Senate Bill S1998

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S1998

 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.