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                                          
         
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        |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  








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             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
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         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