Amended in Assembly May 14, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly BillNo. 928


Introduced by Assembly Member Olsen

February 22, 2013


An act to add Chapter 11 (commencing with Section 60910) to Part 33 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code, relating to standardized tests.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 928, as amended, Olsen. Standardized tests: sale to private schoolsbegin insert or private school organizationsend insert.

Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to provide for the development of an assessment instrument, to be called the California Standards Tests, that measures the degree to which pupils are achieving the academically rigorous content standards and performance standards, to the extent standards have been adopted by the State Board of Education. Existing law requires, in approving a contract for the development or administration of the California Standards Tests, the state board to consider certain things, including the ability of the contractor to produce valid, reliable individual pupil scores. Existing law requires test publishers to agree in writing to meet certain requirements, including the requirement that the tests be aligned to the academically rigorous content and performance standards adopted by the state board. Existing law authorizes the State Department of Education to develop the contract through negotiations with the publisher.

This bill would allow standardized tests created for use in California public schools in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to be available for purchase by a private schoolbegin delete from the test publisherend deletebegin insert or a private school organizationend insert to the extent that the purchase would not violate the terms of any contract entered into between the publisherbegin insert of the testend insert and the State of California. The bill would require a private schoolbegin insert or private school organizationend insert that chooses to purchase a standardized test to be responsible for the costs associated with the test, including administration costsbegin insert, and to obtain a surety bond, as provided. The bill would require the Superintendent to determine the principal sum of the bond, as provided. The bill would require the private school or private school organization that chooses to purchase and administer a standardized test to make the results of the test available to the public on its Internet Web site and to the department for posting on its Internet Web siteend insert.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: begin deleteno end deletebegin insertyesend insert. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

P2    1

SECTION 1.  

Chapter 11 (commencing with Section 60910)
2is added to Part 33 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code,
3to read:

4 

5Chapter  11. Sale of Standardized Testing Materials
6

 

7

60910.  

(a) Standardized tests created for use in kindergarten
8and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, in the state’s public schools, including
9tests required pursuant to Chapter 5 (commencing with Section
1060600), shall be available for purchasebegin delete from the publisher of the
11testend delete
by a private schoolbegin insert or private school organizationend insert, to the extent
12that the purchase would not violate the terms of any contract
13entered into between the publisherbegin insert of the test end insert and the State of
14California.

15(b) If a private schoolbegin insert or private school organizationend insert chooses
16to purchase a standardized test pursuant to subdivision (a), the
17private schoolbegin insert or private school organizationend insert shall be responsible
18for all costs associated with the test, including administering the
19test, training,begin insert posting test results on the department’s Internet Web
20site,end insert
and security costsbegin insert, and shall obtain a surety bond issued by
21a surety company admitted to do business in this state. The
22principal sum of the bond shall be determined by the
P3    1 Superintendent end insert
begin insertbut shall not exceed one million dollars
2($1,000,000). The bond shall be in favor of and payable to the
3people of the State of California when a breach of security has
4compromised the validity or the reliability, or both, of the test, the
5test items, or the test scaleend insert
.

begin insert

6(c) A private school or private school organization that chooses
7to purchase and administer a standardized test pursuant to
8subdivision (a) shall make the results of that test available to the
9public on its Internet Web site and to the department for posting
10on its Internet Web site.

end insert


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