BILL ANALYSIS ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1357| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ UNFINISHED BUSINESS Bill No: SB 1357 Author: Steinberg (D) Amended: 8/20/10 Vote: 21 SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 8-0, 4/14/10 AYES: Romero, Huff, Alquist, Hancock, Liu, Price, Simitian, Wyland NO VOTE RECORDED: Maldonado SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 10-0, 5/27/10 AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Corbett, Denham, Leno, Price, Walters, Wolk, Wyland, Yee NO VOTE RECORDED: Cox SENATE FLOOR : 35-0, 6/1/10 AYES: Aanestad, Alquist, Ashburn, Calderon, Cedillo, Cogdill, Corbett, Correa, Cox, Denham, DeSaulnier, Ducheny, Dutton, Florez, Hancock, Harman, Hollingsworth, Huff, Kehoe, Leno, Liu, Lowenthal, Negrete McLeod, Padilla, Pavley, Price, Romero, Runner, Simitian, Steinberg, Strickland, Wolk, Wright, Wyland, Yee NO VOTE RECORDED: Oropeza, Walters, Wiggins, Vacancy, Vacancy ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not available SUBJECT : California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System SOURCE : Author CONTINUED SB 1357 Page 2 DIGEST : This bill requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to include pupil attendance data on chronic absentees 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 on demand. Assembly Amendments 1.Expand the provisions of preparation that the CDE must use in preparing CALPADS. 2.Require the periodic reports by CALPADS to local educational agencies to include district, school, class, and individual pupil rates of absence and chronic absentees. 3.Make the implementation of the provisions regarding the inclusion of pupil attendance data in CALPADS contingent upon the appropriation of federal funds specifically for the purposes of those provisions. 4.Made other technical changes. ANALYSIS : Existing Law 1.Defines a truant as a pupil who is absent from school without valid excuse tree 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. 2.Requires any pupil who has once been report as a truant and who is again absent or tardy to again be reported as a truant. 3.Defines a habitual truant as a pupil who has been reported as a truant three or more times per school year (at least five days), if an appropriate district officer or employee has made a conscientious effort to hold at CONTINUED SB 1357 Page 3 least one conference with a parent and the pupil. 4.Requires, beginning August 1, 2011, the Superintendent of Public Instruction to produce the Annual Report on Dropouts in California using the California Longitudinal Achievement Data System (CALPADS). This bill: 1.Makes legislative findings and declarations about the relationship between, and the causes and prevention of dropping out of school and low pupil attendance. 2.States legislative intent regarding efforts to improve pupil attendance and prevent dropouts. 3.Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to include "chronic absentee rates" in the Annual Report on Dropouts in California, and defines "chronic absentee" to mean a pupil who is absent for 10 percent or more of the schooldays in a school year. 4.Requires the CDE, contingent upon the receipt of federal funds for this purpose and in consultation with the Department of Finance and the Legislative Analyst's Office, to prepare CALPADS to include quarterly rate of pupil attendance data, to support efforts to identify and support pupils at risk of dropping out, and to be capable of issuing local educational agencies (LEAs) periodic district, school, class and individual pupil reports on rates of absence and on chronic absences. Requires the CDE to consult with organizations representing school, district, and county education administrators, classified and certificated staff, and parents in this process. 5.Requires early warning systems, that may be developed, to utilize highly predictive indicators, including attendance, course grades or completion, pupil achievements on assessments, suspensions and expulsions, have predictive reliability of the systems ensures through thorough validation, and 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 CONTINUED SB 1357 Page 4 academic failure or dropping out. 6.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, and to request early warning reports, which CDE would be required to provide up to four times each school year. 7.Requires the CDE to notify LEAs that reporting pupil attendance and chronic absentee data pursuant to this bill is voluntary. Requires the notification to include reporting pupil attendance/chronic absentee data and of developing effective supports and interventions for at-risk pupils. 8.Prohibits the provisions of this bill from being implemented unless federal funds are appropriated specifically for this purpose. 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, "Chronic absence from school, even in the 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 CONTINUED SB 1357 Page 5 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. 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. 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 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, move the attention that some LEAs pay to attendance issues beyond a focus on truancy only, provide a foundation upon which the complete vision of a comprehensive data system and pupil attendance early warning systems could be fleshed out once sufficient federal or state funds are available, provide benefits in terms of moving the state's educational data system to be more comprehensive in nature, and provide a summary of attendance data to receiving LEAs when pupils transfer from one LEA to another. Related Legislation SB 1148 (Alquist) -- 2009-10 Session . Deems as a truant any pupil who is absent from school without a valid excuse for at least 10 percent of the school year, and requires the permanent record of a pupil to reflect if she or she has been deemed a chronic truant. (Held in Senate Appropriations on Suspense) SB 1317 (Leno) -- 2009-10 Session . Creates a new misdemeanor for parents of a pupil deemed chronically truant, and establishes a deferred entry of judgment program specifically designed to address issues of chronic truancy. (In Assembly awaiting assignment) CONTINUED SB 1357 Page 6 FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No Fiscal Impact (in thousands) Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 Fund CALPADS $300 Federal Early warning Unknown, potentially significant General reports SUPPORT : (Verified 8/25/10) Advancement Project Association of California School Administrators Bay Area Council CA Assn for Health, Physical Ed., Recreation and Dance California Association of School Counselors CA Assn of Supervisors of Child Welfare and Attendance California Business Education Coalition California Family Resource Association California Federation of Teachers California Postsecondary Education Commission California School Health Centers Association California School Nurses Association California State PTA Children Now The Education Trust-West Fight Crime: Invest in Kids California Junior Leagues of California League of Women Voters of California Los Angeles Unified School District Office of San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris Partnership for Children and Youth PICO California Public Advocates San Francisco Unified School District ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office, CONTINUED SB 1357 Page 7 "chronic absence from school, even in the primary grades, is one of the most accurate predictors of dropping out of school. This 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 support can be strategically targeted before students abandon school." Proponents argue that dropping out of school is the final step in a process of disengagement, which if often reflected in poor attendance. However, California is one of just seven states that does not collect individualized attendance data, making it far more difficult to identify potential dropouts or schools that are in danger of high dropout rates. CPM:cm 8/25/10 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED