BILL NUMBER: AB 1548 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 2, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 18, 2014
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 12, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Mullin
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Ting)
(Coauthor: Senator Hill)
JANUARY 27, 2014
An act to amend Sections 99152 and 99153 of, and to add and repeal
Section 99160.7 of, the Education Code, relating to standardized
tests.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1548, as amended, Mullin. Standardized tests: reports.
Existing law imposes various requirements on a test agency, as
defined, with respect to the administration of standardized tests for
purposes of postsecondary education, and requires a test sponsor to
submit certain information and data to the California Postsecondary
Education Commission. A test agency that intentionally violates any
of those provisions is subject to a civil penalty not to exceed $750
for each violation. Existing law authorizes a test agency to cancel
or invalidate a test score where substantial evidence exists to
support cancellation or invalidation of the test score.
This bill would require a test sponsor to also submit specified
information that is required to be submitted to the California
Postsecondary Education Commission , or its successor
entity, to the Superintendent of Public Instruction
and the Legislature, Instruction, and would
authorize the submission of that information in digital format. The
bill would, until January 1, 2017, require a test agency to submit a
report, on or before March 1 of each year, to the Superintendent of
Public Instruction and to the Legislature that contains specified
information on test scores that were canceled or invalidated in the
prior year.
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 99152 of the Education Code is amended to read:
99152. Each test sponsor shall report the closing date of its
testing year to the commission, commission, or
its successor entity, and the Superintendent of Public
Instruction, and the Legislature, Instruction
by February 1, 1985, or within 90 days after it first becomes
a test sponsor, whichever is later. Each test sponsor shall report
any change in the closing date of its testing year within 90 days
after the change. The report may be submitted in a digital format.
SEC. 2. Section 99153 of the Education Code is amended to read:
99153. On or before November 15 of each year, the test sponsor
shall submit to the commission, commission,
or its successor entity, and the Superintendent of Public
Instruction, and the Legislature Instruction
all of the following data and information:
(a) Three copies of each version of the test that was disclosed in
the prior testing year, along with the corresponding acceptable
answers, and the methods used to convert raw scores into the test
scores reported to test subjects and test score recipients, together
with an explanation of that method.
(b) The dates of major or national administration of each test
administered by the test agency during the testing year.
(c) The total number of test subjects who have taken the test
once, who have taken it twice, and who have taken it more than twice
during the testing year.
(d) The total number of test subjects who registered for, but did
not take, the test.
(e) The total amount of fees received from test subjects by the
test agency for the test for that testing year.
(f) The expenses to the test sponsor of the test, as follows:
(1) Those expenses that are directly attributable to the test.
(2) Those expenses that are indirectly attributable to the test.
However, if the test sponsor also sponsors another test or related
activities, it shall be sufficient for compliance with this section
for the test sponsor to list indirectly attributable expenses, to the
extent that they are identifiable, as they are proportionately
related to the test. The test sponsor shall also list expenses
indirectly attributable to all activities of the test's sponsor,
including expenses not identifiable as attributable to a test.
The financial disclosure required by this section shall be
submitted within 135 days after the close of the testing year and in
sufficient detail to indicate the major categories of revenues and
expenses associated with the test. Except as provided in this
section, the information for different tests administered by the same
test sponsor shall be reported separately and by individual test.
(g) A copy of all documents, pamphlets, and literature provided to
the test subject and the test score recipient.
(h) Where applicable, the national average test scores, state
average test scores, the standard error of measurement, and any other
existing information relevant to a comparison of the test scores of
the state's test subjects with test scores of previous test subjects
of the past five years.
(i) For those tests used to predict academic performance, the most
recent national or regional aggregation of data concerning the
predictive validity of all of the following:
(1) Academic record or grades alone.
(2) Standardized test score alone.
(3) Academic record and test score combined.
(4) Standardized test scores over and above the predictive
validity of academic record alone.
(j) Using available data, the racial, ethnic, and sex breakdown of
all test subjects taking each test during the testing year.
(k) If a separate fee is charged test subjects for admissions data
assembly service, the test sponsor shall report information
concerning the data assembly service in substantially the same form
as would be required for a test under this section.
( l ) The test sponsor shall also supply to the
commission any other information mutually identified by the
commission and the test sponsor that will be reasonably available and
helpful in either (1) assessing the state's progress in increasing
the number of Hispanic, Black, or American Indian students who
graduate from high school eligible to enroll in either the University
of California or the California State University or (2) developing
strategies to involve the testing companies in cooperative actions
with schools, colleges, and universities to expand access to college
for Hispanic, Black, and American Indian students.
(m) This section shall not be construed to require any test agency
to submit to the commission any reports or documents containing
information relating to any individual test subject. Any information
relating to any individual test subject shall be deleted or
obliterated from any reports or documents filed with the commission
pursuant to this section.
(n) This section shall not apply to any standardized test that is
administered to fewer than 3,000 test subjects in California during a
testing year.
(o) The information required to be submitted pursuant to this
section may be submitted in a digital format.
SEC. 3. Section 99160.7 is added to the Education Code, to read:
99160.7. (a) On or before March 1 of each year, a test agency
shall submit a report to the Superintendent of Public Instruction and
to the Legislature that contains all of the following information
for the prior year:
(1) The number of test scores for each type of standardized test
that were canceled or invalidated.
(2) The reasons the test scores were canceled or invalidated,
including, but not limited to, irregular test administration,
irregular statistical data, or cheating.
(b) A report submitted pursuant to this section shall not include
specific or identifiable information on the test subjects.
(c) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2017, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2017, deletes or extends
that date.