BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  SB 1357
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   June 16, 2010

                           ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
                                Julia Brownley, Chair
                   SB 1357 (Steinberg) - As Amended:  June 10, 2010

           SENATE VOTE  :   35-0
           
          SUBJECT  :   California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System

           SUMMARY  :   Requires the California Department of Education (CDE)  
          to include pupil attendance data and data on chronic absences in  
          the Annual Report on Dropouts in California and in the  
          California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS),  
          and to provide related reports to local educational agencies  
          (LEAs) on demand.  Specifically,  this bill  :   

          1)Makes legislative findings and declarations about the causes  
            and prevention of dropping out of school, the relationship  
            between school attendance and dropping out, and the collection  
            and reporting of attendance, graduation and dropout data.

          2)States legislative intent:

             a)   To improve the state's ability to support local  
               educational agencies in their efforts to increase academic  
               achievement and prevent dropouts by making the state's  
               education data system capable of collecting pupil level  
               data on chronic absenteeism.

             b)   To support the development of early warning systems to  
               enable the identification and support of individual pupils  
               who are at risk of academic failure or dropping out of  
               school, and to develop interventions to improve pupil  
               attendance, retention and achievement. 

             c)   That schools identified on the list of persistently  
               lowest-achieving schools, as approved by the State Board of  
               Education (SBE) for the purposes of receiving funding under  
               the federal School Improvement Grant program, will fully  
               utilize early warning systems

             d)   That the Annual Report on Dropouts in California, that  
               is required to be submitted to the Governor, Legislature  
               and SBE, be used to foster the development of effective  








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               supports and interventions to improve school attendance and  
               prevent pupils from dropping out of school.

          3)Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI), when  
            data are available, to include "chronic absence rates" in the  
            Annual Report on Dropouts in California.

          4)Requires the CDE, contingent upon the receipt of federal funds  
            for this purpose, to prepare the CALPADS to include data on  
            pupil attendance by developing additional fields to facilitate  
            data transfer, business rules and definitions that would be  
            needed to improve the quality and consistency of the data, and  
            processes for the transfer of data from LEAs.  Also requires  
            the CDE to consult with organizations representing school,  
            district, and county education administrators, classified and  
            certified staff, and parents in this process.

          5)Requires CALPADS to:

             a)   Support LEAs in efforts to identify and support pupils  
               at risk of dropping out.

             b)   Be capable of issuing periodic reports to LEAs that  
               include district, school, class, and individual pupil  
               reports on rates of absence and on chronic absences.

          6)Defines "chronic absence" to mean that a pupil is absent on 10  
            percent of the schooldays in the school year.

          7)Requires early warning systems, that may developed with the  
            intended support of the Legislature, to: 

             a)   Utilize highly predictive indicators, including  
               attendance, course grades or completion, performance on  
               assessments of pupil achievement, suspensions, and  
               expulsions.

             b)   Have the predictive reliability of the systems ensured  
               through a thorough validation process.

             c)   Provide periodic early warning reports that inform  
               principals, teachers, and parents in a manner that enables  
               timely identification and support of individual pupils who  
               are at risk of academic failure or dropping out.









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          8)Authorizes a LEA to submit data on pupil attendance and other  
            indicators as identified by the CDE, when CALPADS is prepared  
            to accept data on pupil attendance.  Also authorizes a LEA to  
            request, and requires the CDE to provide, early warning  
            reports up to four times each school year.

          9)Requires the CDE to notify LEAs that reporting pupil  
            attendance and chronic absence data pursuant to this section  
            is voluntary; also requires the notification to include the  
            benefits of reporting pupil attendance and chronic absence  
            data, and in developing effective supports and interventions  
            for at-risk pupils. 

           EXISTING LAW  :

          1)Requires the CDE to develop CALPADS in order to provide state  
            and local educational agencies with the data necessary for  
            compliance with the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, a  
            means for evaluating educational programs and progress,  
            information needed to improve student achievement, and a  
            common means for maintaining longitudinal pupil-level data.

          2)Establishes the California School Information Services (CSIS)  
            program for the purpose of developing and implementing an  
            electronic statewide school information system, including the  
            assignment of non-personally identifiable student identifiers  
            (SSID) to all public K-12 students in California, so as to  
            facilitate the exchange of student data between LEAs and with  
            the CDE.  

          3)Requires LEAs to retain individual pupil records, including  
            attendance, demographic and pupil achievement data, use the  
            SSID to ensure the accuracy of information on state tests,  
            retain all data necessary to compile reports required by NCLB  
            (including dropout and graduation rates), and provide other  
            data elements deemed necessary by the SPI.

          4)Establishes School Attendance Review Boards (SARBs) at the  
            local and county level to create a safety net for students  
            with persistent attendance or behavior problems in order to  
            keep students in school, provide them with a meaningful  
            educational experience and, when necessary, to refer students  
            and their parents or guardians to court.

          5)Defines a truant as any pupil subject to compulsory full-time  








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            education or to compulsory continuation education who is  
            absent from school without a valid excuse three full days in  
            one school year or tardy or absent for more than any 30-minute  
            period during the school day without a valid excuse on three  
            occasions in one school year, or any combination thereof.  

          6)Specifies that a truant shall be reported to the attendance  
            supervisor or to the superintendent of the school district,  
            and requires the school district to notify the pupil's parent  
            or guardian, as specified, by first-class mail or other  
            reasonable means.

          7)Authorizes school district officials, a peace officer or a  
            probation officer to arrest or assume temporary custody of any  
            minor found away from his or her home and who is absent from  
            school without a valid excuse.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :   According to the Senate Appropriations  
          Committee analysis of this bill, the CDE estimates that the  
          one-time state costs of adjusting CALPADS to collect attendance  
          would be approximately $300,000. That analysis also notes that  
          the costs of CDE workload related to the reports that LEAs are  
          authorized to request from the CDE are speculative as it is  
          unclear exactly what information local agencies would request or  
          how many districts would request the reports; the Appropriations  
          Committee analysis states that, "With over 1,000 [LEAs] in the  
          state, it is reasonable to assume these costs are significant,  
          perhaps in the hundreds of thousands, annually."

          COMMENTS  :   According to the author, this bill will support  
          California schools in identifying "students who are most at risk  
          of academic failure or dropping out, before it's too late. The  
          bill enables the collection of new data on student absenteeism  
          and combines that data with other predictive indicators already  
          collected by our education data system.  These combined  
          indicators will become the foundation of an "early warning  
          system," so that critical education, health, and community  
          supports can be strategically targeted before students abandon  
          school."

          The author also states that, "Earlier efforts to build an early  
          warning system have stalled for lack of funds. SB 1357 renews  
          the effort at a time when federal funds are available to invest  
          in improving state data systems to identify students with the  
          greatest needs.  Chronic absence from school, even in the  








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          primary grades, is one of the most accurate predictors of later  
          high school dropout. Our education data system, however, is not  
          equipped to collect data on absenteeism. California must do more  
          to support districts and make sure that individual students, and  
          schools, are identified when they show clear signs of distress.  
          Once identified, districts, parents, schools and communities can  
          do a better job of providing the supports needed to address the  
          problem."

          The broad vision of this bill is conceptually sound and  
          attractive.  Research clearly links, in the aggregate though not  
          necessarily in every individual pupil, both attendance and  
          achievement, and lack of attendance and the probability of  
          dropping out of school.  So any policy change that leads to more  
          and earlier information about pupil attendance being made  
          available to parents and educators is good policy in terms of  
          leading to increases in pupil achievement and decreases in the  
          number of drop outs.  It is not completely clear, however,  
          whether the complete vision of this bill and its benefits will  
          be realized by the bill's enactment, since most of those  
          benefits depend on actions or occurrences that are beyond the  
          requirements of the bill or outside of the control of the state.  
           Three examples of requirements in the bill are illustrative of  
          this sort of contingent or dependent benefit.

          1)The bill requires the SPI, when data are available, to include  
            "chronic absence rates" in the Annual Report on Dropouts in  
            California, thus providing the benefit of increased  
            information on this problem; however, this data will not be  
            available until data on chronic absenteeism is included in  
            CALPADS (which ties to the second example below), or until  
            LEAs voluntarily choose to submit attendance data to CALPADS  
            (which ties to the third example).

          2)The bill requires the CDE, contingent upon the receipt of  
            federal funds for this purpose, to prepare CALPADS to include  
            data on pupil attendance; this would, among other effects,  
            enable the SPI to report on chronic absenteeism.  However, any  
            benefits from this expansion of CALPADS are contingent upon  
            the receipt of federal funding for this purpose.  Earlier this  
            year the CDE applied for a $19.9 million federal grant,  
            through the Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems Grant Program,  
            that would have included funds for this purpose; in late May  
            the state was notified by the federal government that  
            California was not being awarded those grant funds.








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          3)The bill requires the CDE to provide, up to four times each  
            school year upon a request from an LEA, early warning reports  
            that include pupil attendance data and enable timely  
            identification and support of individual pupils who are at  
            risk of academic failure or dropping out.  However, there is  
            no mandate on LEAs to provide this attendance data to CALPADS;  
            the bill only mandates CDE to develop the capacity for CALPADS  
            to hold this data.  It is unclear whether the receipt of early  
            warning reports would be enough incentive to move LEAs to  
            voluntarily incur the cost of submitting the data to CDE, when  
            those reports are based on pupil data, including attendance  
            data, that were submitted by the LEA itself.

          With contingencies such as these in place, attainment of the  
          full vision and benefits of the bill are uncertain.  Given the  
          state's current fiscal situation, however, a staff  
          recommendation to eliminate the contingencies in this bill by  
          placing direct mandates on the SPI, CDE, and LEAs would be  
          irresponsible.  However, this bill does establish a long-term  
          vision and take steps toward that vision, and the bill generates  
          a number of clear policy benefits in doing so.  Those benefits  
          include that the bill will:

          1)Make it easier for some LEAs to focus on the attendance  
            problem, and react to the early warning that they may get from  
            state reports.  If CALPADS is expanded to accept attendance  
            data, then some districts, particularly small and mid-sized  
            districts who do not have large scale data capabilities, may  
            find it beneficial to submit attendance data and request early  
            warning reports from the state.

          2)Move the attention that some LEAs pay to attendance issues  
            beyond a focus on truancy only.  Currently compulsory  
            education laws, requirements on LEAs to react to truancy,  
            punishments and fines for parents of truant pupils, and the  
            School Attendance Review Board (SARB) process place the focus  
            on truancy. There are, however, issues with pupil attendance  
            that do not lead to truancy. This bill places the focus on  
            attendance, and not exclusively on truancy; since no early  
            warning or intervention system is in place to deal with  
            non-truant chronic absence, this may help some districts  
            address attendance issues more comprehensively.

          3)Provide a foundation upon which the complete vision of a  








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            comprehensive data system and pupil attendance early warning  
            systems could be fleshed out, once sufficient federal or state  
            funds are available.  For the time being, activities in the  
            bill that the SPI and CDE are able to complete, or that LEAs  
            voluntarily undertake may provide opportunities for some LEAs  
            and their pupils to benefit from the development of these  
            systems.

          4)Provide benefits in terms of moving the state's educational  
            data system to be more comprehensive in nature; any inclusion  
            of information on pupil attendance in the state's educational  
            data system will provide benefits in terms of public policy  
            and program evaluation, educational research, and public  
            transparency.

          5)Provide, potentially, a summary of attendance data to  
            receiving LEAs when pupils transfer from one LEA to another.   
            Complete attendance data does not always move with transfer  
            pupils, even though information on truancy, suspensions and  
            expulsions, and attendance-related behavior problems generally  
            do. 

          Background on CALPADS: CALPADS is the foundation of California's  
          education data system. CALPADS collects student level data on  
          demographics, program participation and course completion, and  
          teacher level data including course assignments.  When fully  
          implemented, CALPADS will provide the state and LEAs with the  
          data necessary for compliance with the federal Elementary and  
          Secondary Education Act (currently NCLB), with a means for  
          evaluating educational programs and progress, with information  
          needed to improve student achievement, and with a common means  
          for maintaining longitudinal pupil-level data.

          The first software release for the system occurred in August  
          2009, and included only administrative functions of the system;  
          a second release in October 2009 included those parts of the  
          system involved in the collection of data from local educational  
          agencies.  The initial 2009 releases of CALPADS system software  
          generated concerns over the stability of the system.  These  
          concerns led the CDE to temporarily halt further development on  
          additional CALPADS software functions, to suspend an additional  
          procurement for the development of the California Longitudinal  
          Teacher Integrated Data System (CALTIDES), and to a decision in  
          December 2009 to ask the project's independent verification and  
          validation contractor to conduct an assessment of the CALPADS  








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          system architecture and technical processes.  That assessment  
          exposed system stability problems, including: "Outages- where  
          the system is unavailable to all or a significant segment of the  
          user base; Crashes - where users who are logged into the system  
          are kicked out or the system 'locks up' stopping the users'  
          workflow; Slow performance - where the system is slow to respond  
          or 'times out' for one or more users performing a variety of  
          functions with the system; Defects - where the system does not  
          provide the functionality or return the results as expected."   
          During January 2010, CDE and its development contractor, IBM,  
          reacted to the assessment, and CDE communicated their intention  
          to hold IBM accountable for remedying the system's stability and  
          getting the project back on track.  CDE also asked IBM to  
          develop a plan to stabilize the system; IBM responded by  
          developing such a plan to stabilize the system by March 29,  
          2010.  The stabilization effort has shown positive results.   
          These issues were the subject of an oversight hearing held by  
          this Committee on May 12, 2010; at that time the Committee heard  
          testimony from the CDE and its independent verification and  
          validation contractor on these issues and received an update on  
          efforts to improve the stability of the CALPADS system software.

          Committee amendments: Committee staff recommends the following  
          amendments to the bill.

          1)The bill states legislative intent that schools on the list of  
            persistently lowest achieving schools, approved by the SBE for  
            purposes of identifying eligibility for federal School  
            Improvement Grants, fully use the "early warning systems" that  
            may be developed as a result of this bill.  Since schools may  
            be identified as persistently lowest achieving for other  
            reasons under current law, this statement of legislative  
            intent should be more general, so as to apply to any  
            identified persistently lowest achieving school.

          2)The bill proposes to include "pupil attendance" data in  
            CALPADS, but does not clearly define what form that data  
            should take.  If the intent of the bill is to include daily  
            (and at the middle and high school level, period-by-period)  
            attendance information on individual pupils, this would create  
            a huge amount of very fine-grained information that may not be  
            particularly useful at the state level, but would be costly  
            and burdensome in terms of changes to CALPADS necessary to  
            include such data.  For example attendance for a pupil over  
            180 instructional days in each of 13 years of school plus up  








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            to seven periods in grades 7 through 12, could mean as many as  
            8,800 additional fields of data added to CALPADS for each  
            pupil record.  The purposes of this bill can instead be served  
            by including data on the rate of attendance over some limited  
            time span for a pupil (e.g., percent absences for the month or  
            percent attended during each quarter), without incurring the  
            costs and technical burden of collecting daily attendance in  
            CALPADS.  Committee staff recommends that the "quarterly rate  
            of pupil attendance" be specified as the measure of pupil  
            attendance that is included in CALPADS for each individual  
            pupil.

          3)Technical amendments that include citing the "exit examination  
            adopted" pursuant to law rather than the currently adopted  
            California High School Exit Examination, clarifying that the  
            definition of "chronic absence" is actually a definition of a  
            "chronic absentee" and making conforming changes, conforming  
            the denominator used in the definition of "chronic absence" to  
            that use in other sections of law (e.g., calculation of ADA),  
            clarifying that the definition of "chronic absence" applies to  
            a pupil who is absent for 10%  or more  of the instructional  
            days and not only to a pupil who is absent exactly 10% of the  
            time.

          Related legislation:  SB 1317 (Leno), pending in the Assembly  
          Public Safety Committee and referred to the Assembly Education  
          Committee, creates a new misdemeanor for parents of children in  
          grades 1-8 who are "chronically truant", where that offense is  
          punishable by a fine of up to $2,500 and/or one year in county  
          jail; the bill also authorizes courts to establish a deferred  
          entry of judgment program for cases involving parents or  
          guardians of chronically truant elementary school students.

          Previous legislation:  AB 1446 (DeSaulnier), held in the Senate  
          Appropriations Committee in 2008, would have required a school  
          district, upon a pupil's initial classification as a truant, to  
          notify a parent or guardian within one week of a pupil's last  
          day of being absent from school without a valid excuse, or tardy  
          or absent for more than any 30-minute period during the school  
          day without a valid excuse.  SB 1298 (Simitian), Chapter 561,  
          Statutes of 2008, establishes processes by which local education  
          agencies and public institutions of higher education issue,  
          maintain, and report information using the unique SSIDs required  
          under current law.  SB 1614 (Simitian), Chapter 840, Statutes of  
          2006, requires the development of CALTIDES to serve as a central  








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          state repository of information on the teacher workforce, and  
          specifies that the existing California Education Information  
          System include CALTIDES, CALPADS, and the California Basic  
          Educational Data System.  SB 1453 (Alpert), Chapter 1002,  
          Statutes of 2002, authorizes the longitudinal data system in its  
          current form, and specifies that the system be known as CALPADS.  
                               

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :

           Support 
           
          Association of California School Administrators
          Bay Area Council
          California Family Resource Association
          California Federation of Teachers
          California School Health Centers Association
          California School Nurses Organization (seeking amendments)
          California State PTA
          Children Now
          Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
          Public Advocates
          San Francisco Unified School District
          Silicon Valley Leadership Group
          The Education Trust-West
           
            Opposition 
           
          None on file

          Analysis Prepared by  :    Gerald Shelton / ED. / (916) 319-2087