BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 743
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   March 29, 2011

                       ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
                                 Marty Block, Chair
                  AB 743 (Block) - As Introduced:  February 17, 2011
           
          SUBJECT  :   Community colleges: student assessments: California 
          Community Colleges: common assessment system.

           SUMMARY  :   Requires the California Community College (CCC) Board 
          of Governors (BOG) to establish a common assessment system to be 
          used for the purposes of CCC placement and advisement.  
          Specifically,  this bill  :  

          1)Requires BOG to establish a common assessment system to be 
            used as one of multiple measures for the purposes of CCC 
            placement and advisement, and requires the pilot project to 
            include the following objectives:

             a)   Creation of a centrally delivered system of student 
               assessment that provides a single assessment instrument for 
               use by CCC in English, mathematics, and English as a second 
               language;

             b)   Creation of a secure centrally housed assessment test 
               data warehouse that collects all assessment scores 
               generated by assessed students at all participating CCCs 
               and all available K-12 assessment data and transcript 
               information generated by assessed pupils in the state's 
               K-12 school system who are seeking enrollment at a CCC; 
               and,

             c)   Creation of an Internet Web portal that can be accessed 
               by CCC personnel and students that provides:

               i)     An individualized student assessment profile that 
                 can be accessible for counseling, matriculation, and 
                 course placement purposes;

               ii)    A pretest application that emulates the structure of 
                 the pilot project assessment that students can practice 
                 and familiarize themselves with before taking 
                 assessments; and,

               iii)   An advisement tool that provides students with 








                                                                  AB 743
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                 information on the importance of assessments and the 
                 historical success rates of remedial courses for students 
                 at various levels of academic remediation.  

          2)Requires CCC Office of the Chancellor (CCCCO) to work in 
            collaboration with the State Department of Education (SDE) and 
            the California State University (CSU) when developing a common 
            college-readiness standard that will be reflected in the 
            creation of the assessment instruments and requires the CCCCO 
            to work with SDE and CSU to move toward alignment of college 
            readiness standards and align toward future common core state 
            standards.

          3)Requires CCCCO to convene an advisory committee with specified 
            representatives to assist in the establishment of the common 
            assessment system.


          4)Requires CCCCO to report to the Legislature and the Governor 
            on progress made on the implementation of the common 
            assessment system by December 31, 2012.

           EXISTING LAW  establishes matriculation services required to be 
          made available by CCCs, including, among other services, the 
          administration of assessment instruments to determine competency 
          in math and language skills and student study and learning 
          skills.  

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  Unknown.  However, according to the Senate 
          Appropriations Committee analysis of AB 2682 (Block, 2010), 
          which was similar to this bill, CCCCO has received grants of 
          $500,000 that would cover the cost of development of the system. 
           Ultimately, costs for the statewide utilization would be in the 
          millions, and could potentially result in Proposition 98 mandate 
          costs to the extent CCC districts are required to participate.  
          However, it is possible that the long-term statewide costs would 
          be offset by the increased efficiency of student assessment and 
          placement, should the system prove successful.    

           COMMENTS  :   Most incoming CCC students are under-prepared for 
          college-level work.   According to CCCCO, about 85% of incoming 
          CCC students are not proficient in college-level math, and about 
          70% arrive unprepared for college-level English.  Basic skills 
          education is designed to help under-prepared CCC students 
          succeed in college-level work.  A core CCC responsibility is to 








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          provide basic skills instruction to students who lack 
          college-level proficiency in reading, writing, and mathematics.  
          These skills are fundamental to student success.  In 2008-09, 
          about 10% of CCC classroom instruction was at a basic skills 
          level. 

           Purpose of this bill  .  The author argues that the implementation 
          of a centralized assessment program will increase the number of 
          students assessed and decrease assessment costs, save students' 
          time and CCC funds by allowing students to take their test 
          scores with them to different CCCs, ensure students understand 
          expectations before taking the tests through online pre-testing, 
          allow more accurate placement of students through combining data 
          with K-12 test data, and save millions of dollars by ensuring 
          CCCs can leverage purchasing power by purchasing testing 
          instruments centrally rather than at the CCC district level.

           Studies show that assessment improves outcomes.   According to 
          the Legislative Analyst's Office, most studies recommend that 
          incoming CCC students be assessed prior to enrolling in classes. 
           The most commonly used assessment tools are standardized tests. 
           The purpose of these tests is to determine the proficiency 
          level of students in math and English.  Based on assessment 
          results, CCC campuses can then direct students to take 
          coursework that is appropriate for their skill level.  A number 
          of recent studies have linked mandatory assessment with improved 
          student outcomes such as course completion and graduation rates.

           Not all incoming CCC students are assessed.   Existing law allows 
          CCCs to assess students, and CCC districts are permitted to use 
          any assessment tool they desire, so long as the assessment is 
          approved by BOG.  BOG regulations require CCC districts to 
          provide assessment but allow CCC districts to establish criteria 
          for exempting certain students from assessment.  While BOG 
          regulations do not permit nonexempt students from opting out of 
          assessment, many students do; in the fall of 2006, 97,000 
          nonexempt students failed to participate in assessment. 

           Varying assessment tools and procedures send a confusing message 
          to students.   Currently, dozens of different standardized tests 
          are used throughout the CCC system.   Additionally, many CCCs 
          recognize only their own tests and require students who were 
          previously tested at other CCCs to be reassessed.  There can be 
          significant variation among these tests both in terms of the 
          test content and how much students are expected to know.  In 








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          effect, CCCs can have multiple definitions of college readiness. 
          This sends a confusing message to current and prospective 
          students and results in costly duplicative testing by CCCs.

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office (Sponsor)
          California Community College League of California
          California Postsecondary Education Commission
          Faculty Association of California Community Colleges
          Feather River College
          Merced College
          Los Rios Community College District
          State Center Community College District

           Opposition 
           
          None on File
           

          Analysis Prepared by  :    Laura Metune / HIGHER ED. / (916) 
          319-3960