BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Alan Lowenthal, Chair
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 2122
AUTHOR: Lara
AMENDED: June 13, 2012
FISCAL COMM: No HEARING DATE: June 20, 2012
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Lynn Lorber
SUBJECT : Law School Admission Test: accommodations.
SUMMARY
This bill requires the test sponsor of the Law School
Admission Test to provide testing accommodations, a timely
appeals process and prohibits the flagging of test scores
obtained using accommodations.
BACKGROUND
Current law:
1) Defines "test sponsor" as any individual, partnership,
corporation, association, company, firm, institution,
society, trust, or joint stock company which develops,
sponsors, or administers standardized tests. (Education
Code � 99151)
2) Establishes various requirements and procedures for test
sponsors to follow in administering standardized tests
for admission to, or placement in, postsecondary
educational institutions, such as reporting data to the
California Postsecondary Education Commission. (EC �
99152-99164)
3) Provides that any test sponsor who intentionally
violates the requirements or procedures of administering
standardized tests is subject to a civil penalty of up
to $750 per violation. (EC � 99163)
Existing federal law requires entities that offer
examinations relating to applications for postsecondary
education to offer examinations in a place and manner
accessible to persons with disabilities, including providing
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modifications to the examination and appropriate auxiliary
aids or services for persons with disabilities to assure that
the examination is selected and administered to best ensure
that the examination results accurately reflect the
individual's aptitude or achievement level. Test sponsors
are authorized to request appropriate documentation related
to requests for testing accommodations, modifications or
auxiliary aids.
Federal and state laws define a disability as a mental or
physical disorder or condition that limits a major life
activity.
Enforcement of federal laws and regulations governing testing
accommodations is largely complaint-driven and involves
multiple agencies. While the Department of Justice has
overall responsibility for enforcing compliance under the
Americans with Disabilities Act, the Department of Education
and Department of Health and Human Services have enforcement
responsibilities under the Rehabilitation Act for testing
companies that receive federal financial assistance from
those agencies.
The test sponsor of the Law School Admission Test is the Law
School Admissions Council.
ANALYSIS
This bill requires the test sponsor of the Law School
Admission Test to provide testing accommodations, a timely
appeals process and prohibits the flagging of test scores
obtained using accommodations. Specifically, this bill:
1) Requires the test sponsor of the Law School Admission
Test (LSAT) to provide testing accommodations to a test
subject with a disability who makes a timely request to
ensure that the LSAT accurately reflects the aptitude,
achievement levels, or other factors that the test
purports to measure and does not reflect the test
subject's disability.
2) Requires the test sponsor to provide accommodations to a
test subject who has received formal testing
accommodations from a postsecondary educational
institution for a disability.
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3) Prohibits the test sponsor from notifying a test score
recipient (law schools) that the score of any test
subject was obtained by a person who received
accommodations.
4) Requires the process for determining whether to grant an
accommodation pursuant to #1 to be made public, and the
decision to be conveyed to the requester within a
reasonable amount of time.
5) Requires the test sponsor, if it denies a request for
accommodation, to provide to the requestor the reasons
for the denial in writing.
6) Requires the test sponsor to establish a timely appeals
process for a test taker who has been denied an
accommodation request. The test sponsor must clearly
post on the LSAT website information regarding refund
policies for people whose requests for accommodation are
denied.
7) Provides that this bill is not to be construed to limit
or replace any other right or remedy that exists under
state or federal law.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author, "Unlike the
Law School Admission Test, students requesting
accommodations for high stakes exams such as the
Graduate Record Examinations, which is sponsored by the
Educational Testing Service, can easily submit a
completed Certification of Eligibility in lieu of
disability documentation. Clearly, the Law School
Admission Council's (LSAC) stringent documentation
policies create a gap between individuals who can afford
the expensive assessment and those who cannot.
Additionally, under LSAC's policies, when a student
obtains extra time based on a cognitive or physical
disability, his or her score is identified and a letter
is sent to law schools notifying that an accommodation
was granted and advising that the score should be
interpreted with great sensitivity. This practice is
referred to as 'flagging' and it creates a chilling
effect that discourages individuals from requesting
testing accommodations."
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2) Current practice . There are numerous test sponsors
conducting testing services in California. While all
test sponsors have established testing accommodations
procedures, as required by the federal Americans with
Disabilities Act, the process for test subjects to
receive formal testing accommodations and the
requirements for verifying disabilities and granting
accommodations varies significantly among test sponsors,
including:
a) Educational Testing Service (ETS), which
administers the Graduate Record Examinations,
requires test subjects to submit requests for
accommodations, including current documentation
from a qualified professional supporting each
testing accommodation requested, by the specified
registration deadline. Recognizing the costs
associated with obtaining current documentation,
ETS grants basic accommodations to applicants with
long-standing learning disabilities, such as
time-and-a-half and rest breaks, without requiring
diagnostic reevaluation.
b) College Board, which administers the
Scholastic Aptitude/Assessment Test, requires
accommodation requests to be approved by College
Board's Services for Students with Disabilities.
Documentation must be provided showing that the
student has a disability, that the disability
causes a functional limitation that affects
participation in tests, and that the requested
accommodations are appropriate. Students generally
work through their high school disability services
office to receive accommodations from College
Board.
c) The Law School Admissions Council (LSAC),
which administers the LSAT, requires applicants
seeking accommodations to first register to take
the examination and then to complete and submit for
review an extensive Accommodations Request Packet.
The Accommodations Request Packet requires, among
other items, copies of accommodations provided for
prior related testing and coursework and an
Evaluator Form completed by a qualified
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professional verifying the disability and need for
accommodations. LSAC indicates initial responses
to requests for accommodations occur within 14 days
of receipt. However, depending on the nature of
the request and documentation submitted, as well as
timing, LSAC indicates the process for approval may
take longer.
3) What about other tests ? This bill requires the LSAC to
provide accommodations and prohibits flagging on test
scores, but does not apply those requirements to
sponsors of other postsecondary education tests.
According to the author, this bill targets LSAC because
their process regarding accommodations creates
significant barriers for people with disabilities while
other test sponsors no longer flag scores and have less
burdensome requirements for requesting accommodations.
If the requirements established by this bill are the
appropriate standards for verifying a disability for
testing accommodations and protecting the validity of
scores, the Committee may wish to consider applying
these standards to all test sponsors.
4) Testing accommodations . This bill requires the LSAT
test sponsor to provide accommodations to people who
received formal testing accommodations from a
postsecondary educational institution. According to the
author, an individual may have a well-documented history
of accommodations, yet LSAC will only consider prior
postsecondary testing accommodations, among other
factors. The LSAC argues that no single factor should
be used in determining the need for an accommodation and
that other objective and credible evidence, in addition
to prior academic use of accommodations, should be
evaluated.
While this bill does not specify what type of documentation a
person who received accommodations from a postsecondary
educational institution must provide to the LSAC,
registration procedures for the Graduate Records
Examination, the Test of English as a Foreign Language
(TOEFL) and Praxis Series indicate that a person
requesting accommodations that were provided by a
postsecondary educational institution may submit a
Certification of Eligibility that appears to be less
extensive than the documentation required by LSAC.
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5) Flagging test scores . This bill prohibits the LSAC from
notifying test score recipients (law schools) if a
person received testing accommodations, a practice
commonly referred to as "flagging" a score. The author
contends that there is no way to determine the
comparability of the scores earned under non-standard
conditions (when extra time is given) and standard
conditions. However, the LSAC indicates that test
scores are only flagged if extra time is provided as an
accommodation and that evidence demonstrates that
standard and nonstandard-time scores are not comparable.
Further, LSAC maintains that it has an obligation to
provide accurate score-interpretation information to law
schools.
Educational Testing Services and College Board apparently no
longer flag scores of people who took exams with
accommodations due to litigation.
Is it reasonable to flag scores that were achieved by a
person who received an accommodation of extra time on
the LSAT?
6) Public, timely process . This bill would require the
process for determining whether to grant accommodations
to be public and decisions about accommodations to be
conveyed to the person requesting accommodations in a
reasonable amount of time. This bill also requires the
test sponsor to establish a timely appeals process for a
person whose request for accommodations has been denied.
The intent of the author is that people have the
opportunity to receive a response to a request for
accommodation within a period of time to appeal a denial
prior to the date the test is administered. The
Committee may wish to amend the bill to be consistent
with that stated intent.
7) Technical amendment . This bill prohibits flagging any
score where accommodations were granted to a person who
made a timely request; however, this prohibition is not
clearly linked to the provision in this bill relative to
a person receiving accommodations that were granted to
that person by a postsecondary educational institution.
Therefore, staff recommends an amendment to clearly
prohibit the flagging of test scores of a person covered
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by both provisions. On page 3, lines 3-4, strike "under
paragraph (1) of subdivision (a)" replace with "pursuant
to this section."
SUPPORT
Bar Association of San Francisco
Disability Rights California
OPPOSITION
Law School Admission Council