California Assembly Bill AB391 Amended / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: AB 391AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 30, 2010 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JANUARY 25, 2010 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JANUARY 15, 2010 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JANUARY 5, 2010 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Torlakson (Coauthor: Assembly Member Brownley) FEBRUARY 23, 2009 An act to amend Section 60603 of, and to add Section 60604.6 to, the Education Code, relating to pupil assessment. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 391, as amended, Torlakson. Pupil assessment: STAR Program. (1) The Leroy Greene California Assessment of Academic Achievement Act provides for the development of a statewide pupil assessment program, and defines various terms for those purposes. This bill would define additional terms for those purposes. (2) The act establishes the Standardized Testing and Reporting Program (the STAR Program), pursuant to which school districts, charter schools, and county offices of education are required to administer achievement tests to each of their pupils in grades 2 to 11, inclusive. This bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction, on or before April 1, 2011, to contract for an independent evaluation of the STAR Program, as specified. The Superintendent would be required to provide  this   the  evaluation  report  to the Legislature, the Governor, and the State Board of Education on or before November 1, 2011. The bill would require the State Department of Education to use federal funds for the purpose of contracting for the evaluation. The bill would make the operation of these provisions contingent upon an appropriation for their purposes in the annual Budget Act or another statute. 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 60603 of the Education Code, as amended by Section 10 of Chapter 2 of the Fifth Extraordinary Session of the Statutes of 2009, is amended to read: 60603. As used in this chapter: (a) "Achievement test" means any standardized test that measures the level of performance that a pupil has achieved in the core curriculum areas. (b) "Assessment of applied academic skills" means a form of assessment that requires pupils to demonstrate their knowledge of, and ability to apply, academic knowledge and skills in order to solve problems and communicate. It may include, but is not limited to, writing an essay response to a question, conducting an experiment, or constructing a diagram or model. An assessment of applied academic skills may not include assessments of personal behavioral standards or skills, including, but not limited to, honesty, sociability, ethics, or self-esteem. (c) "Basic academic skills" means those skills in the subject areas of reading, spelling, written expression, and mathematics that provide the necessary foundation for mastery of more complex intellectual abilities, including the synthesis and application of knowledge. (d) "Content standards" means the specific academic knowledge, skills, and abilities that all public schools in this state are expected to teach and all pupils expected to learn in each of the core curriculum areas, at each grade level tested. (e) "Core curriculum areas" means the areas of reading, writing, mathematics,  history-social   history/social  science, and science. (f) "Diagnostic assessment" means interim assessments of the current level of achievement of a pupil that  serves   serve  both of the following purposes: (1) The identification of particular academic standards or skills a pupil has or has not yet achieved. (2) The identification of possible reasons that a pupil has not yet achieved particular academic standards or skills. (g) "Direct writing assessment" means an assessment of applied academic skills that requires pupils to use written expression to demonstrate writing skills, including writing mechanics, grammar, punctuation, and spelling. (h)  "End of course   "End-of-course  exam" means a comprehensive and challenging assessment of pupil achievement in a particular subject area or discipline. (i) "Formative assessment" means assessment questions, tools, and processes that are embedded in instruction and are used by teachers and pupils to provide timely feedback for purposes of adjusting instruction to improve learning. (j) "High-quality assessment" means an assessment designed to measure a pupil's knowledge of, understanding of, and ability to apply, critical concepts through the use of a variety of item types and formats, such as open-ended responses and performance-based tasks. The assessments should enable measurement of pupil achievement and pupil growth; be of high-technical quality by being valid, reliable, fair, and aligned to standards; incorporate technology where appropriate; include the assessment of pupils with disabilities and English learners; and, to the extent feasible, use universal design principles, as defined in Section 3 of the federal Assistive Technology Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. Sec. 3002) in development and administration. (k) "Interim assessment" means an assessment that is given at regular and specified intervals throughout the school year, is designed to evaluate a pupil's knowledge and skills relative to a specific set of academic standards, and produces results that can be aggregated by course, grade level, school, or local educational agency, in order to inform teachers and administrators at the pupil, classroom, school, and local educational agency levels. (l) "Performance standards" are standards that define various levels of competence at each grade level in each of the curriculum areas for which content standards are established. Performance standards gauge the degree to which a pupil has met the content standards and the degree to which a school or school district has met the content standards. (m) "Publisher" means a commercial publisher or any other public or private entity, other than the department, which is able to provide tests or test items that meet the requirements of this chapter. (n) "Statewide pupil assessment program" means the systematic achievement testing of pupils in grades 2 to 11, inclusive, pursuant to the  standardized testing and reporting   Standardized Testing and Reporting  program under Article 4 (commencing with Section 60640) and the assessment of basic academic skills and applied academic skills, administered to pupils in grade levels specified in subdivision (c) of Section 60605, required by this chapter in all schools within each school district by means of tests designated by the state board. SEC. 2. Section 60604.6 is added to the Education Code, to read: 60604.6. (a) On or before April 1, 2011, the Superintendent shall contract with an independent evaluator, who shall  report to him or her, for   conduct an  evaluation of the STAR Program  and submit a report regarding the evaluation to the Superintendent  . The evaluation shall be a meta-analysis of existing information and data from the STAR Program based upon all of the following: (1) Information gathered in field testing and annual administrations of the STAR assessments. (2) Existing technical reports, peer reviews, and other studies, reports, and evaluations of the STAR Program conducted by or at the request of the department, the Legislature, or the state board. (3) State and federal requirements. (4) A review of research-based alternative assessment models. (5) A review of existing and emerging practices in large-scale assessment from across the nation. (b) The evaluation shall include, but shall not necessarily be limited to, all of the following: (1) A report on the results of prior analyses regarding the alignment between the STAR assessments and the full range of the content standards adopted pursuant to Sections 60605 and 60605.8, and a determination of whether the STAR Program assesses pupil knowledge in the same manner and at the same level of complexity as expected in those content standards. (2) An independent analysis of the grade level continuity and vertical articulation of the content standards. (3) An independent analysis of the ability of the tests to produce scores for an individual pupil that can be validly compared from year to year for both groups and individuals. (4) An independent analysis of the use of content standards in other core curriculum areas for testing items, as applicable. (5) A report on the results of prior analyses regarding pupil performance, broken down by assessment, grade level, race or ethnicity, and end-of-course assessments, including any trends that become apparent over time. (6) An independent analysis of the degree to which the STAR Program complies with professional testing standards and satisfies or exceeds state and federal requirements for assessments for each grade level. (7) An independent analysis of the usefulness of the STAR Program in terms of state and local program evaluations. (8) An independent analysis of the usefulness of the STAR Program in providing individual results, providing a diagnostic assessment for classroom use, and providing formative and interim assessments in order to better inform instruction and improve learning. (9) An independent analysis of the feasibility and cost of the development and administration of a diagnostic alternative test in grade levels and content standard areas that are not required to have an assessment under federal law. (c) The report by the independent evaluator  containing   described in subdivision (a) shall include  the findings of his or her evaluation  shall include, but shall not be limited to, all of the following   and recommendations regarding, at a minimum, each of the following  : (1) Improving the quality, fairness, validity, and reliability of the examinations for both groups and individuals, including pupils with disabilities and English learners. (2) Revising the design, administration, scoring, processing, or use of the examinations to ensure compliance with state and federal requirements in an efficient manner. (3) Revising the examinations to improve grade level continuity and vertical alignment of standards-aligned test content and the ability of the tests to produce scores for an individual pupil that can be validly compared from year to year. (4) Revising the examination to improve integration of content standards in other core curriculum areas for testing items, as applicable. (5) Improving the usefulness of the test to the state, local educational agencies, schools, teachers, pupils, and parents, including making use of test administration and scoring technologies that will allow the return of test results to parents and teachers as soon as possible in order to support instructional improvement. (6) Revising the STAR Program to provide pupil-level diagnostic information, to provide a diagnostic assessment for classroom use, and to provide formative and interim assessments in order to better inform instruction and improve learning. (7) Developing and implementing alternative diagnostic assessments that align with state academic content standards. (8) Developing and implementing alternatives to the current testing format to allow the greatest aggregate base for assessing districtwide performance on content standards. (9) Transitioning to a system of high-quality assessments, as defined in this chapter. (10) Aligning the assessments with the content standards adopted pursuant to Sections 60605 and 60605.8, and the performance standards adopted pursuant to Section 60605.5. (11) Ensuring that no aspect of the system creates any bias with respect to race, ethnicity, culture, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. (12) Incorporating a variety of item types and formats, including, but not limited to, open-ended responses and performance-based tasks. (13) Generating multiple measures of pupil achievement, which, when combined with other measures, can be used to determine the effectiveness of instruction and the extent of learning. (14) Assessing a pupil's understanding of and ability to use the technology necessary for success in the 21st century classroom and workplace. (15) Minimizing testing time, while not jeopardizing the validity, reliability, fairness, or instructional usefulness of the assessment results. (d) In order to provide the Legislature with adequate information to consider reauthorization of the STAR Program, the Superintendent shall provide the evaluation report  to the Legislature, the Governor, and the state board on or before November 1, 2011. (e) The advisory committee established pursuant to Section 52052.5 shall advise the Superintendent on the independent evaluation by providing all of the following: (1) Recommendations regarding the parameters of the evaluation. (2) Recommendations regarding any request for proposals or request for applications used to solicit contract proposals. (3) Recommendations regarding the selection of the contractor. (4) A review of any reports submitted by the independent evaluator, including any midterm reports as well as the final evaluation. (f) The Superintendent shall appoint four additional members, who shall be educators or individuals having expertise in large-scale assessment and who shall serve only for the purposes of subdivision (f), to the advisory committee established pursuant to Section 52052.5. (g) The department shall use federal funds for the purpose of contracting for this evaluation. This section shall become operative only if an appropriation is provided for its purposes in the annual Budget Act or another statute.