20 USC § 7909 - Prohibition on federally sponsored testing

---
identifier: "/us/usc/t20/s7909"
source: "usc"
legal_status: "official_prima_facie"
title: "20 USC § 7909 - Prohibition on federally sponsored testing"
title_number: 20
title_name: "EDUCATION"
section_number: "7909"
section_name: "Prohibition on federally sponsored testing"
chapter_number: 70
chapter_name: "STRENGTHENING AND IMPROVEMENT OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS"
subchapter_number: "VIII"
subchapter_name: "GENERAL PROVISIONS"
part_number: "F"
part_name: "Uniform Provisions"
positive_law: false
currency: "119-84"
last_updated: "2026-04-17"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
source_credit: "(Pub. L. 89–10, title VIII, § 8529, formerly title IX, § 9529, as added Pub. L. 107–110, title IX, § 901, Jan. 8, 2002, 115 Stat. 1984; amended Pub. L. 107–279, title IV, § 404(d)(9), Nov. 5, 2002, 116 Stat. 1986; renumbered title VIII, § 8529, and amended Pub. L. 114–95, title VIII, §§ 8001(a)(6), 8026, Dec. 10, 2015, 129 Stat. 2088, 2089, 2115.)"
---


# § 7909. Prohibition on federally sponsored testing

**(a)** **General prohibition** Notwithstanding any other provision of Federal law and except as provided in subsection (b), no funds provided under this chapter to the Secretary or to the recipient of any award may be used to develop, incentivize, pilot test, field test, implement, administer, or distribute any federally sponsored national test in reading, mathematics, or any other subject, unless specifically and explicitly authorized by law, including any assessment or testing materials aligned to the Common Core State Standards developed under the Common Core State Standards Initiative or any other academic standards common to a significant number of States.

**(b)** **Exceptions** section 9543(a)(6) of this title

Subsection (a) shall not apply to international comparative assessments developed under the authority of  and administered to only a representative sample of pupils in the United States and in foreign nations.

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**Source Credit**: (Pub. L. 89–10, title VIII, § 8529, formerly title IX, § 9529, as added Pub. L. 107–110, title IX, § 901, Jan. 8, 2002, 115 Stat. 1984; amended Pub. L. 107–279, title IV, § 404(d)(9), Nov. 5, 2002, 116 Stat. 1986; renumbered title VIII, § 8529, and amended Pub. L. 114–95, title VIII, §§ 8001(a)(6), 8026, Dec. 10, 2015, 129 Stat. 2088, 2089, 2115.)

## Editorial Notes

### Prior Provisions

A prior section 7909, , as added , , , related to Native Hawaiian curriculum development and teacher training and recruitment programs, prior to the general amendment of former subchapter IX of this chapter by .

### Amendments

2015—, amended section generally. Prior to amendment, section consisted of subsecs. (a) and (b) relating to general prohibition on federally sponsored testing and exceptions, respectively.

2002—Subsec. (b).  substituted “” for “”.

## Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date of 2015 Amendment

Amendment by  effective , except with respect to certain noncompetitive programs and competitive programs, see , set out as a note under .