BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 124
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          Date of Hearing:   March 30, 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 amendments  :  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  .


          This bill specifies that the members of the ELDSAC shall serve 
          at the pleasure of the SPI, even though the members of the 
          ELDSAC are appointed by four different appointing authorities, 
          one of which is the SPI.  The author has indicated that it is 
          his intent to mirror, as closely as possible, the process 
          followed for the development and adoption of the common core 
          state standards, which called for the members of the standards 
          commission to serve at the pleasure of the appointing 
          authorities.  Staff recommends a technical amendment to require 
          the members of the ELDSAC to serve at the pleasure of the 
          appointing authorities rather than of the SPI.  








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          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 
          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)
          Academic Services Department in the Alum Rock Union School 
          District
          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 State PTA
          California Teachers Association 
          California Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages 
          Californians Together
          Gateway Unified School District
          Irvine Unified School District
          Lennox School District 
          Los Angeles Unified School District








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          Pasadena Unified School District
          Public Advocates 
          Riverside County School Superintendents' Association 
          San Francisco Unified School District/San Francisco Office of 
          Education
          San Ysidro School District
          Santa Clara County Office of Education
          State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Torlakson
          Transforming Education for English Learners Consulting Services 
          Wisenburn School District 
          Individuals 

           Opposition 

           None on file. 
           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Marisol Aviña / ED. / (916) 319-2087