215 ILCS 5/500-50

(215 ILCS 5/500-50)

(Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2027)

Sec. 500-50. Insurance producers; examination statistics.

(a) The use of examinations for the purpose of determining qualifications of persons to be licensed as insurance producers has a direct and far-reaching effect on persons seeking those licenses, on insurance companies, and on the public. It is in the public interest and it will further the public welfare to insure that examinations for licensing do not have the effect of unlawfully discriminating against applicants for licensing as insurance producers on the basis of race, color, national origin, or sex.

(b) As used in this Section, the following words have the meanings given in this subsection.

Examination. "Examination" means the examination in each line of insurance administered pursuant to Section 500-30.

Examinee. "Examinee" means a person who takes an examination.

Part. "Part" means a portion of an examination for which a score is calculated.

Operational item. "Operational item" means a test question considered in determining an examinee's score.

Test form. "Test form" means the test booklet or instrument used for a part of an examination.

Pretest item. "Pretest item" means a prospective test question that is included in a test form in order to assess its performance, but is not considered in determining an examinee's score.

Minority group or examinees. "Minority group" or "minority examinees" means examinees who are American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, or Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander.

Correct-answer rate. "Correct-answer rate" for an item means the number of examinees who provided the correct answer on an item divided by the number of examinees who answered the item.

Correlation. "Correlation" means a statistical measure of the relationship between performance on an item and performance on a part of the examination.

(c) The Director shall ask each examinee to self-report on a voluntary basis on the answer sheet, application form, or by other appropriate means, the following information:

(1) race or ethnicity (American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, or White);

(2) education (8th grade or less; less than 12th grade; high school diploma or State of Illinois High School Diploma; some college, but no 4-year degree; or 4-year degree or more); and

(3) gender (male or female).

The Director must advise all examinees that they are not required to provide this information, that they will not be penalized for not doing so, and that the Director will use the information provided exclusively for research and statistical purposes and to improve the quality and fairness of the examinations.

(d) No later than May 1 of each year, the Director must prepare, publicly announce, and publish an Examination Report of summary statistical information relating to each examination administered during the preceding calendar year. Each Examination Report shall show with respect to each examination:

(1) For all examinees combined and separately by race or ethnicity, by educational level, by gender, by educational level within race or ethnicity, by education level within gender, and by race or ethnicity within gender:

(A) number of examinees;

(B) percentage and number of examinees who passed each part;

(C) percentage and number of examinees who passed all parts;

(D) mean scaled scores on each part; and

(E) standard deviation of scaled scores on each part.

(2) For male examinees, female examinees, Black or African American examinees, white examinees, American Indian or Alaska Native examinees, Asian examinees, Hispanic or Latino examinees, and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, respectively, with a high school diploma or State of Illinois High School Diploma, the distribution of scaled scores on each part.

No later than May 1 of each year, the Director must prepare and make available on request an Item Report of summary statistical information relating to each operational item on each test form administered during the preceding calendar year. The Item Report shall show, for each operational item, for all examinees combined and separately for Black or African American examinees, white examinees, American Indian or Alaska Native examinees, Asian examinees, Hispanic or Latino examinees, and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, the correct-answer rates and correlations.

The Director is not required to report separate statistical information for any group or subgroup comprising fewer than 50 examinees.

(e) The Director must obtain a regular analysis of the data collected under this Section, and any other relevant information, for purposes of the development of new test forms. The analysis shall continue the implementation of the item selection methodology as recommended in the Final Report of the Illinois Insurance Producer's Licensing Examination Advisory Committee dated November 19, 1991, and filed with the Department unless some other methodology is determined by the Director to be as effective in minimizing differences between white and minority examinee pass-fail rates.

(f) The Director has the discretion to set cutoff scores for the examinations, provided that scaled scores on test forms administered after July 1, 1993, shall be made comparable to scaled scores on test forms administered in 1991 by use of professionally acceptable methods so as to minimize changes in passing rates related to the presence or absence of or changes in equating or scaling equations or methods or content outlines. Each calendar year, the scaled cutoff score for each part of each examination shall fluctuate by no more than the standard error of measurement from the scaled cutoff score employed during the preceding year.

(g) No later than May 1, 2003 and no later than May 1 of every fourth year thereafter, the Director must release to the public and make generally available one representative test form and set of answer keys for each part of each examination.

(h) The Director must maintain, for a period of 3 years after they are prepared or used, all registration forms, test forms, answer sheets, operational items and pretest items, item analyses, and other statistical analyses relating to the examinations. All personal identifying information regarding examinees and the content of test items must be maintained confidentially as necessary for purposes of protecting the personal privacy of examinees and the maintenance of test security.

(i) In administering the examinations, the Director must make such accommodations for examinees with disabilities as are reasonably warranted by the particular disability involved, including the provision of additional time if necessary to complete an examination or special assistance in taking an examination.

(j) For the purposes of this Section:

(1) "American Indian or Alaska Native" means a person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America, including Central America, and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment.

(2) "Asian" means a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, but not limited to, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.

(3) "Black or African American" means a person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa.

(4) "Hispanic or Latino" means a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.

(5) "Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander" means a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.

(6) "White" means a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.

(Source: P.A. 102-465, eff. 1-1-22; 102-1100, eff. 1-1-23.)