Bill Text: NY A00482 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: Provides for accountability in state assessments by creating a regents review board to audit assessments used to determine grade promotion, graduation and adequate yearly progress by requiring a written report, implementation of an auditing and review of pilot and/or field testing of the standardized tests used to ensure validity, reliability, alignment to standards and appropriateness of use.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - referred to education [A00482 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A00482-Introduced.html


                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                           482
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                       (Prefiled)
                                     January 9, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  PAULIN,  ARROYO,  BENEDETTO -- read once and
          referred to the Committee on Education
        AN ACT to require annual reports and create a regents  review  board  to
          audit  assessments  used  to  determine grade promotion, graduation or
          adequate yearly progress for validity, reliability, alignment to stan-
          dards and appropriateness of use
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section  1.    Reporting requirements. 1. (a) Not later than September
     2  fifteenth of each year, the commissioner of education  shall  submit  to
     3  the  state  board  of regents, the temporary president of the senate and
     4  the speaker of the assembly:
     5    (i) A written report  that  conclusively  demonstrates  the  validity,
     6  reliability,  alignment  to  the state learning standards established by
     7  the department of education (learning standards) and appropriateness  of
     8  use  for  its intended purposes for each assessment (noting each instru-
     9  ment and the dates of usage) used by  the  department  of  education  to
    10  determine  a  student's eligibility for a high school diploma, promotion
    11  to grade, or measurement of adequate yearly  progress  (AYP)  under  the
    12  federal  No Child Left Behind Act of a school or district in the preced-
    13  ing school year.   Demonstration of  assessment  validity,  reliability,
    14  alignment  to learning standards and appropriateness of use must be made
    15  in accordance with applicable  professional  assessment  guidelines  and
    16  standards  of  the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the
    17  American Psychological Association (APA) and  the  National  Council  on
    18  Measurement  in  Education  (NCME)  (collectively and as may be modified
    19  from time to time, the joint standards), including pedagogic and curric-
    20  ular, as well as psychometric, standards.
    21    (ii) A technical manual for each assessment used by the department  of
    22  education  and  used  to  determine  a  student's eligibility for a high
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD03778-01-9

        A. 482                              2
     1  school diploma, promotion to grade, or measurement of AYP of a school or
     2  district in the preceding school year. The technical manual must  comply
     3  with  the professional requirements of the assessment industry as recog-
     4  nized by the AERA, APA and NCME.
     5    (b)  The annual report and technical manual shall be made available to
     6  the public upon submission to the state board  of  regents  and  to  the
     7  temporary president of the senate and the speaker of the assembly.
     8    2.  Failure of the commissioner of education to produce a report under
     9  subparagraph (i) of paragraph (a) of subdivision one of this section  or
    10  a  technical  manual  under  subparagraph (ii) of such paragraph for any
    11  given assessment shall be deemed a failure to demonstrate the  validity,
    12  reliability,  alignment to learning standards and appropriateness of use
    13  of such assessment, and the results from such assessment  shall  not  be
    14  used  to  determine  a  student's eligibility for a high school diploma,
    15  promotion to grade, or measurement of AYP of a school or district in the
    16  preceding school year. The commissioner of education shall substitute an
    17  alternate measure for the decision taken on the basis  of  the  adminis-
    18  tered  assessment.  Where  a  decision  to graduate or promote a student
    19  cannot be based on a demonstrably  valid  standardized  assessment,  the
    20  decision  will  be based on a combination of final grade in the relevant
    21  academic courses and faculty recommendations in place of the results  of
    22  such examination. Any part of an assessment not demonstrated to be valid
    23  shall not be used for any subsequent determination.
    24    §  2.  Audit requirements. The state board of regents shall appoint an
    25  independent panel of experts  on  curricular  assessments  qualified  to
    26  determine  whether  or not an assessment meets professional standards of
    27  the measurement industry and scholarly associations for validity,  reli-
    28  ability, alignment to learning standards and appropriateness of use. The
    29  panel  shall be known as the regents review board, hereafter referred to
    30  as the board.  The board shall consist of five members. The  members  of
    31  the  board  will  be  members of the AERA or the APA. Each member of the
    32  board will be a recognized expert in the field of testing  psychometrics
    33  or  curriculum evaluation and will have at least ten years experience in
    34  evaluating validity, reliability, alignment with learning standards  and
    35  appropriateness  of  use  of  tests  at the primary and secondary school
    36  levels.
    37    1. The board shall review each assessment used by  the  department  of
    38  education  to determine a student's eligibility for a high school diplo-
    39  ma, promotion to grade, or measurement of AYP of a school or district to
    40  determine whether the assessment meets the joint standards  for  assess-
    41  ment  validity,  reliability, alignment to learning standards and appro-
    42  priateness of use. The board  shall  also  review  the  commissioner  of
    43  education's annual report and supporting materials concerning the valid-
    44  ity, reliability, alignment to learning standards and appropriateness of
    45  use of the assessments, and the technical manual of each assessment. The
    46  board  shall  have complete access to all documents of the department of
    47  education relating to the assessments reviewed by the  board,  including
    48  pilot  and/or field test results for such assessments and any changes to
    49  materials or practices relating to such  assessments  implemented  as  a
    50  result  of  such  pilot and/or field tests. The board shall maintain the
    51  confidentiality of all documents deemed to contain proprietary  informa-
    52  tion.
    53    2.  The  board  shall determine whether or not each assessment used by
    54  the department of education for graduation, promotion  or  determination
    55  of AYP is valid, reliable, aligned to the learning standards, and appro-
    56  priate for use. The board shall submit, not later than October fifteenth

        A. 482                              3
     1  of  each  year,  a  written report of its findings to the state board of
     2  regents, the temporary president of the senate and the  speaker  of  the
     3  assembly.  The  report  shall  be  made available to the public upon its
     4  submission as provided in this subdivision.
     5    3.  If the board determines that any part of an assessment used by the
     6  department of education does not meet the standards for validity,  reli-
     7  ability, alignment to learning standards or appropriateness of use under
     8  the  joint  standards,  such part or parts of those assessments shall be
     9  considered invalid, and the results from such assessment  shall  not  be
    10  used  to  determine  a  student's eligibility for a high school diploma,
    11  promotion to grade, or measurement of AYP of a school or district in any
    12  school year. The commissioner of education shall substitute an alternate
    13  measure for the decision taken on the basis of the administered  assess-
    14  ment.  Where  a decision to graduate or promote a student is based on an
    15  assessment not demonstrably valid, the  decision  will  be  based  on  a
    16  combination  of final grade in the relevant academic courses and faculty
    17  recommendations in place of the results of such examination. The  deter-
    18  mination of the board shall be final as to the use of those assessments.
    19    4.  If  any  part of an assessment used by the department of education
    20  has been determined by the board to fail to meet the joint standards and
    21  related research for  assessment  validity,  reliability,  alignment  to
    22  learning standards or appropriateness of use, the commissioner of educa-
    23  tion  shall  not  use such part or parts of the assessment in any subse-
    24  quent test administrations.
    25    § 3. Pilot testing. 1. No later than sixty days prior to  the  depart-
    26  ment of education's scheduled administration of any assessment to deter-
    27  mine  a  student's  eligibility  for a high school diploma, promotion to
    28  grade, or measurement of AYP of a school or district  in  the  preceding
    29  school  year,  the  commissioner of education shall submit to the board,
    30  the state board of regents and the temporary president of the senate and
    31  the speaker of the assembly the results of all pilot and/or field  tests
    32  conducted  for  that  assessment  and  make  available  to the board all
    33  records relating to such pilot and/or field  tests  and  results.  Pilot
    34  and/or  field  tests  are  assessments administered by the department of
    35  education that are not being used for decisions of graduation, promotion
    36  to grade, or measurement of AYP but contain  individual  questions  that
    37  are to be used on assessments to determine a student's eligibility for a
    38  high  school  diploma,  promotion  to  grade, or measurement of AYP. For
    39  purposes of this section, results of  pilot  and/or  field  tests  shall
    40  include,  but not be limited to, analysis of answers to questions on the
    41  administered pilot  and/or  field  test  based  on  percentage  answered
    42  correctly,  breakdown of results according to race and gender, an expla-
    43  nation of how the pilot and/or  field  test  was  administered,  and  an
    44  explanation  of  the learning standard a question purports to test.  The
    45  failure to submit and identify pilot and/or field  test  results  or  to
    46  provide  access  to  records  as  required  under this subdivision shall
    47  preclude the department of education from  using  or  administering  the
    48  assessment.
    49    2. Where the board has received from the commissioner of education the
    50  results  of  the  pilot  and/or field test for an assessment as required
    51  under subdivision one of this section, the board shall, not  later  than
    52  thirty  days  prior  to the department of education's scheduled adminis-
    53  tration of such assessment, deliver to the state board  of  regents  and
    54  the  temporary president of the senate and the speaker of the assembly a
    55  written report evaluating the pilot and/or field tests and  the  results

        A. 482                              4
     1  of the pilot and/or field tests provided by the department of education.
     2  The written report of the board shall be made available to the public.
     3    3.  In its evaluation, the board will identify any recognizable short-
     4  comings of the pilot and/or field tests. If the  board  determines  that
     5  any  part  of the pilot and/or field tests were not conducted in accord-
     6  ance with the joint standards, that they fall short of  needed  prepara-
     7  tion,  or  if  it appears to the board that the assessment for which the
     8  pilot and/or field tests were conducted is likely to fail  to  meet  the
     9  criteria  for validity, reliability, alignment to learning standards, or
    10  appropriateness of use under the joint standards, the board shall recom-
    11  mend to the state board of regents  that  the  department  of  education
    12  shall  not  use  or administer the assessment for which the pilot and/or
    13  field tests were conducted. The state board  of  regents  shall,  within
    14  fourteen  days  of  receipt of the board's report, provide to the board,
    15  the temporary president of the senate and the speaker  of  the  assembly
    16  written notice of the actions proposed to be taken by the state board of
    17  regents  with  respect  to the recommendations of the board contained in
    18  such report.
    19    § 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day  after  it  shall
    20  have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
    21  repeal  of  any  rule  or regulation necessary for the implementation of
    22  this act on its effective date are authorized to be made  and  completed
    23  on or before such effective date.
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