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Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to higher education
- Referred to higher education
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the education law, in relation to the administration of standardized tests
Purpose
This bill will ensure that persons who take standardized tests for admission to postsecondary institutions or programs will have an opportunity to take such tests in a paper-and-pencil format if the test is also administered in a computerized adaptive format.
Summary of provisions
This bill requires any test agency which administers a computerized standardized admissions test on or after September 1, 2007 to provide test subjects the opportunity to take the test in the traditional paper-and-pencil format.
Justification
In 1996 legislation was enacted to bring computerized adaptive tests which are used in the admissions process for postsecondary institutions and programs under the disclosure provisions which have applied to the paper-and-pencil tests since 1979.
While many examinees may be said to prefer computerized adaptive tests because they can take them at their convenience and because they can receive their scores immediately, others have raised concerns about the difference in test-taking strategies. For example, a test taker cannot leave any items blank on a computerized adaptive test, since subsequent questions are customized, based on the individual response pattern. In addition, a test subject cannot go back and review a previously selected answer.
A test agency may claim that providing services and accommodations to disabled test subjects, including those with computer phobias, would meet the spirit of the change proposed in this bill. This may be true for those with special needs, but it does not meet the needs of students who have reason to believe they would be at a disadvantage if they take the test on a computer, and prefer instead to take a paper-based administration.
Legislative history
S.5592 of 1997; S.5592-A of 1998; S.5176-A of 1999; S.2351 of 2002; S.561 of 2005. S.3977-A of 2008
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
September first in the year in which it becomes a law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.