BILL ANALYSIS
AB 400
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Date of Hearing: May 2, 2007
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mark Leno, Chair
AB 400 (Nunez) - As Amended: April 12, 2007
Policy Committee: EducationVote:7-3
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction
(SPI), beginning with the 2008-09 fiscal year (FY), to
incorporate additional academic indicators into the Academic
Performance Index (API). Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the following indicators to be incorporated into the
API:
a) High school graduation rates, as specified.
b) Rates by which pupils are offered and actually complete
a course of study that fulfills requirements for admission
to California public institutions of postsecondary
education (i.e., "A-G" requirements).
c) Rates by which pupils are offered and actually complete
a course of study that provides the skills and knowledge
necessary to attain entry-level employment in business or
industry when they graduate from high school. The measure
further requires the SPI to use specified indicators to
determine courses that meet this definition, including
career and technical education (CTE) courses,
number/percentage of pupils who earn a certificate or
license in a particular occupation, scores of pupils, and
workforce outcomes.
2)Requires the results of the current assessments used to
calculate the API to constitute 50% of the value of the API.
The bill further requires the additional indicators added by
this measure to constitute the other 50% of the API.
AB 400
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3)Requires the SPI to design the additional indicators
(referenced above) in a manner that gives additional weight to
the combined rate by which pupils satisfy "A-G" requirements
and complete courses that provide entry-level skills, as
specified.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)General Fund (GF) administrative costs to the SPI, likely in
excess of $300,000, to collect indicators regarding
entry-level employment. These costs include collecting the
information, coordination with other state departments, and
constructing a data system that allows for the transfer of
information.
2)To the extent that local education agencies do not already
collect this data, there are potential, unknown GF
(Proposition 98) costs, of at least $50,000, to local
education agencies to collect data.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . In November 2006, UC ACCORD/UCLA IDEA projects
released a report entitled Removing the Roadblocks: Fair
College Opportunities for All California Students. This
report provides statistics that demonstrate the lack of access
poor and minority students have to an "A-G" curriculum and
other resources that indicate a college-prep culture.
In February 2007, the UCLA IDEA institute released a report
entitled Multiple Perspectives on Multiple Pathways: Preparing
CA's Youth for College, Career, and Civic Responsibility.
This report attempts to bridge the divide between the
following two high school curriculum debates: "A-G" and CTE.
"A-G" proponents argue that the default curriculum in high
schools for all students should be meeting these requirements
in order for all students to be prepared to attend college.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, CTE advocates argue that
not all students want or will go to college and therefore,
high schools need to prepare these students to graduate with
employable skills.
This report states that high schools must offer "multiple
pathways" to students, which consist of "a range of
educational options that tie formal education to work,
AB 400
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community, and responsibilities of civic participation, and
leadership. Each pathway offers demanding programs of
academic and technical study leading to the full range of
postsecondary options and career opportunities."
This bill proposes to include college-preparation and CTE
indicators in the API to ensure that students are being
offered "multiple pathways" in schools and to hold schools
accountable for offering students a "complete" education and
not one simply measured on test scores.
2)SB 1X (Alpert), Chapter 3, Statutes of 1999 , established the
Public Schools Accountability Act, which required the
development of the Academic Performance Index (API). The API
is used to measure performance of schools and districts over
time. An API score is calculated based on students'
performance on the following standardized tests: the
California Standards Tests (CSTs) in English language arts,
mathematics, and history-social science, and science (where
applicable), the norm-referenced California Achievement Test
(CAT-6) in grades three and seven, and the California High
School Exit Exam (CAHSEE).
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081