BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
476 (Torlakson)
Hearing Date: 08/17/2009 Amended: 06/30/2009
Consultant: Dan Troy Policy Vote: ED 7-1
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 476 would require the Superintendent of
Public Instruction, on or before April 1, 2010, to contract with
an independent evaluator for the Standardized Testing and
Reporting (STAR) program. The report would be due by November
1, 2010, and is intended to help guide consideration of
reauthorizing the program prior to its scheduled sunset in July
of 2011.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Fund
STAR evaluation Range of $500 to
$1,000, though bill Federal
Limits expenditures to $150
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the
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 2011.
This bill would require an independent evaluation of the
Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program.
Specifically, this bill would:
1)Require the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI), on or
before April 1, 2010, to contract for an independent
evaluation of the STAR Program that:
a) Include, but is not limited to, the STAR Program's
alignment to statewide content standards and the tests'
content validity, grade level continuity, pupil
performance, compliance with testing standards, usefulness
as diagnostic or evaluative tools, and the feasibility of
testing in new grade levels or content areas.
b) Separately consider pupil subgroups and any differential
impacts STAR tests may have on those subgroups.
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AB 476 (Torlakson)
c) Make recommendations for improvements and revisions in
the program, and to improve grade level continuity and
vertical alignment of standards-aligned test content.
2)Require the advisory committee advising the SPI on matters
involving the Academic Performance Index to advise the SPI, as
specified, on the evaluation of the STAR Program, and requires
the SPI to appoint four additional members, educators or
large-scale assessment experts, to the advisory committee for
the purposes advising the SPI on the evaluation.
3)Specify that federal Flexibility and Accountability funds
pursuant to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), not
to exceed $150,000, be used for this evaluation.
The SPI would be required to provide the evaluation to the
Legislature, the Governor, and the State Board of Education by
November 1, 2010.
Despite the importance of the STAR program to the K-12
accountability systems, 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 2011.
While the bill specifies that costs would be limited to
$150,000, the Department of Education believes between $500,000
and $1,000,000 would be needed to meet the provisions of the
bill. It is staff's understanding that the author is working
with the Department to find ways to narrow the bill's cost while
maintaining key components of the evaluation.