60604
. (a) The Superintendent shall design and implement,
consistent with the timetable and plan required pursuant to
subdivision (b), a statewide pupil assessment system consistent with
the testing requirements of this article in accordance with the
objectives set forth in Section 60602.5. That system shall include
all of the following:
(1) Exclusive of the consortium assessments, a plan for producing
or adopting valid, fair, and reliable achievement tests as
recommended by the Superintendent and adopted by the state board
pursuant to the California Assessment of Student Performance and
Progress (CAASPP) established by Article 4 (commencing with Section
60640).
(2) A plan for administering the consortium summative assessment
as outlined by the joint agreement of the consortium.
(3) Statewide academically rigorous content and performance
standards that reflect the knowledge and complex skills that pupils
will need in order to succeed in the information-based, global
economy of the 21st century. These skills shall not include personal
behavioral standards or skills, including, but not limited to,
honesty, sociability, ethics, or self-esteem.
(4) A statewide system that provides the results of testing in a
manner that reflects the degree to which pupils are achieving the
academically rigorous content and performance standards adopted by
the state board.
(5) The alignment of assessment with the statewide academically
rigorous content and performance standards adopted by the state
board.
(6) The active, ongoing involvement of parents, classroom
teachers, administrators, other educators, governing board members of
school districts, business community members, institutions of higher
education, and the public in all phases of the design and
implementation of the statewide pupil assessment system.
(7) A plan for ensuring the security and integrity of the CAASPP
assessments.
(8) The development of a contract or contracts with a contractor
for the development or administration of achievement tests and
performance tasks aligned to state-adopted content standards,
including summative assessments or assessments that employ matrix
sampling or population sampling methods.
(b) The Superintendent shall develop and annually update for the
Legislature a five-year cost projection, implementation plan for the
CAASPP, and a timetable for implementing the system described in
Section 60640. The annual update shall be submitted on or before
March 1 of each year to the Department of Finance, the state board,
and the respective chairpersons of the appropriate fiscal
subcommittees considering budget appropriations and the appropriate
policy committees in each house. The update shall explain any
significant variations from the five-year cost projection for the
current year budget and the proposed budget.
(c) The Superintendent shall make resources available that are
designed to assist with the interpretation and use of the CAASPP
results to promote the use of the results for purposes of improving
pupil learning and educational programs across the full curriculum.
The Superintendent shall consider information already provided by
assessment consortia to which California belongs or assessment
contractors when fulfilling this requirement.
(d) The Superintendent shall make information and resources
available to parents, teachers, pupils, administrators, school board
members, and the public regarding the CAASPP, including, but not
necessarily limited to, system goals, purposes, scoring systems,
results, valid uses of assessments, and information on the
relationship between performance on the previous state assessments
and the CAASPP.
(e) The Superintendent and the state board shall consider comments
and recommendations from teachers, administrators, pupil
representatives, institutions of higher education, and the public in
the development, adoption, and approval of assessment instruments.
(f) The results of the achievement tests, exclusive of the
consortium summative assessments, administered pursuant to Article 4
(commencing with Section 60640), shall be returned to the local
educational agencies within the period of time specified by the state
board.