BILL ANALYSIS Ķ AB 124 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 124 (Fuentes) As Amended July 14, 2011 Majority vote ----------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: |63-13|(June 1, 2011) |SENATE: |34-4 |(August 31, | | | | | | |2011) | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Original Committee Reference: ED. SUMMARY : Establishes a process to update, revise, and align the English language development (ELD) standards to the common core state standards in English language arts (ELA) and requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) and the State Board of Education 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 education system. The Senate amendments : 1)Require the SPI, in consultation with the State Board of Education (SBE) to update, revise, and align the ELD standards to California's common core academic content standards for ELA. 2)Delete the requirement of and specifications for appointing an English Language Development Standards Advisory Committee and instead require the SPI, in consultation with the SBE to convene a group of experts in English language instruction, curriculum, and assessment, including individuals who have a minimum of three years of demonstrated experience instructing English learners (ELs) in the classroom at the elementary or secondary level. 3)Stipulate that the SPI shall ensure that members of the group include, but are not limited to, specified individuals with EL expertise. 4)Require, on or before August 31, 2012, the SPI to present the updated, revised, and aligned ELD standards, based on the work of the group of experts, and to hold a minimum of two public meetings before presenting the standards to the SBE in order AB 124 Page 2 for the public to provide input. 5)Require the SBE, on or before September 30, 2012, to adopt, reject, or revise the ELD standards presented by the SPI and stipulate that if the SBE revises the ELD standards presented by the SPI, the SBE shall, in a public meeting provide written reasons for its revisions. 6)Prohibit the SBE from adopting the revised ELD standards at the same meeting it provides its written reasons, and, instead, require the SBE to adopt these revisions at a subsequent meeting or no later than November 15, 2012. 7)Specify that the California Department of Education (CDE) shall use federal carryover funds received pursuant to Title I of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) to implement this bill. 8)Repeal the provisions of this bill on July 1, 2013. AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill: 1)Established a 13-member English Language Development Standards Advisory Committee (ELDSAC) to update, revise, and align the ELD standards to the common core state standards in ELA. 2) Required the ELDSAC to consist of 13 members that would have been appointed as follows: a) Four members appointed by the Governor; b) Three members appointed by the Senate Rules Committee; c) Three members appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly; and, d) Three members appointed by the SPI. 3) Required at least seven of the members appointed to the ELDSAC to be credentialed classroom teachers possessing authorized certificates to instruct ELs and a minimum of three years of demonstrated experience instructing ELs, and required at least four of the seven teachers to represent elementary schools. Specified that the remaining members of the ELDSAC would include specified representatives with AB 124 Page 3 EL expertise. 4) Specified that the members of the ELDSAC would have served at the pleasure of the appointing authority and required meetings or hearings of the ELDSAC to be open and available to the public. 5) Required the ELDSAC to update, revise, and align the ELD standards to the common core state standards in ELA by grade level, and required the standard to be comparable to, and as rigorous and specific as, the common core ELA academic content standards. 6) Required, on or before August 31, 2012, the ELDSAC to present its revised and aligned ELD standards to the SBE, and required 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 was required to 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. 7)Specified legislative intent to use federal funds pursuant to Title III of the federal NCLB to support the work of the ELDSAC. FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, $200,000 in federal Title I carryover funds for CDE to implement this bill. COMMENTS : California adopted ELD standards in 1999 for the domains of listening, speaking, reading and writing. The ELD standards 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. AB 124 Page 4 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 to revise, adopt and align the existing ELD standards to the common core state standards.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 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 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." Analysis Prepared by : Marisol Aviņa / ED. / (916) 319-2087 FN: 0002338 AB 124 Page 5