Pupil assessment: STAR Program.

(1) The Leroy Greene California Assessment of Academic Achievement Act provides for the development of a statewide pupil assessment program, and defines various terms for those purposes. This bill would define additional terms for those purposes. (2) The act establishes the Standardized Testing and Reporting Program (the STAR Program) , pursuant to which school districts, charter schools, and county offices of education are required to administer achievement tests to each of their pupils in grades 2 to 11, inclusive. This bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction, on or before April 1, 2011, to contract for an independent evaluation of the STAR Program, as specified. The Superintendent would be required to provide the evaluation report to the Legislature, the Governor, and the State Board of Education on or before November 1, 2011. The bill would require the State Department of Education to use federal funds for the purpose of contracting for the evaluation. The bill would make the operation of these provisions contingent upon an appropriation for their purposes in the annual Budget Act or another statute.