COLLEGE PREPARATION AND CAREER READINESS ASSESSMENTS.

(a) In addition to the assessment instruments otherwise authorized or required by this subchapter:

(1) each school year and at state cost, a school district may administer to students in the spring of the eighth grade an established, valid, reliable, and nationally norm-referenced preliminary college preparation assessment instrument for the purpose of diagnosing the academic strengths and deficiencies of students before entrance into high school;

(2) each school year and at state cost, a school district may administer to students in the 10th grade an established, valid, reliable, and nationally norm-referenced preliminary college preparation assessment instrument for the purpose of measuring a student's progress toward readiness for college and the workplace; and

(3) high school students in the spring of the 11th grade or during the 12th grade may select and take once, at state cost:

(A) one of the valid, reliable, and nationally norm-referenced assessment instruments used by colleges and universities as part of their undergraduate admissions processes;

(B) the assessment instrument designated by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board under Section 51.334; or

(C) a nationally recognized career readiness assessment instrument that measures foundational workforce skills approved by commissioner rule.

(a-1) Notwithstanding Subsection (a)(3), the commissioner by rule may allow a student to take at state cost an assessment instrument described by that subdivision if circumstances existed that prevented the student from taking the assessment instrument before the student graduated from high school.

(b) The agency shall:

(1) select and approve vendors of the specific assessment instruments administered under this section and negotiate with each approved vendor a price for each assessment instrument; and

(2) provide reimbursement to a school district in the amount negotiated under Subdivision (1) for the administration of the assessment instrument from funds appropriated for that purpose.

(c) The agency shall ensure that a school district is not reimbursed under Subsection (b) for the administration of an assessment instrument to a student to whom the assessment instrument is not actually administered. The agency may comply with this subsection by any reasonable means, including by creating a refund system under which a school district returns any payment made for a student who registered for the administration of an assessment instrument but did not appear for the administration.

(d) A vendor that administers an assessment instrument for a district under this section shall report the results of the assessment instrument to the agency. The agency shall:

(1) include a student's results on the assessment instrument in the electronic student records system established under Section 7.010; and

(2) ensure that a student and the student's parent receive a report of the student's results on the assessment instrument.

(e) Subsection (a)(3) does not prohibit a high school student from selecting and taking, at the student's own expense, an assessment instrument described by that subdivision.

(f) The provisions of this section regarding assessment instruments administered under Subsection (a)(1) or (2) apply only if the legislature appropriates funds for those purposes.