BILL NUMBER: SB 511	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Committee on Education (Senators Romero (Chair),
Alquist, Hancock, Huff, Liu, Maldonado, Padilla, Simitian, and
Wyland)

                        FEBRUARY 26, 2009

   An act to amend Section 60641 of the Education Code, relating to
postsecondary education.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 511, as introduced, Committee on Education. Postsecondary
education: standardized testing: nonresident tuition.
   Existing law establishes the Standardized Testing and Reporting
Program, also known as the STAR Program, and requires the State
Department of Education to ensure that school districts administer
the California Standards Test to their pupils, as specified. Under
existing law, a pupil or his or her parent or guardian may authorize
the release of the pupil's results to a postsecondary educational
institution.
   This bill would require the department to ensure that a California
Standards Test that is augmented for the purpose of determining
readiness for college-level coursework inform a pupil in grade 11
that he or she may request that results from that assessment be
released to a postsecondary educational institution.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 60641 of the Education Code is amended to read:

   60641.  (a) The department shall ensure that school districts
comply with each of the following requirements:
   (1) The standards-based achievement test provided for in Section
60642.5 is scheduled to be administered to all pupils during the
period prescribed in subdivision (b) of Section 60640.
   (2) The individual results of each pupil test administered
pursuant to Section 60640 shall be reported, in writing, to the
parent or guardian of the pupil. The written report shall include a
clear explanation of the purpose of the test, the score of the pupil,
and the intended use by the school district of the test score. This
subdivision does not require teachers or other school district
personnel to prepare individualized explanations of the test score of
each pupil.
   (3) (A) The individual results of each pupil test administered
pursuant to Section 60640 also shall be reported to the school and
teachers of a pupil. The school district shall include the test
results of a pupil in his or her pupil records. However, except as
provided in this section, individual pupil test results only may be
released with the permission of either the pupil's parent or guardian
if the pupil is a minor, or the pupil if the pupil has reached the
age of majority or is emancipated.
   (B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), a pupil or his or her parent
or guardian may authorize the release of individual pupil results to
a postsecondary educational institution for the purpose of credit,
placement,  determination of readiness for college-level
coursework,  or admission.
   (4) The districtwide, school-level, and grade-level results of the
STAR Program in each of the grades designated pursuant to Section
60640, but not the score or relative position of any individually
ascertainable pupil, shall be reported to the governing board of the
school district at a regularly scheduled meeting, and the countywide,
school-level, and grade-level results for classes and programs under
the jurisdiction of the county office of education shall be
similarly reported to the county board of education at a regularly
scheduled meeting.
   (b) The publisher of the standards-based achievement tests
provided for in Section 60642.5 shall make the individual pupil,
grade, school, school district, and state results available to the
department pursuant to paragraph (9) of subdivision (a) of Section
60643 by August 8 of each year in which the achievement test is
administered for those schools for which the last day of test
administration, including makeup days, is on or before June 25. The
department shall make the grade, school, school district, and state
results available on the Internet by August 15 of each year in which
the achievement test is administered for those schools for which the
last day of test administration, including makeup days, is on or
before June 25.
   (c) The department shall take all reasonable steps to ensure that
the results of the test for all pupils who take the test by June 25
are made available on the Internet by August 15, as set forth in
subdivision (b).
   (d) The department shall ensure that a California Standards Test
that is augmented for the purpose of determining credit, placement,
or  admission   readiness for college-level
coursework  of a pupil in a postsecondary educational
institution inform a pupil in grade 11 that he or she may request
that the results from that assessment be released to a postsecondary
educational institution.