MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2023 Regular Session
To: Education
By: Representative Harness
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 37-16-4, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE TESTING COMPANIES SELECTED AS VENDORS TO PROVIDE ACADEMIC ASSESSMENTS IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE MISSISSIPPI STATEWIDE ASSESSMENT SYSTEM TO BE HELD CIVILLY AND CRIMINALLY LIABLE FOR THE MANIPULATION OF TEST SCORES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 37-16-4, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-16-4. (1) It is unlawful for anyone knowingly and willfully to do any of the following acts regarding mandatory uniform tests administered to students as required by the State Department of Education:
(a) Give examinees access to test questions prior to testing;
(b) Copy or reproduce all or any portion of any secure test booklet;
(c) Coach examinees during testing or alter or interfere with examinees' responses in any way;
(d) Make answer keys available to examinees;
(e) Fail to account for all secure test materials before, during and after testing;
(f) Participate in, direct, aid, counsel, assist in, encourage or fail to report any of the acts prohibited in this section.
(2) Any person violating any provisions of subsection (1) of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or be imprisoned for not more than ninety (90) days, or both. Upon conviction, the State Board of Education may suspend or revoke the administrative or teaching credentials, or both, of the person convicted.
(3) Any person submitting a false certification to the State Department of Education that each statewide test in a school was administered in strict accordance with the Requirements of the Mississippi Statewide Assessment System as adopted by the State Board of Education, and with willful intent, is guilty of a felony and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not more than Fifteen Thousand Dollars ($15,000.00), or be imprisoned for not more than three (3) years, or both. Upon conviction, the State Board of Education may suspend or revoke the administrative or teaching credentials, or both, of the person convicted.
(4) The district attorney shall investigate allegations of violations of this section, either on its own initiative following a receipt of allegations, or at the request of a school district or the State Department of Education.
(5) The district attorney shall furnish to the State Superintendent of Education a report of the findings of any investigation conducted pursuant to this section.
(6) The State Board of Education shall establish statistical guidelines to examine the results of state mandated tests to determine where there is evidence of testing irregularities resulting in false or misleading results in the aggregate or composite test scores of the class, grade, age group or school district. When said irregularities are identified, the State Superintendent of Education may order that any group of students identified as being required to retake the test at state expense under state supervision. The school district shall be given at least thirty (30) days' notice before the next test administration and shall comply with the order of the State Superintendent of Education. The results from the second administration of the test shall be final for all uses of that data.
(7) The State Board of Education, when conducting procurement and soliciting requests for proposals (RFPs) for vendors to serve as the state provider of assessments to facilitate and construct assessments indicative of the educational content required by the College and Career Readiness Standards to be in compliance with the Mississippi Statewide Assessment System created under the authority of this chapter, shall stipulate in its advertisement that the selected vendor shall be held civilly and criminally liable for any manipulation of results of test scores. This stipulation shall then be incorporated into the contractual agreement entered into by the board and the selected vendor. Any occurrence of manipulation of scores in violation of this section and the contractual agreement with willful intent to falsify testing results, which affect a school's and school district's accountability rating, is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00), and all agents and employees of the selected vendor who are determined by the court to be active participants in the scoring manipulation may be imprisoned for not more than three (3) years. Additionally, such violation shall result in a cancellation of the contract between the board and selected vendor, and the vendor shall be financially liable for reimbursing the board all monies paid to said vendor under the contract, less the actual amount incurred for developing, producing and distributing the various assessments throughout school districts in the state.
( * * *8) Nothing in this section may be
construed to prohibit or interfere with the responsibilities of the State Board
of Education or the State Department of Education in test development or
selection, test form construction, standard setting, test scoring, and
reporting, or any other related activities which in the judgment of the State
Superintendent of Education are necessary and appropriate.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2023.