BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 224
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Date of Hearing: May 4, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 224 (Bonilla) - As Amended: April 7, 2011
Policy Committee: Education
Vote:7-3
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction
(SPI), to incorporate additional academic indicators into the
Academic Performance Index (API), as specified. Specifically,
this bill:
1)Requires the SPI, in consultation with the State Board of
Education (SBE), to incorporate the following indicators into
the API for schools serving any of grades 8-12:
a) High school graduation rates, as specified.
b) Rates by which pupils complete a course of study that
fulfills requirements for admission to California public
institutions of postsecondary education (i.e., "A-G"
requirements).
c) Rates by which pupils complete a course of study that
provides skills and knowledge necessary to attain
entry-level employment in business or industry when they
graduate from high school. The measure further requires the
SPI to use specified indicators to determine courses that
meet this definition.
2)Requires, until July 1, 2013, the results of the current
assessments used to calculate the API to constitute at least
60% of the value of the API and further requires, between July
1, 2013 to June 30, 2016, the current assessments to
constitute at least 50% of the API.
3)Requires the SPI, beginning with the 2016-17 fiscal year (FY),
ensure the results of current and future assessments
constitute 50% of the API and the additional indicators added
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by this measure to constitute the other 50% of the API.
4)Requires the SPI to design the additional indicators
(referenced above) in a manner that gives additional weight to
the combined rate by which pupils satisfy "A-G" requirements
and complete courses that provide entry-level skills, as
specified.
5)Requires the Public Schools Accountability Act (PSAA) advisory
committee to provide recommendations for the implementation of
the additional measures into the API, including in the API for
middle and junior high schools, as specified.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)General Fund (GF) administrative costs to the SPI, likely in
excess of $300,000, to collect indicators regarding
entry-level employment. These costs include collecting the
information, coordination with other state departments, and
constructing a data system that allows for the transfer of
information. These costs may be reduced to the extent that
the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System is
able to collect information.
2)To the extent that local education agencies (LEAs) do not
already collect this data, there are potential, unknown GF
(Proposition 98) costs, of at least $50,000, to LEAs to
collect data.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . In November 2006, UC ACCORD/UCLA IDEA projects
released a report entitled: Removing the Roadblocks: Fair
College Opportunities for All California Students. This report
provides statistics that demonstrate the lack of access poor
and minority students have to an A-G curriculum and other
resources that indicate a college-prep culture.
In May 2010, Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack
O'Connell released The Multiple Pathways to Student Success:
Envisioning the New California High School report, which
details the need for high schools to offer an instructional
"approach that effectively integrate both academic and career
technical content, problem-based instructional strategies,
work-based learning opportunities, and support
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services?.Ýthat] effectively prepare all students to pursue
multiple options beyond high school graduation." In order to
promote this transformation of high school curriculum, the
report recommends "expanding the number of measures within the
API to include rates of completion of college entrance
requirements, career technical education program completion
and certification, school graduation rates, and dropout
recovery rates." This bill implements this recommendation.
2)SB 1X (Alpert), Chapter 3, Statutes of 1999, established the
PSAA , which required the development of the API. The API is
used to measure performance of schools and districts over
time. An API score is calculated based on students'
performance on the following standardized tests: the
California Standards Tests in English language arts,
mathematics, and history-social science, and science (where
applicable) and the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE).
3)Related legislation . AB 547 (Steinberg), pending in the
Senate Education Committee, requires college and preparedness
indicators to be included in the API.
4)Previous legislation . AB 400 (Nunez), similar to this
measure, was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger in October 2007
with the following message:
"While I agree with the author that what the state measures in
its accountability system sends a powerful message to schools
and to the public about the outcomes we value, this bill still
needs refinement. I respect the intention to provide schools
the incentive to expand access to A-G college admission
required courses, and expand course offering in Career
Technical Education program. I am open to opportunities to
accomplish that goal. However, I must maintain that the API
should continue to be based on objective, reliable, valid and
consistent statistical measurements."
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
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