BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 915
AUTHOR: Hill
AMENDED: April 21, 2014
FISCAL COMM: No HEARING DATE: April 24, 2014
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Daniel Alvarez
SUBJECT : Standardized Testing: inadequate or improper
testing conditions.
SUMMARY
This bill requires a test agency to initiate an
investigation upon learning of a compliant or a notice of
inadequate or improper test conditions relating to the
administration of the Advanced Placement test. In addition,
the bill requires the creation and preserving of seating
charts, as specified.
BACKGROUND
Current law imposes a number of requirements on test
sponsors or test agencies (defined as any individual,
partnership, corporation, association, company, firm,
institution, society, trust, or joint stock company) that
develop, sponsor or administer standardized tests (defined
as any test administered in California at the expense of
the test subject and used for purposes of admission to, or
class placement in, postsecondary institutions or their
programs, or preliminary preparation for those tests).
Current law also specifies that whenever the test agency
determines that substantial evidence exists to support
cancellation or invalidation of a test score, the test
agency shall provide the test subject with a choice of the
following options:
a)A cancellation of the test scores in question, with full
refund of all test fees.
b)Opportunity to take the test again privately and without
charge.
c)Opportunity to seek judicial review of the matter.
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However, these options are not applicable in instances of
inadequate or improper test conditions.
Finally, current law also provides that a test sponsor who
violates any of these provisions is liable for a civil
penalty not to exceed $750 per violation.
(Education Code � 99150 et. seq.)
ANALYSIS
This bill requires a test agency to initiate an
investigation upon learning of a compliant or a notice of
inadequate or improper test conditions relating to the
administration of the Advanced Placement (AP) test. In
addition, the bill requires the creation and preserving of
seating charts, as specified. More specifically, this
bill:
1) Requires a test agency to immediately initiate an
investigation upon learning of a compliant or a notice
of inadequate or improper test conditions relating to
an administration of the Advanced Placement (AP) test.
2) Requires the school in charge of the test site to
cooperate with the test agency's investigation by
providing requested information within seven calendar
days.
3) Requires a school in charge of the test site to notify
test subjects (pupils) at least five business days
prior to notice of retest, if the test agency
determines that the inadequate or improper test
conditions will prevent it from reporting valid test
scores.
4) Requires a retest be administered within 30 calendar
days of the completion of the investigation.
5) Requires test proctors of an AP test to create a
seating chart, including the seat location of each
test subject, for each AP test administered at the
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test site.
6) Requires the testing agency provide a seating chart
template for use by each test site.
7) Requires the school in charge of the test site to
retain and preserve each seating chart for at least
two years after the administration of the AP test to
which the seating chart applies. In addition, the
bill requires the school in charge of the test site to
submit these seating charts to the test agency upon
its request to assist with its investigation of a
compliant or notice of inadequate or improper test
conditions.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . In May 2013, over 640 Advanced
Placement (AP) exams taken by 286 Mills high school
(San Mateo Union High School District) students were
invalidated. The invalidation was the result of
testing irregularities - some students were seated at
round tables and not facing the same direction - in
violation of testing protocols. After the exams were
cancelled, the students were provided an opportunity
to retest, however due to a number of factors, the
retest did not occur until August, long after the
school year had concluded. Such a long time period in
between conclusion of the school year and the retest
can be detrimental to success, as some students had
already left for college.
2) The College Board's AP Program . The College Board is
a not-for-profit membership association comprised of
over 6,000 colleges, universities and other
educational organizations. Among other things, the
College Board develops and administers a variety of
programs, test and curricula for secondary level
students (grades 9 through 12) seeking admission to
college. Some of the College Board's best known
testing programs are the Scholastic Aptitude Test
(SAT), the Preliminary SAT (PSAT), the National Merit
Scholarship Qualifying Test (NMSQT) and the Advanced
Placement test program.
The College Board's AP Program, through which high
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school students may enroll in college-level courses in
numerous subjects, such as English literature, biology
and calculus, among others. The College Board offers
an annual examination in connection with these
courses, the results of which may qualify students for
college credit. The exams typically vary from two to
three hours and contain multiple choice and essay
questions. The College Board recommends that colleges
(which are specified by the particular student) award
credit to students who score three or higher on an AP
test; however, the college ultimately makes the
decision of whether to confer credit.
On behalf of the College Board, the Educational
Testing Service (ETS) is responsible for test security
with respect to a variety of College Board tests,
including the AP exams. In that capacity, ETS develops
test administration procedures for AP exams; conducts
security investigations where appropriate (i.e., cases
where the high school failed to comply with test
administration procedures); makes recommendations to
the College Board as to how cases should be resolved.
The College Board makes the final decision about what
action, if any, should be taken in the event of
testing irregularities (such as improper timing,
improper seating, and improper proctoring).
All high schools administering AP exams are required
to comply with detailed test administration and test
security requirements, as set forth in the AP
Coordinator's Manual. Parents and students taking AP
exams are advised of the AP exam test security
policies and procedures through the "AP Bulletin for
AP Students and Parents." The "Bulletin" offers
parents and students the opportunity to review the
exam administration instructions that schools are
required to follow, which are set forth in the "AP
Coordinator's Manual." The AP Bulletin further warns
that when testing irregularities occur, the College
Board may cancel test scores "whether or not the
affected students caused the irregularities,
benefitted from them or engaged in misconduct."
3) Judicial review of San Mateo Union High School
District's request to reinstate AP tests scores . In
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August 2013, the US District Court for Northern
California denied an application for a temporary
restraining order and a motion for a preliminary
injunction seeking the reinstatement of the
invalidated AP test scores. Among other things, court
documents indicate the San Mateo Union High School
District failed to administer some of the AP exams in
a manner consistent with the seating requirements
specified in the AP Coordinator's Manual.
4) Investigation of complaints requires cooperation by
all . Underlying the court decision was that the San
Mateo Union High School District did not comply with
the requirements of the AP Coordinator's Manual.
However, in this instance, upon a student's complaint
directly to the Educational Testing Service (ETS),
regarding among other things, seating irregularities,
the ETS commenced an investigation. The final results
of the investigation were significantly delayed due to
an inability to obtain information from key Mills High
school administrators, consequently the decision to
invalidate the AP exam scores did not occur until
early July 2013.
The College Board attempted to provide for retesting
immediately following completion of its investigation.
However, a mutually agreeable date, with the school,
could not be quickly scheduled thereby delaying
possible retests until August 2013.
SUPPORT
California School Boards Association
OPPOSITION
None on file.