Clarifies the application of standardized testing requirements to the general education development exam by explicitly including it in the definition of "standardized test" and "test".
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A5275
SPONSOR: Smith TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to clarifying the appli-
cation of standardized testing requirements to the general education
development exam
PURPOSE:
To Clarify that the provisions of New York's Trust-in-Testing law shall
also apply to GED exam
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
The bill amends the truth-in-testing law to also include the General
Education Development, or GED, exam
EXISTING LAW:
The original Truth-in-Testing Law requires test administrators to make
available actual questions included in specific standardized tests, as
well as scored answer sheets to individuals upon request, but the
current list of applicable tests does not include the GED.
JUSTIFICATION:
New York's first-in-the-nation Trust-in-Testing Law was enacted in 1979
to provide students an opportunity to review actual questions and their
own scored answer sheets from a list of 10 specific standardized tests,
including the SAT, PSAT, ACT, GRE, MCAT, LSAT and others, usually during
a specific time-frame and for a modest fee.
The purpose of the law was to provide assurance to test-takers of the
accuracy of their individual scores by allowing them the opportunity to
compare their own answers with an official answer key, while also
providing a chance to learn from past errors and improve their results
on future tests.
The General Education Development exam, or GED, is a group of four
subject tests, covering Math, Science, Social Studies and Reasoning,
that provides an opportunity for students who do not meet the require-
ments of a high school diploma to demonstrate equivalent knowledge and
understanding of those subject matters and is widely seen as beneficial
to individuals seeking employment or who decide to return to academic
study.
Applying the Truth-in-Testing requirements to the GED would improve
students' testing outcomes as well as ensure accountability for test
scorers and test administrators.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-New Bill
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to the state.
LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
2
EFFECTIVE DATE:
90 days after it shall have become law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5275
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 7, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SMITH -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to clarifying the appli-
cation of standardized testing requirements to the general education
development exam
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 340 of the education law, as
2 amended by chapter 567 of the laws of 1986, is amended to read as
3 follows:
4 1. "Standardized test" or "test" means:
5 a. any test that is given in New York at the expense of the test
6 subject and designed for use and used in the process of selection for
7 post-secondary or professional school admissions. Such tests shall
8 include, but are not limited to, the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude
9 Test, Scholastic Aptitude Test, ACT Assessment, Graduate Record Examina-
10 tion, Medical College Admission Test, Law School Admission Test, Dental
11 Admission Testing Program, Graduate Management Admission Test, Miller
12 Analogies Test and the Test for Standard Written English. This article
13 shall not apply to any state, federal, or local civil service test, any
14 test used solely for placement, credit-by-examination or other nonadmis-
15 sion purpose or any test developed and administered by an individual
16 school or institution solely for its own purposes or any test, or
17 portion of a test, designed to evaluate manual skills or other physical
18 abilities; and
19 b. the general education development exam.
20 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
21 have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08777-01-3
