakson)
Hearing Date: 08/12/2010 Amended: 06/30/2010
Consultant: Dan Troy Policy Vote: ED 5-2
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 391 would require the Superintendent of
Public Instruction, on or before April 1, 2011, to contract with
an independent evaluator to evaluate the Standardized Testing
and Reporting (STAR) program. The report would be due by
November 1, 2011, and is intended to help guide consideration of
reauthorizing the program prior to its scheduled sunset in July
of 2013.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 Fund
STAR evaluation $300 to $500
General
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STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE.
The STAR Program, initially authorized in 1997, requires the
testing of students in grades 2 through 11, including English
language arts and mathematics at most grade levels, and science
and history/social science at specified grade levels. In 2003,
the California Standards Tests (CST) replaced an earlier "off
the shelf" test as the primary battery of STAR tests. The CSTs
are written specifically to test California's content standards.
The state and federal accountability systems are primarily
based on the aggregated STAR test scores from all pupils in a
school or school district. Many elements of the STAR Program are
used by California to meet the assessment and accountability
requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.
The STAR Program is currently scheduled to sunset in July 2013.
This bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction
(SPI), on or before April 1, 2011, to contract for an
independent evaluation of the STAR Program that would be a
meta-analysis of existing information and data. The report
would:
Be based upon information gathered in field testing and
annual administrations of the assessments, all existing
reports and other studies of STAR, state and federal
requirements, a review of research-based alternative
assessment models, and a review of existing and emerging
practices in large-scale assessment from across the nation;
Consider the STAR Program's alignment to statewide
content standards and the tests' content validity; the
standards' grade level continuity/vertical articulation and
the longitudinal validity of the tests across grade levels;
the use of content standards from other core curriculum
areas for test items; pupil performance;
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AB 391 (Torlakson)
Consider the STAR's compliance with testing standards;
usefulness as a diagnostic, formative, interim assessment
or program evaluation tool; and the feasibility of
alternative diagnostic testing in new grade levels or
content areas;
Make recommendations for improvements and revisions in
examinations and processes in the program, including
recommendations for improving the technical characteristics
of the tests for groups and individuals, including pupils
with disabilities and English learners; improving grade
level continuity and vertical alignment in the tests;
improving the ability to produce scores that are
longitudinally comparable; increasing the integration of
content from other core curriculum areas into test items;
improving the alignment to any new content standards and
transitioning to the new assessment system; using or
developing diagnostic information on assessments;
decreasing turn-around time for test results and testing
time; providing formative and interim assessments to better
inform instruction; assessing a pupil's understanding and
skill in the area of technology; ensuring that no bias is
created by the tests; and developing recommendations
regarding alternatives to the current testing format to
allow for multiple item types and the greatest aggregate
base for assessing district-wide performance on content
standards.
The SPI would be required to provide the evaluation to the
Legislature, the Governor, and the State Board of Education by
November 1, 2011.
Despite the importance of the STAR program to the K-12
accountability system, there has yet to be an independent
evaluation of the program. An evaluation could help to guide
consideration of reauthorizing the program prior to its
scheduled sunset in July of 2013.
Based on recent evaluations, the cost of this bill is likely to
be at least $250,000 and likely closer to $500,000. While this
bill requires the study to be a meta-analysis, the factors
considered in the bill are numerous and significant. The
Department of Finance notes that the annual evaluation of the
High School Exit Exam costs $350,000. The bill also requires
the use of federal funds, but all of the relevant funds appear
to be subscribed, which means this evaluation would require the
use of General Fund.
AB 476 (Torlakson, 2009), a similar bill, was vetoed by the
Governor.