BILL ANALYSIS SB 1422 Page 1 SENATE THIRD READING SB 1422 (Romero) As Amended April 19, 2010 Majority vote SENATE VOTE :22-4 EDUCATION 9-0 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Ayes:|Brownley, Nestande, | | | | |Ammiano, Arambula, | | | | |Carter, Eng, Miller, | | | | |Norby, Torlakson | | | |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------| | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY : Authorizes the student government of a high school to establish a committee to develop a survey to solicit student opinions of different class aspects and teacher effectiveness, and establishes requirements for the administration and results of the survey. Specifically, this bill : 1)Authorizes the student government of a school that maintains any of grades 9-12 to establish a committee of high school students and teachers to develop a survey by which students may provide feedback to teachers for the purpose of fostering improved communication between students and teachers and improving individual classes and teaching methods for future generations of students; specifies that the survey developed by the committee shall solicit student opinion on different aspects of a class and the effectiveness of the teacher; and, authorizes the committee to annually revise the survey. 2)Specifies the administration of the survey and the survey results shall conform to all of the following requirements: a) Teachers annually shall be provided the survey and may survey the pupils in the classes they teach; b) Survey responses shall be confidential and shall be made known only to the teacher whose class is surveyed; c) No administrator or any other school or district official SB 1422 Page 2 shall view or have access to any survey responses without the express written consent of the teacher to whom the survey relates; d) Survey responses shall not become part of a teacher's personnel record; e) The survey and any responses shall not be used for collective bargaining purposes; and, f) The survey responses shall not be included in, nor shall they be used to influence the existing teacher evaluation process, if any, in a school or district in which the survey is conducted. EXISTING LAW requires: 1)A uniform system of evaluation of all certificated personnel within each school district, requiring each district to adopt objective evaluation guidelines, including standards of expected pupil achievement at each grade level in each area of study. (Education Code Section 44660 et. seq.) 2)The governing board of each school district to evaluate certificated employee performance as it reasonably relates to the progress of pupils toward the established standards; and, specifies that employee performance, instructional techniques, adherence to curricular objectives, and maintenance of a suitable learning environment are all among the items evaluated. (Education Code Section 44660 et. seq.) 3)The evaluation and assessment of the performance of each certificated employee shall be made on a continuing basis as follows: a) At least once each school year for probationary personnel; b) At least every other year for personnel with permanent status; and, c) At least every five years for personnel with permanent status who have been employed at least 10 years with the school district, as specified. (Education Code Section 44664) SB 1422 Page 3 FISCAL EFFECT : This bill is keyed non-fiscal. COMMENTS : According to the author, currently there is no organized system in public schools for students to provide feedback to teachers on their instruction methods. The goal is to provide a secure mechanism for teachers to incorporate, even on a voluntary basis, student feedback into their own efforts at professional development and curriculum improvement. Surely this is a reasonable request of California students, and no one knows what students need in regards to their personal learning styles better than they do. This measure will enable teachers to tap into valuable instructional insight while empowering and engaging students. The California Association of Student Councils (CASC) is the sponsor of this measure. At an informational hearing of the Senate Education Committee on February 25, 2009, the CASC Student Advisory Board on Legislation in Education called for "creating opportunities for students to provide feedback to their teachers" using forms that "provide teachers with valuable information regarding what can be done in order to adjust their teaching styles to student needs [and] allow teachers to focus on the specific, relevant subject matters that students need more help with." Prior legislation: SB 688 (Romero) of 2009, which was held on the Senate Appropriations Committee Suspense file, would have established a process by which school district governing boards could survey pupils to provide confidential feedback to high school teachers and required the California Department of Education (CDE), in consultation with the CASC, to develop model guidelines for the teacher evaluation process, to be posted on CDE's Web site by January 1, 2011. Analysis Prepared by : Chelsea Kelley / ED. / (916) 319-2087 FN: 0005207