BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 2193 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 25, 2012 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Felipe Fuentes, Chair AB 2193 (Lara) - As Amended: April 10, 2012 Policy Committee: Education Vote:10-0 Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: Yes Reimbursable: Yes SUMMARY This bill defines "Long-term English learner" and "English learner at risk of becoming a long-term English learner." Further requires existing federal notices provided to parents to include this information, as specified. Specifically, this bill: 1)Defines "Long-Term English learner (LTEL)" as an English learner (EL) Who a) Is enrolled in any of grades 6-12. b) Has been continuously enrolled in schools in the United States for more than six years. c) Has remained at the same English language proficiency level for two or more consecutive years, as determined by the English proficiency examination. d) Scores far below basic or below basic on the English language arts standards-based academic achievement test. 2)Defines "EL at risk of becoming a long-term EL (At-risk EL)" as a person who: a) Is enrolled in any of grades 5-11. b) Has been continuously enrolled in schools in the United States for more four years. c) Scores at the intermediate level or below on the English language development test. d) Scores far below basic or below basic on the English language arts and mathematics standards-based academic achievement test. 3)Requires an existing federal notice provided to EL parents to include all of the following information: AB 2193 Page 2 a) Whether their child is a LTEL or an At-risk EL. b) The manner in which the instructional program will meet the educational strengths and needs of the child, help the child develop English proficiency, and meet grade-level academic standards. 4)Requires a local education agency (LEA) and a charter school to ascertain the number of pupils who are, or are at risk of becoming, LTEL, and report this information to the State Department of Education (SDE). 5)Requires the Regional System of District and School Support, when working with schools and districts, to provide instructional support on the federal academic targets of their pupils, including ELs, LTELs, and At-risk ELs, as specified. Further requires the District Intervention and Assistance Teams to do the same. FISCAL EFFECT 1)GF/98 state mandated reimbursable costs, likely in excess of $5 million, to LEAs to provide specified information on an existing parent notice regarding: (a) the manner in which the instructional program will meet the educational strengths and needs of the child, and (b) the help the child will need to develop English proficiency and meet grade-level academic standards. The information on the current notice is provided to meet federal and state requirements. It does not, however, provide detailed instructional information for each EL pupil as required pursuant to this measure. Therefore, the requirements in this bill are likely to exceed federal and state law and establish a state reimbursable mandate. 2)GF/98 state mandated reimbursable costs of approximately $940,000 to LEAs to ascertain the number of LTEL and At-risk ELs and report this information to SDE, as specified. In 2009-10, there were approximately 540,000 ELs in grades 6-12 (universe for LTEL) and 590,000 ELs in grades 5-11 (universe for At-risk EL). 3)GF administrative costs to SDE, of approximately $125,000, to aid LEAs in meeting the data and informational requirements of this bill. AB 2193 Page 3 COMMENTS 1)Existing law defines an EL or a "limited English proficient child" as one who does not speak English or whose native language is not English and who is not currently able to perform ordinary classroom work in English. Statute also defines an EL pupil as one who does not have clearly developed English language skills of comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing necessary to receive instruction in English at a level substantially equivalent to pupils of the same age or grade whose primary language is English. Current law requires LEAs to classify a pupil as an EL via a census. Specifically, no later than the first day of March, LEAs are required to ascertain the number of ELs under their jurisdiction and classify them according to language, age, and grade level. This process also requires an assessment of all EL pupils' language skills, as specified. According to the SDE, there were approximately 1.44 million ELs enrolled in schools in 2010-11, which equals approximately 23% of the total K-12 school enrollment. 2)Purpose . A 2012 report by Californians Together entitled: Reparable Harm: Fulfilling the Unkept Promise of Education Opportunity for California's Long Term ELs (Olsen, L) revealed 59% of secondary school ELS have been in the U.S. schools for more than six years without achieving sufficient English proficiency to be reclassified (i.e., LTEL). Likewise, the report argues that most LEAs "lack any definition or means of identifying or monitoring the progress and achievement of this population. Only one in four ÝLEAs] has a formal definition or designation for identifying, counting, serving, or monitoring services for these students." The Californians Together research further details the challenge LEAs face when dealing with LTEL, including lack of student data, lack of teachers prepared to educate EL pupils, no appropriate curriculum/instructional materials, and lack of information regarding best practices. The report further discusses the challenges to tackle these issues given the state's current fiscal situation. Instead, the report recommends taking initial steps to better monitor the achievement of these pupils, including creating a definition of LTEL and At-risk EL and providing parents with information needed to monitor the impact of the schools' programs on their students. This bill implements these recommendations. AB 2193 Page 4 3)ELs and state assessments . Current law requires LEAs to assess all EL pupils in grades K-12 to determine their proficiency in English, and the California English Language Development Test (CELDT) is the assessment instrument utilized to meet this requirement. The CELDT is used to (a) identify pupils as limited English proficient; (b) determine the level of English language proficiency; and (c) assess the progress of EL pupils in acquiring the skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing in English. Existing law requires ELs to be assessed for their English language proficiency upon initial enrollment in school and annually as long as they are classified as an EL. In 2010-11, 1.6 million pupils were assessed by the CELDT. Statute establishes the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program as the primary component of the state's assessment system. The STAR program consists of three elements: (a) California Standards Tests (CSTs); (c) the Spanish Assessment of Basic Education primary language test, and (d) the California Alternative Performance Assessment for special education pupils. Under the STAR program, the state requires schools to test all students in grades 2 to 11 in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics using a CST, regardless of their language status. SB 1448 (Alpert), Chapter 233, Statutes of 2004, and SB 755 (Poochigian), Chapter 676, Statutes of 2005, authorized the SDE to develop and adopt a standards-aligned primary language assessment in reading language arts and mathematics for ELL pupils to replace the existing primary language assessment (Aprenda 3) on a grade by grade basis until July 1, 2011. For example, if a reading language arts standards-aligned primary language test is developed for grade 2, Aprenda 3 would be eliminated only for grade 2 in that subject. The standards-based primary language test in Spanish (STS) was developed for this purpose. To date, there are STSs available for ELL pupils enrolled in grades 2-11 in ELA and for EL pupils enrolled in grades 2-7 in mathematics. Also, these assessments are available for EL pupils enrolled in algebra I and geometry. This bill requires information received from the CELDT and STAR assessments to be used in determining whether a pupil is a LTEL or an At-risk EL. AB 2193 Page 5 4)Related legislation . a) SB 754 (Padilla), pending in the Assembly Education Committee, defines LTEL as a pupil in grades 6-12 who has been classified as an EL for five years or more and defines "reclassified English proficient," as specified. b) SB 1108 (Padilla), pending in the Senate Appropriations Committee, requires LEAs and charter schools, as a condition of the receipt of funds for the administration of the CELDT in 2013-14, to report to SDE the criteria it uses to determine whether or not to reclassify an EL by July 1, 2013. Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916) 319-2081