Article 4. California Assessment Of Student Performance And Progress of California Education Code >> Division 4. >> Title 2. >> Part 33. >> Chapter 5. >> Article 4.
(a) There is hereby established the California Assessment of
Student Performance and Progress, to be known as the CAASPP.
(b) Commencing with the 2013-14 school year, the CAASPP shall be
composed of all of the following:
(1) (A) A consortium summative assessment in English language arts
and mathematics for grades 3 to 8, inclusive, and grade 11 that
measures content standards adopted by the state board.
(B) In the 2013-14 school year, the consortium summative
assessment in English language arts and mathematics shall be a field
test only, to enable the consortium to gauge the validity and
reliability of these assessments and to conduct all necessary
psychometric procedures and studies, including, but not necessarily
limited to, achievement standard setting, and to allow the department
to conduct studies regarding full implementation of the assessment
system. These field tests and results shall not be used for any other
purpose, including the calculation of any accountability measure.
(2) (A) Science grade level assessments in grades 5, 8, and 10
that measure content standards adopted pursuant to Section 60605,
until a successor assessment is implemented pursuant to subparagraph
(B).
(B) For science assessments, the Superintendent shall make a
recommendation to the state board as soon as is feasible after the
adoption of science content standards pursuant to Section 60605.85
regarding the assessment of the newly adopted standards. Before
making recommendations, the Superintendent shall consult with
stakeholders, including, but not necessarily limited to, California
science teachers, individuals with expertise in assessing English
learners and pupils with disabilities, parents, and measurement
experts, regarding the grade level and type of assessment. The
recommendations shall include cost estimates and a plan for
implementation of at least one assessment in each of the following
grade spans:
(i) Grades 3 to 5, inclusive.
(ii) Grades 6 to 9, inclusive.
(iii) Grades 10 to 12, inclusive.
(3) The California Alternate Performance Assessment in grades 2 to
11, inclusive, in English language arts and mathematics and science
in grades 5, 8, and 10, which measures content standards adopted
pursuant to Section 60605 until a successor assessment is
implemented. The successor assessment shall be limited to the grades
and subject areas assessed pursuant to paragraph (1) and subparagraph
(B) of paragraph (2).
(4) The Early Assessment Program established by Chapter 6
(commencing with Section 99300) of Part 65 of Division 14 of Title 3.
(5) (A) A local educational agency may administer a primary
language assessment aligned to the English language arts standards
adopted pursuant to Section 60605, as it read on January 1, 2013, to
pupils who are identified as limited English proficient and enrolled
in any of grades 2 to 11, inclusive, until a subsequent primary
language assessment aligned to the common core standards in English
language arts adopted pursuant to Section 60605.8 is developed
pursuant to subparagraph (E).
(B) If a local educational agency chooses to administer a primary
language assessment to pupils identified as limited English
proficient and enrolled in any of grades 2 to 11, inclusive, pursuant
to subparagraph (A), it shall notify the department in a manner to
be determined by the department and the costs shall be paid by the
state and included as part of the testing contract, and the
department shall provide the local educational agency a per pupil
apportionment for administering the assessment pursuant to
subdivision (l).
(C) The Superintendent shall consult with stakeholders, including
assessment and English learner experts, to determine the content and
purpose of a stand-alone language arts summative assessment in
primary languages other than English that aligns with the English
language arts content standards. The Superintendent shall consider
the appropriate purpose for this assessment, including, but not
necessarily limited to, support for the State Seal of Biliteracy and
accountability. It is the intent of the Legislature that an
assessment developed pursuant to this section be included in the
state accountability system.
(D) The Superintendent shall report and make recommendations to
the state board at a regularly scheduled public meeting no sooner
than one year after the first full administration of the consortium
computer-adaptive assessments in English language arts and
mathematics summative assessments in grades 3 to 8, inclusive, and
grade 11, regarding an implementation timeline and estimated costs of
a stand-alone language arts summative assessment in primary
languages other than English.
(E) The Superintendent shall develop, and the state board shall
adopt, a primary language assessment. The Superintendent shall
administer this assessment no later than the 2016-17 school year.
(F) This paragraph shall be operative only to the extent that
funding is provided in the annual Budget Act or another statute for
the purpose of this section.
(c) No later than March 1, 2016, the Superintendent shall submit
to the state board recommendations on expanding the CAASPP to include
additional assessments, for consideration at a regularly scheduled
public meeting. The Superintendent shall also submit these
recommendations to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of
the Legislature and to the Director of Finance in accordance with all
of the following:
(1) In consultation with stakeholders, including, but not
necessarily limited to, California teachers, individuals with
expertise in assessing English learners and pupils with disabilities,
parents, and measurement experts, the Superintendent shall make
recommendations regarding assessments, including the grade level,
content, and type of assessment. These recommendations shall take
into consideration the assessments already administered or planned
pursuant to subdivision (b). The Superintendent shall consider the
use of consortium-developed assessments, various item types,
computer-based testing, and a timeline for implementation.
(2) The recommendations shall consider assessments in subjects,
including, but not necessarily limited to, history-social science,
technology, visual and performing arts, and other subjects as
appropriate, as well as English language arts, mathematics, and
science assessments to augment the assessments required under
subdivision (b), and the use of various assessment options,
including, but not necessarily limited to, computer-based tests,
locally scored performance tasks, and portfolios.
(3) The recommendations shall include the use of an assessment
calendar that would schedule the assessments identified pursuant to
paragraph (2) over several years, the use of matrix sampling, if
appropriate, and the use of population sampling.
(4) The recommendations shall include a timeline for test
development, and shall include cost estimates for subject areas, as
appropriate.
(5) Upon approval by the state board and the appropriation of
funding for this purpose, the Superintendent shall develop and
administer approved assessments. The state board shall approve test
blueprints, achievement level descriptors, testing periods,
performance standards, and a reporting plan for each approved
assessment.
(6) The Superintendent shall convene an advisory panel, consisting
of, but not necessarily limited to, secondary teachers, school
administrators, school board members, parents, a student chosen from
among the two finalists who were not appointed by the Governor to
serve as the student member on the state board pursuant to Section
33000.5, representatives of a dropout recovery charter school
operating pursuant to subdivision (g) of Section 47605.1, measurement
experts, and individuals with expertise in assessing English
learners and pupils with disabilities, to provide recommendations to
the Superintendent on the continuation of the high school exit
examination, described in Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 60850),
and on alternative pathways to satisfy the high school graduation
requirements pursuant to Sections 51224.5 and 51225.3.
(d) For the 2013-14 and 2014-15 school years, the department shall
make available to local educational agencies Standardized Testing
and Reporting Program test forms no longer required by the CAASPP.
The cost of implementing this subdivision, including, but not
necessarily limited to, shipping, printing, scoring, and reporting
per pupil shall be the same for all local educational agencies, and
shall not exceed the marginal cost of the assessment, including any
cost the department incurs to implement this section. A local
educational agency that chooses to administer an assessment pursuant
to this subdivision shall do so at its own expense, and shall enter
into an agreement for that purpose with a contractor, subject to the
approval of the department.
(e) The Superintendent shall make available a paper and pencil
version of any computer-based CAASPP assessment for use by pupils who
are unable to access the computer-based version of the assessment
for a maximum of three years after a new operational test is first
administered.
(f) (1) From the funds available for that purpose, each local
educational agency shall administer assessments to each of its pupils
pursuant to subdivision (b). As allowable by federal statute,
recently arrived English learner pupils are exempted from taking the
assessment in English language arts. The state board shall establish
a testing period to provide that all schools administer these tests
to pupils at approximately the same time during the instructional
year. The testing period established by the state board shall take
into consideration the need of local educational agencies to provide
makeup days for pupils who were absent during testing, as well as the
need to schedule testing on electronic computing devices.
(2) For the 2013-14 school year, each local educational agency
shall administer the field tests in a manner described by the
department in consultation with the president or executive director
of the state board. Additional participants in the field test beyond
the representative sample may be approved by the department, and the
department shall use existing contract savings to fund local
educational agency participation in one or more tests per
participant. Funds for this purpose shall be used to allow for
maximum participation in the field tests across the state. To the
extent savings in the current contract are not available to fully
fund this participation, the department shall prorate available funds
by test. Local educational agencies shall bear any additional costs
to administer these assessments that are in excess of the contracted
amount. With the approval of the state board and the Director of
Finance, the department shall amend the existing assessment contract
to accommodate field testing beyond the representative sample, and to
allow for special studies using information collected from the field
tests.
(g) From the funds available for that purpose, each local
educational agency shall administer assessments as determined by the
state board pursuant to paragraph (5) of subdivision (c).
(h) As feasible, the CAASPP field tests shall be conducted in a
manner that will minimize the testing burden on individual schools.
The CAASPP field tests shall not produce individual pupil scores
unless it is determined that these scores are valid and reliable.
(i) The governing board of a school district may administer
achievement tests in grades other than those required by this section
as it deems appropriate.
(j) Subject to the approval of the state board, the department may
make available to local educational agencies a primary language
assessment aligned to the English language arts standards adopted
pursuant to Section 60605, as it read on January 1, 2013, for
assessing pupils who are enrolled in a dual language immersion
program that includes the primary language of the assessment and who
are either nonlimited English proficient or redesignated fluent
English proficient until a subsequent primary language assessment
aligned to the common core standards in English language arts adopted
pursuant to Section 60605.8 is developed pursuant to paragraph (5)
of subdivision (b). The cost for the assessment shall be the same for
all local educational agencies and shall not exceed the marginal
cost of the assessment, including any cost the department incurs to
implement this section. A local educational agency that elects to
administer a primary language assessment pursuant to this subdivision
shall do so at its own expense and shall enter into an agreement for
that purpose with the state testing contractor, subject to the
approval of the department.
(k) Pursuant to Section 1412(a)(16) of Title 20 of the United
States Code, individuals with exceptional needs, as defined in
Section 56026, shall be included in the testing requirement of
subdivision (b) with appropriate accommodations in administration,
where necessary, and the individuals with exceptional needs who are
unable to participate in the testing, even with accommodations, shall
be given an alternate assessment.
(l) (1) The Superintendent shall apportion funds appropriated for
these purposes to local educational agencies to enable them to meet
the requirements of subdivisions (b) and (c).
(A) For the CAASPP field tests administered in the 2013-14 school
year or later school years, the Superintendent shall apportion funds
to local educational agencies if funds are specifically provided for
this purpose in the annual Budget Act.
(B) The Superintendent shall apportion funds to local educational
agencies to enable them to administer assessments used to satisfy the
voluntary Early Assessment Program in the 2013-14 school year
pursuant to paragraph (4) of subdivision (b).
(2) The state board annually shall establish the amount of funding
to be apportioned to local educational agencies for each test
administered and annually shall establish the amount that each
contractor shall be paid for each test administered under the
contracts required pursuant to Section 60643. The amounts to be paid
to the contractors shall be determined by considering the cost
estimates submitted by each contractor each September and the amount
included in the annual Budget Act, and by making allowance for the
estimated costs to local educational agencies for compliance with the
requirements of subdivisions (b) and (c). The state board shall take
into account changes to local educational agency test administration
activities under the CAASPP, including, but not limited to, the
number and type of tests administered and changes in computerized
test registration and administration procedures, when establishing
the amount of funding to be apportioned to local educational agencies
for each test administered.
(3) An adjustment to the amount of funding to be apportioned per
test shall not be valid without the approval of the Director of
Finance. A request for approval of an adjustment to the amount of
funding to be apportioned per test shall be submitted in writing to
the Director of Finance and the chairpersons of the fiscal committees
of both houses of the Legislature with accompanying material
justifying the proposed adjustment. The Director of Finance is
authorized to approve only those adjustments related to activities
required by statute. The Director of Finance shall approve or
disapprove the amount within 30 days of receipt of the request and
shall notify the chairpersons of the fiscal committees of both houses
of the Legislature of the decision.
(m) For purposes of making the computations required by Section 8
of Article XVI of the California Constitution, the appropriation for
the apportionments made pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (l),
and the payments made to the contractors under the contracts
required pursuant to Section 60643 or subparagraph (C) of paragraph
(1) of subdivision (a) of Section 60605 between the department and
the contractor, are "General Fund revenues appropriated for school
districts," as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 41202, for the
applicable fiscal year, and included within the "total allocations to
school districts and community college districts from General Fund
proceeds of taxes appropriated pursuant to Article XIII B," as
defined in subdivision (e) of Section 41202, for that fiscal year.
(n) As a condition to receiving an apportionment pursuant to
subdivision (l), a local educational agency shall report to the
Superintendent all of the following:
(1) The pupils enrolled in the local educational agency in the
grades in which assessments were administered pursuant to
subdivisions (b) and (c).
(2) The pupils to whom an achievement test was administered
pursuant to subdivisions (b) and (c) in the local educational agency.
(3) The pupils in paragraph (1) who were exempted from the test
pursuant to this section.
(o) The Superintendent and the state board are authorized and
encouraged to assist postsecondary educational institutions to use
the assessment results of the CAASPP, including, but not necessarily
limited to, the grade 11 consortium summative assessments in English
language arts and mathematics, for academic credit, placement, or
admissions processes.
(p) Subject to the availability of funds in the annual Budget Act
for this purpose, and exclusive of the consortium assessments, the
Superintendent, with the approval of the state board, annually shall
release to the public test items from the achievement tests pursuant
to Section 60642.5 administered in previous years. Where feasible and
practicable, the minimum number of test items released per year
shall be equal to 25 percent of the total number of test items on the
test administered in the previous year.
(q) On or before July 1, 2014, Sections 850 to 868, inclusive, of
Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations shall be revised by the
state board to conform to the changes made to this section in the
first year of the 2013-14 Regular Session. The state board shall
adopt initial regulations as emergency regulations to immediately
implement the CAASPP assessments, including, but not necessarily
limited to, the administration, scoring, and reporting of the tests,
as the adoption of emergency regulations is necessary for the
immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety, or
general welfare within the meaning of Section 11346.1 of the
Government Code. The emergency regulations shall be followed by the
adoption of permanent regulations, in accordance with the
Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section
11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code).
(a) The department shall ensure that local educational
agencies comply with each of the following requirements:
(1) The achievement tests provided for in Section 60640 are
scheduled to be administered to all pupils, inclusive of pupils
enrolled in charter schools and exclusive of pupils exempted pursuant
to Section 60640, during the period prescribed in subdivision (b) of
Section 60640.
(2) For assessments that produce valid individual pupil results,
the individual results of each pupil tested pursuant to Section 60640
shall be reported, in writing, to the parent or guardian of the
pupil. The report shall include a clear explanation of the purpose of
the test, the score of the pupil, and the intended use by the local
educational agency of the test score. This subdivision does not
require teachers or other local educational agency personnel to
prepare individualized explanations of the test score of each pupil.
It is the intent of the Legislature that nothing in this section
shall preclude a school or school district from meeting the reporting
requirement by the use of electronic media formats that secure the
confidentiality of the pupil and the pupil's results. State agencies
or local educational agencies shall not use a comparison resulting
from the scores and results of the California Assessment of Student
Performance and Progress (CAASPP) assessments and the assessment
scores and results from assessments that measured previously adopted
content standards.
(3) (A) For assessments that produce valid individual pupil
results, the individual results of each pupil tested pursuant to
Section 60640 also shall be reported to the school and teachers of a
pupil. The local educational agency shall include the test results of
a pupil in his or her pupil records. However, except as provided in
this section and Section 60607, personally identifiable pupil test
results only may be released with the permission of either the pupil'
s parent or guardian if the pupil is a minor, or the pupil if the
pupil has reached the age of majority or is emancipated.
(B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A) and pursuant to subdivision
(c) of Section 60607, a pupil or his or her parent or guardian may
authorize the release of individual pupil results to a postsecondary
educational institution for the purpose of credit, placement,
determination of readiness for college-level coursework, or
admission.
(4) The districtwide, school-level, and grade-level results of the
CAASPP in each of the grades designated pursuant to Section 60640,
but not the score or relative position of any individually
ascertainable pupil, shall be reported to the governing board of the
school district at a regularly scheduled meeting, and the countywide,
school-level, and grade-level results for classes and programs under
the jurisdiction of the county office of education shall be
similarly reported to the county board of education at a regularly
scheduled meeting.
(b) The state board shall adopt regulations that outline a
calendar for delivery and receipt of summative assessment results at
the pupil, school, grade, district, county, and state levels. The
calendar shall include delivery dates to the department and to local
educational agencies. The calendar for delivery shall provide for the
timely return of assessment results, and consider the amount of
paper-and-pencil administered assessments and number of items
requiring hand scoring. The calendar shall also ensure that
individual assessment results are reported to local educational
agencies within eight weeks of receipt by the contractor for scoring.
(c) Aggregated, disaggregated, or group scores or reports that
include the results of the CAASPP assessments, inclusive of the
reports developed pursuant to Section 60630, shall not be publicly
reported to any party other than the school or local educational
agency where the pupils were tested, if the aggregated,
disaggregated, or group scores or reports are comprised of 10 or
fewer individual pupil assessment results. Exclusive of the reports
developed pursuant to Section 60630, in no case shall any group score
or report be displayed that would deliberately or inadvertently make
the score or performance of any individual pupil or teacher
identifiable.
(d) The department shall ensure that pupils in grade 11, or
parents or legal guardians of those pupils, may request results from
grade 11 assessments administered as part of the CAASPP for the
purpose of determining credit, placement, or readiness for
college-level coursework be released to a postsecondary educational
institution.
(a) The Superintendent, with approval of the state board,
shall provide for the development of an assessment instrument, to be
called the California Standards Tests, that measures the degree to
which pupils are achieving the academically rigorous content
standards and performance standards, to the extent standards have
been adopted by the state board. These standards-based achievement
tests shall contain the subject areas specified in paragraph (3) of
subdivision (a) of Section 60603 for grades 2 to 8, inclusive, and
shall include an assessment in history/social science in at least one
elementary or middle school grade level selected by the state board
and science in at least one elementary or middle school grade level
selected by the state board, and the core curriculum areas specified
in paragraph (5) of subdivision (a) of Section 60603 for grades 9 to
11, inclusive, except that history-social science shall not be
included in the grade 9 assessment unless the state board adopts
academic content standards for a grade 9 history-social science
course, and shall include, at a minimum, a direct writing assessment
once in elementary school and once in middle or junior high school
and other items of applied academic skill if deemed valid and
reliable and if resources are made available for their use.
(b) In approving a contract for the development or administration
of the California Standards Tests, the state board shall consider
each of the following criteria:
(1) The ability of the contractor to produce valid, reliable
individual pupil scores.
(2) The ability of the contractor to report results pursuant to
subdivision (a) of Section 60643 by August 8.
(3) The ability of the contractor to ensure alignment between the
standards-based achievement test and the academically rigorous
content and performance standards as those standards are adopted by
the state board. This criterion shall include the ability of the
contractor to implement a process to establish and maintain alignment
between the test items and the standards.
(4) The per pupil cost estimates of developing and, if
appropriate, administering the proposed assessment with a system to
facilitate the determination of future per pupil cost determinations.
(5) The procedures of the contractor to ensure the security and
integrity of test questions and materials.
(6) The experience of the contractor in successfully conducting
testing programs adopted and administered by other states. For
experience to be considered, the number of grades and pupils tested
shall be provided.
(c) The standards-based achievement tests may use items from other
tests.
The department shall acquire, and offer at no cost to
local educational agencies, interim and formative assessment tools
for kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, as provided through
the consortium membership pursuant to Section 60605.7.
(a) Notwithstanding any other law, the contractor or
contractors of the achievement tests provided for in Section 60640
shall comply with all of the conditions and requirements of the
contract to the satisfaction of the Superintendent and the state
board.
(b) (1) The department shall develop, and the Superintendent and
the state board shall approve, a contract or contracts to be entered
into with a contractor in connection with the test provided for in
Section 60640. The department may develop the contract through
negotiations. In approving a contract amendment to the contract
authorized pursuant to this section, the department, in consultation
with the state board, may make material amendments to the contract
that do not increase the contract cost. Contract amendments that
increase contract costs may only be made with the approval of the
department, the state board, and the Department of Finance.
(2) For purposes of the contracts authorized pursuant to this
subdivision, the department is exempt from the requirements of Part 2
(commencing with Section 10100) of Division 2 of the Public Contract
Code and from the requirements of Article 6 (commencing with Section
999) of Chapter 6 of Division 4 of the Military and Veterans Code.
The department shall use a competitive and open process utilizing
standardized scoring criteria through which to select a potential
administration contractor or contractors for recommendation to the
state board for consideration. The state board shall consider each of
the following criteria:
(A) The ability of the contractor to produce valid and reliable
scores.
(B) The ability of the contractor to report accurate results in a
timely fashion.
(C) Exclusive of the consortium assessments, the ability of the
contractor to ensure technical adequacy of the tests, inclusive of
the alignment between the California Assessment of Student
Performance and Progress tests and the state-adopted content
standards.
(D) The cost of the assessment system.
(E) The ability and proposed procedures to ensure the security and
integrity of the assessment system.
(F) The experience of the contractor in successfully conducting
statewide testing programs in other states.
(3) The contracts shall include provisions for progress payments
to the contractor for work performed or costs incurred in the
performance of the contract. Not less than 10 percent of the amount
budgeted for each separate and distinct component task provided for
in each contract shall be withheld pending final completion of all
component tasks by that contractor. The total amount withheld pending
final completion shall not exceed 10 percent of the total contract
price for that fiscal year.
(4) The contracts shall require liquidated damages to be paid by
the contractor in the amount of up to 10 percent of the total cost of
the contract for any component task that the contractor through its
own fault or that of its subcontractors fails to substantially
perform by the date specified in the agreement.
(5) The contracts shall establish the process and criteria by
which the successful completion of each component task shall be
recommended by the department and approved by the state board.
(6) The contractors shall submit, as part of the contract
negotiation process, a proposed budget and invoice schedule, that
includes a detailed listing of the costs for each component task and
the expected date of the invoice for each completed component task.
(7) The contract or contracts subject to approval by the
Superintendent and the state board under paragraph (1) and exempt
under paragraph (2) shall specify the following component tasks, as
applicable, that are separate and distinct:
(A) Development of new tests or test items.
(B) Test materials production or publication.
(C) Delivery or electronic distribution of test materials to local
educational agencies.
(D) Test processing, scoring, and analyses.
(E) Reporting of test results to the local educational agencies,
including, but not necessarily limited to, all reports specified in
this section.
(F) Reporting of valid and reliable test results to the
department, including, but not necessarily limited to, the following
electronic files:
(i) Scores aggregated statewide, and by county, school district,
school, and grade.
(ii) Disaggregated scores based on English proficiency status,
gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic disadvantage, foster care status,
and special education designation.
(G) All other analyses or reports required by the Superintendent
to meet the requirements of state and federal law and set forth in
the agreement.
(H) Technology services to support the activities listed in
subparagraphs (A) to (G), inclusive.
(I) Perform regular performance checks and load simulations to
ensure the integrity and robustness of the technology system used to
support the activities listed in subparagraphs (A) to (G), inclusive.
A local educational agency shall be reimbursed by the
contractor selected pursuant to this article for any unexpected
expenses incurred due to scheduling changes that resulted from the
late delivery of testing materials in connection with the California
Assessment of Student Performance and Progress.
(a) By November 1, 2014, the department shall identify and
make available to school districts information regarding existing
assessments in language arts and mathematics that are aligned to the
common core academic content standards adopted pursuant to Section
60605.8 and appropriate for pupils in grade 2 for diagnostic use by
classroom teachers. The purpose of these assessments shall be to aid
teachers and to gain information about the developing language arts
and computational skills of pupils in grade 2.
(b) The savings realized from the elimination of the grade 2
standards-based achievement testing shall be used by local
educational agencies to administer the assessments identified
pursuant to subdivision (a).
(c) The department shall ensure that the selected grade 2
diagnostic assessments are valid for purposes of identifying
particular knowledge or skills a pupil has or has not acquired in
order to inform instruction and make educational decisions. The
selected grade 2 diagnostic assessments shall not be valid measures
for purposes of pupil, personnel, or local educational agency
accountability.
An action to challenge a provision of this article or a
determination made by the state board under this article, shall be
filed and adjudicated pursuant to Sections 860 to 870, inclusive, of
the Code of Civil Procedure. No exercise of discretion by the state
board in its administration of this article or exercise of its
discretion pursuant to Section 60605 shall be overturned absent a
finding that the state board acted in an arbitrary and capricious
manner.
Exclusive of consortium summative assessments, the
Superintendent shall recommend, and the state board shall adopt,
performance standards on the California Assessment of Student
Performance and Progress summative tests administered pursuant to
this article. The performance levels shall identify and establish the
minimum performance required for meeting a particular achievement
level expectation. Once adopted, these standards shall be reviewed by
the state board every five years to determine whether adjustments
are necessary.
(a) The first full administration of assessments aligned
to the common core standards in English language arts and mathematics
shall occur in the 2014-15 school year unless the state board
determines that the assessments cannot be fully implemented.
(b) The department shall determine how school districts are
progressing toward implementation of a technology-enabled assessment
system, and the extent to which the assessments aligned to the common
core standards in English language arts and mathematics can be fully
implemented. The department shall provide a report and
recommendations to the state board, the Department of Finance, and
the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature on or
before October 1, 2014.
(c) Based on the information in the report required under this
section, the state board shall determine whether the state shall
fully implement the operational consortium computer-adaptive
summative assessments in English language arts and mathematics in
grades 3 to 8, inclusive, and grade 11 for the 2014-15 school year.
(a) The department shall develop a three-year plan of
activities, with the approval of the state board, supporting the
continuous improvement of the assessments developed and administered
pursuant to Section 60640. The plan shall include a process for
obtaining independent, objective technical advice and consultation on
activities to be undertaken. Activities may include, but not
necessarily be limited to, a variety of internal and external studies
such as validity studies, alignment studies, and studies evaluating
test fairness, testing accommodations, testing policies, and
reporting procedures, and consequential validity studies specific to
pupil populations such as English learners and pupils with
disabilities.
(b) Beginning in the school year in which the first full
administration of the consortium computer-adaptive assessments in
English language arts and mathematics in grades 3 to 8, inclusive,
and grade 11 occurs, and every three years thereafter, the department
shall contract for a three-year independent evaluation of the
assessments. Independent evaluation reports shall include interim
annual reports as well as a final report on the activities and
analysis of the three-year evaluation including, but not necessarily
limited to, recommendations to ensure the quality, fairness,
validity, and reliability of the assessments. These validity studies
shall take into consideration the purposes of the assessment system
and its results, and the timeline for implementation of the
assessments, the adoption of new curriculum resources, and the
development and delivery of professional development. The department
shall not contract for studies that duplicate studies conducted as
part of a federal peer review process or studies conducted by any
assessment contractor.
(c) The independent evaluation reports and interim annual reports
shall be submitted to the Governor, the Superintendent, the state
board, and the chairs of the education policy committees in both
houses of the Legislature by October 31 each year.
(d) Notwithstanding Section 60601, this section shall become
inoperative on July 1, 2021, and, as of January 1, 2022, is repealed,
unless a later enacted statute, that becomes operative on or before
January 1, 2022, deletes or extends the dates on which it becomes
inoperative and is repealed.