BILL NUMBER: AB 947	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Olsen

                        FEBRUARY 22, 2013

   An act to amend Section 60604 of the Education Code, relating to
pupil assessment.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 947, as introduced, Olsen. Pupil assessment: statewide program.

   Existing law, the Leroy Greene California Assessment of Academic
Achievement Act, which will become inoperative on July 1, 2014, and
as of January 1, 2015, is repealed, requires the Superintendent of
Public Instruction to design and implement a statewide pupil
assessment program, and requires school districts, charter schools,
and county offices of education to administer to each of its pupils
in grades 2 to 11, inclusive, certain achievement tests, including a
standards-based achievement test pursuant to the Standardized Testing
and Reporting (STAR) Program.
   This bill would make nonsubstansive changes to those provisions
relating to the design and implementation of a statewide pupil
assessment program by the Superintendent.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  Section 60604 of the Education Code is amended to read:

   60604.  (a) The Superintendent shall design and implement,
consistent with the timetable and plan required pursuant to
subdivision (b), a statewide pupil assessment program consistent with
the testing requirements of this article  and  in
accordance with the objectives set forth in Section 60602. That 
statewide pupil assessment  program shall include all of the
following:
   (1) A plan for producing valid, reliable, and comparable
individual pupil scores in grades 2 to 11, inclusive, and a
comprehensive analysis of these scores based on the results of the
achievement test designated by the state board that assesses a broad
range of basic academic skills pursuant to the Standardized Testing
and Reporting (STAR) Program established by Article 4 (commencing
with Section 60640).
   (2) A method of working with publishers to ensure valid, reliable,
and comparable individual, grade-level, school-level,
district-level, county-level, and statewide scores in grades 2 to 11,
inclusive.
   (3) Statewide academically rigorous content and performance
standards that reflect the knowledge and skills that pupils will need
 in order  to succeed in the information-based,
global economy of the 21st century. These skills shall not include
personal behavioral standards or skills, including, but not limited
to, honesty, sociability, ethics, or self-esteem.
   (4) A statewide system that provides the results of testing in a
manner that reflects the degree to which pupils are achieving the
academically rigorous content and performance standards adopted by
the state board.
   (5) The alignment of assessment with the statewide academically
rigorous content and performance standards adopted by the state
board.
   (6) The active, ongoing involvement of parents, classroom
teachers, administrators, other educators, governing board members of
school districts, and the public in all phases of the design and
implementation of the statewide pupil assessment program.
   (7) The development of a contract or contracts with a publisher or
publishers, after the approval of statewide academically rigorous
content standards by the state board, for the development of
performance standards and assessments of applied academic skills
designed to test pupils' knowledge of academic skills and abilities
to apply that knowledge and those skills  in order 
to solve problems and communicate.
   (b) The Superintendent shall develop and annually update for the
Legislature a five-year cost projection, implementation plan, and
timetable for implementing the program described in subdivision (a).
The annual update shall be submitted on or before March 1 of each
year to the chairperson of the fiscal subcommittee considering budget
appropriations in each house. The update shall explain any
significant variations from the five-year cost projection for the
current year budget and the proposed budget.
   (c) The Superintendent shall provide each school district with
guidelines for professional development that are designed to assist
classroom teachers to use the results of the assessments administered
pursuant to this chapter to modify instruction for the purpose of
improving pupil learning. These guidelines shall be developed in
consultation with classroom teachers and approved by the state board
before dissemination.
   (d) The Superintendent and the state board shall consider comments
and recommendations from school districts and the public in the
development, adoption, and approval of assessment instruments.
   (e) The results of the achievement test administered pursuant to
Article 4 (commencing with Section 60640) shall be returned to the
school district within the period of time specified by the state
board.