1. (a) An assessment instrument required under the Texas Education Code (TEC), §39.032, is defined as any district-commissioned achievement test, either nationally normed or criterion-referenced, that is group administered and reported publicly (e.g., to the local board of trustees) in the aggregate. A test given for a special purpose, such as program placement or individual evaluation (e.g., a spelling test, a diagnostic test such as a reading inventory or interim benchmark assessment, or a released statewide assessment instrument), is not included in this definition. The commissioner of education shall provide annually to school districts and charter schools a list of state-approved, norm-referenced group-administered achievement tests that test publishers certify meet the requirements of TEC, §39.032.
2. (b) A company or organization scoring a test defined in subsection (a) of this section shall send test results to the school district for verification. The school district shall have 90 days to verify the accuracy of the data and report the results to the school district board of trustees. The company or organization shall provide results in electronic form in the same form that such information is provided to the school district to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) annually and data shall include as applicable the name, level, and form of the test; the year in which the test was normed; and the mean normal curve equivalent aggregated for each subject area by grade, campus, and district. State norms shall be provided if available.
3. (c) A company or organization that reports results using national norms or state standards that do not comply with the TEC, §39.032, is liable for damages as stated in the TEC, §39.032(d).
4. (d) To maintain the security and confidential integrity of group-administered achievement tests, school districts and charter schools shall follow the applicable procedures for test security and confidentiality delineated in Subchapter C of this chapter (relating to Security and Confidentiality). A school district may not use the same form of any test defined in subsection (a) of this section for more than three years.
5. (e) Any school district that develops its own summative test that meets the definition of subsection (a) of this section is also obligated to report those results in electronic form to the TEA in the manner prescribed by the TEA.

Source Note:The provisions of this §101.101 adopted to be effective November 15, 2001, 26 TexReg 9088; amended to be effective December 7, 2003, 28 TexReg 10940.