(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(Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2027)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);
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(2) education (8th grade or less; less than 12th
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| 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
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(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
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| 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:
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(A) number of examinees;
(B) percentage and number of examinees who passed
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(C) percentage and number of examinees who passed
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(D) mean scaled scores on each part; and
(E) standard deviation of scaled scores on each
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(2) For male examinees, female examinees, Black or
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| 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.
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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
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| having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America, including Central America, and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment.
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(2) "Asian" means a person having origins in any of
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| 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.
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(3) "Black or African American" means a person having
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| origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa.
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(4) "Hispanic or Latino" means a person of Cuban,
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| Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.
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(5) "Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander" means
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| a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.
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(6) "White" means a person having origins in any of
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| the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.
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(Source: P.A. 102-465, eff. 1-1-22; 102-1100, eff. 1-1-23 .)
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