(a) The Superintendent, with approval of the state board, shall provide for the development of an assessment instrument, to be called the California Standards Tests, that measures the degree to which pupils are achieving the academically rigorous content standards and performance standards, to the extent standards have been adopted by the state board. These standards-based achievement tests shall contain the subject areas specified in paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 60603 for grades 2 to 8, inclusive, and shall include an assessment in history/social science in at least one elementary or middle school grade level selected by the state board and science in at least one elementary or middle school grade level selected by the state board, and the core curriculum areas specified in paragraph (5) of subdivision (a) of Section 60603 for grades 9 to 11, inclusive, except that history-social science shall not be included in the grade 9 assessment unless the state board adopts academic content standards for a grade 9 history-social science course, and shall include, at a minimum, a direct writing assessment once in elementary school and once in middle or junior high school and other items of applied academic skill if deemed valid and reliable and if resources are made available for their use.

(b) In approving a contract for the development or administration of the California Standards Tests, the state board shall consider each of the following criteria:

(1) The ability of the contractor to produce valid, reliable individual pupil scores.

(2) The ability of the contractor to report results pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 60643 by August 8.

(3) The ability of the contractor to ensure alignment between the standards-based achievement test and the academically rigorous content and performance standards as those standards are adopted by the state board. This criterion shall include the ability of the contractor to implement a process to establish and maintain alignment between the test items and the standards.

(4) The per pupil cost estimates of developing and, if appropriate, administering the proposed assessment with a system to facilitate the determination of future per pupil cost determinations.

(5) The procedures of the contractor to ensure the security and integrity of test questions and materials.

(6) The experience of the contractor in successfully conducting testing programs adopted and administered by other states. For experience to be considered, the number of grades and pupils tested shall be provided.

(c) The standards-based achievement tests may use items from other tests.

(Amended by Stats. 2008, Ch. 757, Sec. 19. Effective September 30, 2008.)