ยง 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.