Notwithstanding any other provision of Federal law and except as provided in subsection (b), no funds provided to the Department of Education or to an applicable program, may be used to pilot test, field test, implement, administer or distribute in any way any federally sponsored national test in reading, mathematics, or any other subject that is not specifically and explicitly provided for in authorizing legislation enacted into law.
Subsection (a) shall not apply to the Third International Mathematics and Science Study or other international comparative assessments developed under the authority of section 9543(a)(6) of this title and administered to only a representative sample of pupils in the United States and in foreign nations.
(Pub. L. 90–247, title IV, § 447, as added Pub. L. 105–277, div. A, § 101(f) [title III, § 305(a)], Oct. 21, 1998, 112 Stat. 2681–337, 2681–374; amended Pub. L. 107–110, title X, § 1062(4), Jan. 8, 2002, 115 Stat. 2088; Pub. L. 107–279, title IV, § 404(c), Nov. 5, 2002, 116 Stat. 1985.)