N.Y. Education Law § 346-a: Advisory committee

§ 346-a. Advisory committee. 1. There shall be created a temporary

committee to advise the legislature and make findings and

recommendations with respect to the effect of standardized tests used in

the process of post secondary admissions on test subjects of varying

racial, ethnic, linguistic background and gender and consider other

possible analytical methods to assure the fairness and equity of such

tests.

2. The committee shall consist of ten members to be appointed as

follows: three each shall be appointed by the temporary president of the

senate and by the speaker of the assembly, and two each by the minority

leader of the senate and the minority leader of the assembly. At least

one of the members appointed by each of the four legislative leaders

shall be an individual with expertise in measurement and standardized

testing. Such committee shall be broadly representative of persons or

groups residing in the state of New York interested in and affected by

standardized admissions tests which may include, but is not limited to,

test subjects, test agencies, representatives of consumers of

standardized test, post-secondary administrators and faculty and

representatives of civil rights organizations.

3. The committee shall select a chairperson from its membership and

may select professional staff, other than the data analysis researchers

or organizations described herein, who shall have expertise in

measurement and standardized testing to design and conduct the study.

The committee shall prepare a design for the analysis of the data

required for collection pursuant to this section. The study design

shall be available upon request for comment for a period for thirty days

after which time the committee shall select or solicit one or more

researchers or organizations to do the data analysis. The analyses shall

examine the differences in test performance between the subgroups

indicated in section three hundred forty-one-a of this article and

consider the impact upon those differences of using alternative methods

of item selection. Such professional staff, researchers and

organizations shall not have any direct financial ties, within five

years prior to the effective date of this section, to standardized

testing, nor to any source that has by personal testimony promoted or

opposed regulation of standardized testing, or from any source which has

been engaged in litigation, within five years prior to the effective

date of this section, against any entity engaged in the standardized

testing industry. The committee shall meet at least two times annually

and shall expire on the first day of September, nineteen hundred

ninety-one. The committee members shall receive no compensation for

their services, but shall be reimbursed for reasonable expenses actually

and necessarily incurred by them in the performance of their duties

under this article.

4. The committee may accept any state grants or appropriations, or as

agent of the state, any grant, including federal grants, or any gift for

any of the purposes of this article; provided however, that the

committee shall not accept any grant or gift, directly or indirectly,

(a) from the standardized testing industry or from any source currently

receiving funds from the standardized testing industry, or (b) from any

source that has promoted or opposed regulation of standardized testing

or from any source that has been engaged in litigation within five years

prior to the effective date of this section against any entity engaged

in the standardized testing industry or from any source currently

receiving funds from any such sources. Any monies so received may be

expended by the committee to effectuate any purpose of this article,

subject to standard limitations as to approval of expenditures and

audit.

5. The committee shall report its finding to the state legislature no

later than the thirty-first of March, nineteen hundred ninety.

6. The committee shall pursue the aforementioned research if adequate

funds have been committed by the first day of July, nineteen hundred

eighty-nine to further the purposes of this article. Prior to February

first, nineteen hundred eighty-nine, the committee shall notify the

chairs of the assembly ways and means and senate finance committees

regarding funds received for the purposes of this article and shall

submit a request for such appropriations as may be necessary to

effectuate the purposes of this section. If no such funds have been

committed, the committee shall dissolve.