BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 124
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Date of Hearing: March 16, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
AB 124 (Fuentes) - As Introduced: January 20, 2011
SUBJECT : Academic content standards: English Language
Development Standards Advisory Committee
SUMMARY : Establishes a 13-member English Language Development
Standards Advisory Committee (ELDSAC) to update, revise, and
align the English language development (ELD) standards to the
common core state standards in English language arts (ELA).
Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires the ELDSAC to consist of 13 members, to be appointed
as follows:
a) Four members appointed by the Governor;
b) Three members appointed by the Senate Committee on
Rules;
c) Three members appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly;
and,
d) Three members appointed by the Superintendent of Public
Instruction (SPI).
2)Requires that at least seven of the members appointed to the
ELDSAC be credentialed classroom teachers possessing
authorized certificates to instruct English learners (ELs) and
a minimum of three years of demonstrated experience
instructing English learners, and requires that at least four
of the seven teachers represent elementary schools. Specifies
that the remaining members of the advisory committee shall
include specified representatives with EL expertise.
3)Specifies that the members of the ELDSAC shall serve at the
pleasure of the SPI and requires meetings or hearings of the
ELDSAC be open and available to the public.
4)Stipulates that the ELDSAC shall update, revise, and align the
ELD standards to the common core state standards in ELA by
grade level, and shall be comparable to, and as rigorous and
specific as, the common core ELA academic content standards.
5)Requires, on or before August 31, 2012, the ELDSAC to present
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its revised and aligned ELD standards to the State Board of
Education (SBE), and requires the SBE, on or before September
30, 2012, to do either of the following:
a) Adopt the ELD standards presented by the ELDSAC; or,
b) Reject the ELD standards presented by the ELDSAC, in
which case, the SBE shall transmit to the SPI, the
Governor, and the appropriate policy and fiscal committees
of the Legislature a specific written explanation of the
reasons why the standards presented by the ELDSAC were
rejected.
6)Requires the SPI and the SBE to present to the Governor and
the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the
Legislature a schedule and implementation plan for integrating
the ELD standards adopted pursuant to this bill into the state
public education system.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires each school district that has one or more pupils who
are ELs to assess the language development of each of those
pupils upon initial enrollment in order to determine the level
of proficiency of those pupils, and thereafter to assess each
of those pupils annually until the pupil is redesignated as
English proficient.
2)Requires the SBE to approve standards for ELD for pupils whose
primary language is a language other than English, and
requires that these standards be comparable in rigor and
specificity to the statewide academically rigorous content
standards for English language arts.
3)Establishes the Academic Content Standards Commission for
purposes of developing academic content standards in language
arts and mathematics that are internationally benchmarked and
build toward college and career readiness by the time of high
school graduation.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Background : California adopted ELD standards in
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1999, as a result of AB 748 (Escutia), Chapter 936, Statutes of
1997. The standards, developed for the domains of listening and
speaking, reading and writing, represent what EL pupils must
know and be able to do as they move toward full fluency in the
English language, and these standards are the basis for the
English language development test (ELDT). Current law requires
the ELD standards to be comparable in rigor and specificity to
the ELA standards adopted by the SBE. According to the
introduction in the ELD standards document prepared by the
California Department of Education (CDE), "The English-language
development (ELD) standards are designed to supplement the
English-language arts content standards to ensure that
limited-English proficient (LEP) students (now called English
learners in California) develop proficiency in both the English
language and the concepts and skills contained in the
English-language arts content standards."
Pursuant to SB 1 X5 (Steinberg), Chapter 2, Statutes of 2009-10,
Fifth Extraordinary Session, on August 2, 2010, the SBE adopted
the common core state standards in ELA and mathematics. School
districts use both the ELA standards and the ELD standards to
develop proficiency of ELs in the English language and in the
ELA content, hence there will be a need to ensure the ELD
standards are aligned with the recently adopted common core
state standards, in order to ensure consistency in the
curriculum particularly as plans to implement the common core
state standards are developed.
This bill establishes a process, similar to the one previously
established to adopt the common core state standards, to revise,
adopt and align the existing ELD standards to the common core
state standards, and creates a 13-member advisory committee to
be appointed by the Governor, the Senate Committee on Rules, the
Speaker of the Assembly and the SPI to recommend revised ELD
standards to the SBE.
Importance of English language development : Nearly 1.5 million
of the state's 6.2 million students were identified as ELs
during the 2009-10 school year, representing approximately 24%
of the state's total public school enrollment. ELs are at a
considerable disadvantage relative to their native English
speaking peers, as they enter school with different levels of
English fluency and therefore have different instructional needs
to achieve language and academic proficiency. The Proposition
227 Year 5 evaluation, Effects of the Implementation of
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Proposition 227 on the Education of English learners, K-12,
finds that one of the key factors that leads to EL success
includes having systematic, carefully designed plans for the
provision of ELD instructional services. The ELD standards are
an important tool in developing and delivering instructional
services to ELs that differentiate instruction according to
proficiency levels and therefore it is important that the ELD
standards are updated and adequately aligned to the recently
adopted ELA standards.
The common core standards do not spell out how students at
different levels of English proficiency can meet or access those
standards, but they do acknowledge the importance of addressing
the instructional needs of English learners and students with
disabilities. The introduction to the Common Core state
standards include two sections, one of them titled, "Application
of Common Core State Standards for English Language Learners"
that explains how the common core standards apply to ELs, and
this introductory document recognizes the need for language
proficiency standards that "teachers can use in conjunction with
the ELA standards to assist ELLs ÝELs] in becoming proficient
and literate in English." The SBE did not adopt this
introductory document with the common core state standards, and
while the document itself would not have been enough guidance
for teachers of English learners, the fact that there are
essentially no other resources available relative to the common
core standards that speak to the instructional needs of almost
one quarter of our student population, creates a considerable
need for this bill.
English language development test : Current law requires the
test used to assess the English language development of ELs, to
be aligned to the ELD standards and Title III of the federal No
Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), requires ELD standards to
be linked to content standards and requires the English language
proficiency test to be appropriately aligned to the ELD
standards. This bill does not require the ELDT to be revised to
align the standards that would be adopted pursuant to this bill,
but rather takes a step in addressing standards alignment first.
However, the test alignment will very likely be a consideration
in the future, particularly in light of a federal initiative
that California may consider participating in relative to the
development of English proficiency tests based on the common
core standards.
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The United States Department of Education (USDOE) issued a
notice for proposed grant priorities published in the Federal
Register on January 7, 2011 announcing that it plans to add the
development of English-proficiency tests based on the common
core state standards as a priority to an existing competitive
grant program called the Enhanced Assessment Instruments Grant
program. The notice proposes that members of any consortium
getting a grant must agree to a common definition of ELs and
common criteria for such students to move out of that
classification. At the time of this writing, it is unknown
whether California will participate in this grant program.
This bill requires the SPI and the SBE to present to the
Governor and the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the
Legislature a schedule and implementation plan for integrating
the revised ELD standards into the state public education
system. Staff recommends an amendment to specify that the plan
for integrating the standards into the education system includes
but, is not limited to, integrating the standards into the
English language development test.
Suggested technical amendment : For purposes of consistency and
clarity in the Code, staff recommends an amendment to conform
existing Education Code Section 60811 to the provisions of this
bill as follows:
Not later than July 1, 1999, the The State Board of Education
shall approve standards for English language development for
pupils whose primary language is a language other than English.
The standards shall be comparable in rigor and specificity to
the standards for English language arts adopted pursuant to
Section 60605 or 60605.8 .
The author states, "By requiring the state to review the ELD
standards for their alignment to the newly adopted ELA
standards, this bill will save school districts time and money
because each district will not have to do this work
independently. AB 124 requires the state to take the next step
in ensuring quality instruction of the state's ELL pupils."
Arguments in support : The California Association of Latino
Superintendents and Administrators writes, "CALSA strongly
supports this bill because student assessment data shows that
English language learners are continuing to fall behind
student's whose primary language is English. While California
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has an existing set of ELD standards, they are in need of
improvement and alignment. Currently, there is no mechanism
that provides teachers direction to link English language
development and English language arts content standards to
ensure fully integrated lessons based on the level of a
student's English language proficiency. Passage of AB 124 will
begin this process."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Association of California School Administrators (Co-sponsor)
Californians Together (Co-sponsor)
Superintendent of Public Instruction (Co-sponsor)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees,
AFL-CIO
California Association for Bilingual Education
California Association of Latino Superintendents and
Administrators
California Immigrant Policy Center
California School Boards Association
California Teachers Association
California Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages
Lennox School District
Public Advocates
Riverside County School Superintendents' Association
Transforming Education for English Learners Consulting Services
Wisenburn School District
Individuals
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Marisol Aviña / ED. / (916) 319-2087