NY Educ L § 346-A (2021)
2021 New York Laws EDN - Education Title 1 - General Provisions Article 7-A - Standardized Testing 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.