BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ķ



                                                                  AB 124
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          CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
          AB 124 (Fuentes)
          As Amended  July 14, 2011
          Majority vote
           
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          |ASSEMBLY:  |63-13|(June 1, 2011)  |SENATE: |34-4 |(August 31,    |
          |           |     |                |        |     |2011)          |
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           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 








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            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 








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               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.  








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          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 


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