(a) It is the intent of the Legislature that the reauthorization of the statewide pupil assessment program include all of the following:
(1) A plan for transitioning to a system of high-quality assessments.
(2) Alignment with the standards developed pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section 60605.8.
(3) Any common assessments aligned with the standards developed pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section 60605.8.
(4) Conformity to the assessment requirements of any reauthorization of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act or any other federal law that effectively replaces that act.
(b) The Superintendent shall develop recommendations for the reauthorization of the statewide pupil assessment program. The recommendations shall include, but not be limited to, a plan for transitioning to a system of high-quality assessments. The recommendations shall consider including all of the following in the reauthorized assessment system:
(1) Aligning the assessments to the standards adopted or revised pursuant to Section 60605.8.
(2) Implementing and incorporating any common assessments aligned with the common set of standards developed by the Common Core State Standards Initiative consortium or other interstate collaboration in which the state participates.
(3) Conforming to the assessment requirements of any reauthorization of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.) or any other federal law that effectively replaces that act.
(4) Enabling the valid, reliable, and fair measurement of achievement at a point in time and over time for groups and subgroups of pupils, and for individual pupils.
(5) Allowing the comparison from one year to the next of an individual pupil’s scale scores in each content area tested, so as to reflect the growth in that pupil’s actual scores over time.
(6) Enabling and including the valid, reliable, and fair measurement of achievement of all pupils, including pupils with disabilities and English learners.
(7) Providing for the assessment of English learners using primary language assessments.
(8) Ensuring that no aspect of the system creates any bias with respect to race, ethnicity, culture, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.
(9) Incorporating a variety of item types and formats, including, but not limited to, open-ended responses and performance-based tasks.
(10) 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.
(11) Including the assessment of science and history-social science in all grade levels at or above grade 4.
(12) Assessing a pupil’s understanding of and ability to use the technology necessary for success in the 21st century classroom and workplace.
(13) Providing for both formative and interim assessments, as those terms are defined in this chapter, in order to provide timely feedback for purposes of continually adjusting instruction to improve learning.
(14) Making use of test administration and scoring technologies that will allow the return of test results to parents and teachers as soon as is possible in order to support instructional improvement.
(15) Minimizing testing time while not jeopardizing the validity, reliability, fairness, or instructional usefulness of the assessment results.
(16) Including options for diagnostic assessments for pupils in grade 2.
(c) In developing the recommendations pursuant to this section, the Superintendent shall consult with all of the following:
(1) The state board.
(2) The committee advising the Superintendent on the Academic Performance Index pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 52052.5.
(3) Measurement experts from California’s public and private universities.
(4) Individuals with expertise in assessing pupils with disabilities and English learners.
(5) Teachers, administrators, and governing board members, from California’s local educational agencies.
(6) Parents.
(d) The Superintendent shall report the recommendations developed pursuant to this section to the fiscal and appropriate policy committees of both houses of the Legislature on or before November 1, 2012.
(Amended by Stats. 2011, Ch. 608, Sec. 12. (AB 250) Effective January 1, 2012. Inoperative July 1, 2020. Repealed as of January 1, 2021, pursuant to Section 60601.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018