BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Alan Lowenthal, Chair
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 409
AUTHOR: Alejo
AMENDED: May 19, 2011
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: July 6, 2011
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Lynn Lorber
SUBJECT : Primary language assessment.
SUMMARY
This bill authorizes the administration of a primary
language assessment to pupils enrolled in dual immersion
programs who are not limited English proficient or who have
been redesignated as fluent English-proficient.
BACKGROUND
Current law requires each school district, charter school,
and county office of education to administer designated
achievement tests to each pupil in grades 2 through 11 as
part of the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR)
Program. The STAR Program is scheduled to sunset on July
1, 2013.
(Education Code § 60640 and 60601)
The STAR Program requires pupils to be tested in English
language arts, mathematics, science and history-social
science at specific grade levels. The STAR Program
includes the California Standards Tests (CSTs), the
California Alternate Performance Assessment (CAPA) and the
California Modified Assessment (CMA) administered to
certain pupils with disabilities, and a primary language
assessment.
Current law:
1) Requires the California Department of Education (CDE)
to develop and adopt primary language assessments that
are aligned to the state academic content standards
for reading/language arts and mathematics. The
primary language assessments developed pursuant to
this statute are the Standards-Based Tests in Spanish
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(STS). (EC § 60640 (f)(3))
2) Requires a pupil who is limited English proficient and
receives instruction in his or her primary language or
has been enrolled in a school in the United States for
less than 12 months to take the primary language
assessment. These pupils must also take the CSTs or
the CMA appropriate to the pupil's grade level. (EC §
60640 (g))
3) Authorizes school districts to administer the primary
language assessment to pupils with limited English
proficiency (not restricted to pupils who have been in
the United States for less than a year or who receive
instruction in their primary language). (EC § 60640
(f))
ANALYSIS
This bill authorizes the administration of a primary
language assessment to pupils enrolled in dual immersion
programs who are not limited English proficient or who have
been redesignated as fluent English-proficient.
Specifically, this bill:
1) Authorizes the California Department of Education
(CDE) to make a primary language assessment available
to school districts and charter schools to assess
pupils who are enrolled in a dual language immersion
program that includes the primary language of the
assessment and who:
a) Are not limited English
proficient.
b) Have been redesignated fluent
English.
2) Requires a school district or charter school that
chooses to administer a primary language assessment to
do so at its own expense and to enter into an
agreement with the state testing contractor subject to
the approval of the CDE.
3) Requires the cost for the assessment to be the same
for all school districts and charter schools and
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prohibits the cost from exceeding the marginal cost of
the assessment.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author, "dual
immersion schools cannot use the same test to measure
all their students' proficiency in a second language
(in this case Spanish) because of state law. In
essence this says the Standards Based Test in Spanish
can only be used on English Learners. But dual
immersion schools would benefit from testing all
students in order to adjust their curricula to improve
student performance."
2) Primary language assessment and dual immersion . The
Standards-based Tests in Spanish (STS) is currently
administered to English learners who either receive
instruction in their primary language or have been
enrolled in a school in the United States for less
than 12 months. The STS is administered to these
pupils in addition to the California Standards Tests.
Currently, school districts that operate Spanish/English
dual immersion programs are not authorized to
administer the STS to pupils enrolled in a dual
immersion program who are not limited English
proficient, essentially because the intent of
developing the primary language assessment was to
provide English learners a means of demonstrating
mastery of the standards in their primary language.
Dual language education programs integrate native
English speakers and native speakers of the target
language to provide instruction presented through two
languages.
3) Fiscal impact . According to the Assembly
Appropriations Committee, this bill would impose minor
General Fund (Proposition 98) cost pressure, likely
less than $75,000, to authorize school districts to
assess their non-English learner pupils who are
enrolled in dual immersion programs. This bill
requires school districts to pay for the
administration of this assessment at their own
expense. According to the California Department of
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Education, it allocated in 2010 approximately $101,000
(General Fund, Proposition 98) to school districts for
the administration of the primary language assessment
to pupils who are English learners.
4) Related legislation . AB 532 (V. Manuel Perez) among
other things, requires any primary language assessment
developed by the California Department of Education
and administered to English learners to be included in
the state's assessment system or any successor system
and in any measure or index used for state and federal
accountability purposes. AB 532 is pending in the
Assembly Appropriations Committee.
AB 250 (Brownley) included language that is nearly
identical to this bill in an early version of that
bill. Those provisions have since been amended out of
that bill. AB 250 is scheduled to be heard in this
Committee on July 6, 2011.
5) Prior legislation . SB 930 (Ducheny, 2010) among other
things, would have authorized the administration of
the primary language assessment to pupils who are not
English learners. SB 930 was vetoed with the following
message:
The State Board of Education recently adopted the
Common Core standards, with additions from
California's existing standards. In anticipation
of a newly realigned assessment and
accountability system, this bill is premature.
This bill would require the inclusion of
additional components involving primary language
assessments, in the current, and any future,
assessment and accountability systems. This has
the potential to conflict with any of the
anticipated larger federal or state efforts on
assessments and accountability.
Ultimately, I continue to believe that schools
should remain focused on providing English
Learners with the necessary instruction and
support to become English proficient. As an
immigrant myself, I believe strongly that
learning English as quickly as possible is
essential to success in this state and
this country. Therefore, I want to ensure that
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there are no disincentives in our school system
to achieving that goal for our English Learner
student population.
AB 252 (Coto, 2007) was very similar to this bill. AB
252 was vetoed with the following message:
"English-speaking pupils who have voluntarily
enrolled in dual language immersion programs are
currently required to take the California
Standards Test in English. Therefore, another
assessment is not needed to measure their mastery
of state-adopted academic content standards in
another language. Furthermore, I am concerned
that this bill creates significant General Fund
cost pressures for the state to develop
standards-aligned primary language tests in other
languages. Given the state's current fiscal
climate it is not prudent for me to enact this
measure."
SUPPORT
Association of California School Administrators
California Association for Bilingual Education
California Federation of Teachers
California Immigrant Policy Center
Californians Together
California School Boards Association
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles
Redwood City School District
OPPOSITION
None on file.