Sec. 6. (a) The state board shall:

(1) authorize and oversee the department's development and implementation of the Indiana's Learning Evaluation Assessment Readiness Network (ILEARN) program, including:

(A) establishment of criteria for requests for proposals for statewide assessments developed or authorized under this chapter;

(B) establishment of criteria for membership of evaluation teams; and

(C) establishment of criteria for content and format of the statewide assessment; and

(2) require the department to conduct ongoing analysis of whether the statewide assessment results are predictive of success in college and career training programs.

(b) The passing scores on a statewide assessment must be determined by statistically valid and reliable methods as determined by independent experts selected by the state board.

(c) The state superintendent, with the approval of the state board, is responsible for the development, implementation, and monitoring of the Indiana's Learning Evaluation Assessment Readiness Network (ILEARN) program.

(d) The department shall prepare detailed design specifications for the statewide assessment developed under this chapter that must do the following:

(1) Take into account the academic standards adopted under IC 20-31-3.

(2) Include testing of students' higher level cognitive thinking in each subject area tested.

(e) A statewide assessment described in section 7 of this chapter may be in a form that allows the department and the state board, to the extent possible, to compare the proficiency of Indiana students to the proficiency of students in other states. A statewide assessment may consist of original test items for Indiana's exclusive use if the state board determines that:

(1) developing original test items for Indiana's exclusive use will result in cost savings; or

(2) it would be impractical to develop a statewide assessment adequately aligned to Indiana's academic standards without including original test items developed for Indiana's exclusive use.

As added by P.L.242-2017, SEC.41.