BILL NUMBER: AB 1130 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 22, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Solorio
( Principal coauthor: Senator
Romero )
( Coauthor: Assembly Member
Mendoza )
FEBRUARY 27, 2009
An act to amend Section 52052.5 of add
Section 52052.6 to the Education Code, relating to education.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1130, as amended, Solorio. Academic performance.
Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to
establish an advisory committee to make recommendations by July 1,
2005, on a methodology for generating a measurement of academic
performance by utilizing unique pupil identifiers for pupils and
annual academic achievement growth to provide a more accurate measure
of a school's growth over time. Existing law also requires, if
appropriate and feasible, the Superintendent, with the approval of
the state board, to implement this measurement of academic
performance.
This bill would state findings and declarations regarding
standards-based education reform, assessments, and accountability and
the use of cohort growth measures in accountability systems and
intervention determinations.
This bill would remove provisions limiting the responsibility of
the board to make recommendations regarding measurement of academic
performance to completion on or before July 1, 2005. The bill would
require the committee's recommendations to be on a methodology for
generating a measurement of academic performance by using annual
academic achievement growth by cohort. The bill would require the
advisory committee to make these recommendations to the
Superintendent and to the state board.
This bill would state the intent of the Legislature that the
committee take into consideration specified recommendations and
consider measures already in use by other states. The bill would also
require the provide that if the committee
considers any measure of academic performance approved
by the board, if appropriate and feasible, to annual
academic achievement growth, the measure of annual academic
achievement growth by cohort approved in connection with requirements
described above or adopted through a state plan, as specified, shall
meet specified certain
requirements.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes
no . State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) California began the 21st Century
century among a small group of states that lead the nation in
standards-based education reform, assessments, and accountability.
However, other states have now surpassed California, particularly
with the use of cohort growth measures in accountability systems and
intervention determinations.
(b) California's current public school accountability system is
based on a static model that compares snapshots of individual school
and school district academic performance by grade level. Therefore,
determinations of whether or not schools have met growth targets are
calculated by comparing the difference in achievement from one year
to the next of different cohorts of pupils.
(c) This accountability system fails to adjust for the fact that
beginning levels of achievement vary each school year among cohorts.
As a result, schools and school districts, particularly with middle
grades and at the secondary level, are often unfairly held
accountable for the low performance of the school the pupils
previously attended.
(d) The limitations of a static model make it difficult for
California's accountability system to provide meaningful, reliable,
and valid longitudinal information to parents, educators, and policy
makers on whether or not local schools and school districts are
improving at a rate that will achieve success for all of California's
pupils within a reasonable period of time.
(e) A cohort growth measure incorporated into California's public
school accountability system will enable the state to more fairly
evaluate the academic achievement of California public schools and
school districts, and to hold them accountable for results.
(f) At the school and school district level, measuring each cohort'
s academic growth over time will provide better information to assist
educators in identifying pupils who need additional assistance and
identify where resources can best be targeted to close achievement
gaps.
(g) Parents, educators, and community leaders will be best served
by a public school accountability system that includes a cohort
growth measure that provides consistent, reliable, and valid
information as they collaborate to meet the needs of all pupils, each
year.
SEC. 2. Section 52052.5 of the Education Code
is amended to read:
52052.5. (a) The Superintendent shall establish a broadly
representative and diverse advisory committee to advise the
Superintendent and the state board on all appropriate matters
relative to the creation of the Academic Performance Index and the
implementation of the Immediate Intervention/Underperforming Schools
Program and the High Achieving/Improving Schools Program. Members of
the advisory committee shall serve without compensation for terms not
to exceed two years. The department shall provide staff to the
advisory panel.
(b) The advisory committee established pursuant to this section
shall make recommendations to the Superintendent and the state board
on the appropriateness and feasibility of a methodology for
generating a measurement of academic performance by utilizing unique
pupil identifiers for pupils in kindergarten and any of grades 1 to
12, inclusive, and annual academic achievement growth by cohort to
provide a more accurate measure of a school's and district's growth
over time.
(c)
SEC. 2. Section 52052.6 is added to the Education Code,
to read:
52052.6. (a) It is the intent of
the Legislature that, in conducting its responsibilities pursuant to
subdivision (b) of Section 52052.5 , the committee take
into consideration the recommendations of the California pilot study
conducted pursuant to Provision 10 of Item 6110-113-0890 of the
Budget Act of 2007, the statutory and regulatory requirements and
related guidance pursuant to the federal Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.), and waivers for
cohort growth measures approved for other states by the United States
Secretary of Education.
(d)
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that the
committee advisory committee established
pursuant to Section 52052.5 also consider measures already in
use by other states to facilitate the identification of various
performance levels of cohort growth, including, but not limited to,
whether each student, subgroup, school, and school district made at
least one year's academic growth in one year's time and whether the
amount of academic growth is adequate to reach a performance level of
proficient within a timeframe specified in the state's approved
accountability plan required pursuant to the federal Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.), and to
provide the ability to determine the following with reasonable
statistical confidence:
(1) High achievement with a growth rate indicating ability to
remain at proficiency or to move into the highest range of
achievement.
(2) High achievement with a growth rate indicating ability to
remain at least at proficiency.
(3) Low achievement with a growth rate indicating ability to reach
proficiency within a specified timeframe.
(4) Low achievement with a growth rate indicating significant
inability to reach proficiency within a specified timeframe.
(e) If appropriate and feasible, the Superintendent, with the
approval of the state board, shall implement the measurement of
academic performance recommended by the advisory committee.
(f) The measure of academic performance approved by the state
board pursuant to subdivision (e) or adopted through a state plan
approved by the state board acting as the State Educational Agency
(c) If the advisory committee
established pursuant to Section 52052.5 considers a measure of annual
academic achievement growth pursuant to Section 52052.5, any measure
of annual academic achievement growth by cohort approved in
connection with requirements of Section 52052.5 or adopted through a
state plan approved by the State Educational Agency pursuant to
any provision, or waiver of, the federal Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.), or any other
plan submitted by the state board or the state as
a requirement of receiving or allocating federal funds shall:
(1) Utilize a growth model in the public domain that is not
proprietary.
(2) Be able to be replicated by an independent statistician.
(3) Be able to be fully and accurately explained,
including the generation of all results, the specification of the
standard error, and the stringency of the confidence interval used to
determine whether the annual change in test scores is statistically
significant, in a document available to the public.