BILL NUMBER: AB 885 CHAPTERED 09/23/02 CHAPTER 801 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 23, 2002 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 22, 2002 PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 30, 2002 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 30, 2002 AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 29, 2002 AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 26, 2002 AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 5, 2002 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 28, 2002 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 4, 2002 AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 20, 2002 AMENDED IN SENATE JANUARY 18, 2002 AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 2, 2001 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 31, 2001 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 15, 2001 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 1, 2001 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Daucher (Coauthor: Assembly Member Wyland) FEBRUARY 22, 2001 An act to add and repeal Section 46300.8 of the Education Code, relating to public schools. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 885, Daucher. Average daily attendance: Internet classroom. Existing law prescribes the method for computing average daily attendance of pupils under the direct supervision, as defined, of school district personnel for the purpose of determining school district apportionments. This bill would, notwithstanding any other provision of law, for the purposes of an online classroom program conducted over the Internet, as defined, in a secondary school, include as "immediate supervision," pupil participation in an online asynchronous interactive curriculum, as defined, provided by certificated school personnel. The bill would require schools that provide an online asynchronous interactive curriculum to meet certain requirements including, applying to the State Department of Education for participation in the program. The bill would limit total participation in the program to 40 schoolsites, and would restrict any one school district under the program to no more than 5 schoolsites. The bill would permit courses other than high school courses to be eligible for online classroom programs pursuant only to a waiver from the State Board of Education. This bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2006. This bill would require the Controller to provide for a financial audit of online classroom programs conducted over the Internet that are subject to the provisions of the bill. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) California suffers from a shortage of teachers. (b) Many schools are unable to provide advanced placement courses to their pupils. (c) Many schools have difficulty providing courses in hard-to-staff subject areas. (d) California has a diverse pupil population of varying learning styles. SEC. 2. Section 46300.8 is added to the Education Code, to read: 46300.8. (a) (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for the purposes of an online classroom program conducted over the Internet in a secondary school, "immediate supervision" includes pupil participation in an online asynchronous interactive curriculum provided by a certificated teacher. The certificated teacher responsible for the program shall be online and accessible to the pupil on a daily basis to respond to pupil queries, assign tasks, and dispense information. The course shall be approved by the governing board of the school district. (2) For purposes of this section, an "asynchronous interactivity curriculum" means a curriculum whereby the pupils and teacher interact using online resources, including, but not limited to, discussion boards, Web sites, and e-mail. However, the pupil and teacher need not necessarily be online at the same time. (3) For purposes of this section, "Internet" means the global information system that is logically linked together by a globally unique address space based on the Internet Protocol (IP), or its subsequent extensions, and that is able to support communications using the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) suite, or provides, uses, or makes accessible, either publicly or privately, high level services layered on the communications and related infrastructure described in this paragraph. (b) A pupil participating in an online program pursuant to this section shall not be credited with more than a total of one day of attendance per calendar day or for more than a total of five days of attendance per calendar week. (c) The total number of pupils participating in any given online classroom program pursuant to this section shall not exceed the average class size for similar courses in high schools of the school district offering the online classroom program. (d) A teacher may teach pupils in one or more online courses pursuant to this section only if the teacher concurrently teaches the same course to pupils in a traditional in-classroom setting in the providing high school district or has done so previously within the immediately preceding two-year period. The curriculum and activities shall be the same for the online course as for the traditional in-classroom course. (e) Any teacher teaching in an online classroom program shall hold the appropriate credential. (f) Schoolsites eligible to generate an online course pursuant to this section shall apply to the State Department of Education, and shall be approved based on a first-come, first-serve basis. No more than 40 schoolsites may operate an online course pursuant to this section. No school district may have more than 5 schoolsites that operate an online course pursuant to his section. (g) A school district offering an online course may contract with another school district to provide the online course to pupils of the offering school district. Contract terms shall be determined by mutual agreement of the school districts. School districts that provide online courses pursuant to the contract, shall contract directly with the offering school district and shall not enter into direct contracts with the pupils of the offering school district. (h) Statewide testing results for online pupils shall be reported to the home school district of the pupil. (i) Only high school courses shall be eligible for online classroom programs. School districts may, however, apply for a waiver from the State Board of Education to teach online courses to pupils in additional grade levels, and the state board may grant the waiver. (j) A pupil shall not be assigned to an online course unless the pupil voluntarily elects to participate in the online course. The parent or guardian of the pupil shall provide written consent before the pupil may participate in an online course. (k) A pupil may take up to two online courses per semester provided that the pupil is concurrently enrolled in traditional in-classroom courses. The governing board of a school district may waive this requirement for pupils who are unable to attend regular courses at a schoolsite. (l) A school district that chooses to offer an online course, or to contract pursuant to subdivision (f) to provide an online course, shall develop and implement policies addressing all of the following factors: test integrity, evaluation of the online courses including a comparison with traditional in-classroom courses, a procedure for attaining informed consent from both the parent and pupil regarding course enrollment, the teacher selection process, criteria regarding pupil priority for online courses, equity and access in terms of hardware or computer laboratories, teacher training for online teaching, teacher evaluation procedures, criteria for asynchronous learning including the type and frequency of the contact between pupil and teacher, pupil computer skills necessary to take an online course, and the provision of onsite support for online pupils. (m) School districts that provide online classroom programs shall verify that online pupils take examinations by proctor or that other reliable methods are used to ensure test integrity and that there is a clear record of pupil work, using the same method of documentation and assessment as in a traditional in-classroom course. (n) A school district that provides online classroom programs shall maintain records to verify the time that a pupil spends online and related activities in which a pupil is involved. The school district shall also maintain records verifying the time the instructor was online. (o) Minutes of pupil participation in online courses complying with subdivisions (a) to (n), inclusive, shall qualify for average daily attendance purposes within the structure of the 240 minute schoolday as set forth in Sections 46113 and 46141. Regional occupational programs may offer or contract with school districts to provide online courses. (p) The purposes of online classroom programs conducted pursuant to this section include all of the following: (1) Providing expanded educational opportunities for pupils attending schools with limited educational offerings. (2) Reaching out to pupils in schools where advanced placement courses are not available. (3) Providing quality educational services in courses for hard-to-staff subject areas in schools where a shortage of teachers make these classes unavailable. (4) Ensuring that courses provided over the Internet are at least as challenging as courses provided in a traditional educational setting. (5) Ensuring high teacher quality for online classroom purposes. (6) Ensuring pupil testing integrity for online classroom purposes. (7) Ensuring accountability for the purposes of verifying the active involvement of all pupils participating in courses provided over the Internet. (q) For each online class provided pursuant to this section, the governing board of a school district shall make findings of compliance with this section, including, but not limited to, the immediate supervision requirement, and shall report those findings to the department. (r) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, this section does not apply to online courses offered through a program administered by or coordinated through a California public postsecondary educational institution. (s) The Controller shall provide for a financial audit of online programs operated pursuant to this section. It is the intent of the Legislature that the Controller give these audits the highest priority. (t) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2006, and, as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2006, deletes or extends that date.