BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 612 Page 1 Date of Hearing: June 21, 2011 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION Marty Block, Chair SB 612 (Steinberg) - As Amended: May 4, 2011 SENATE VOTE : 27-10 SUBJECT : Postsecondary education: instructional strategies. SUMMARY : Authorizes the establishment of three additional California Subject Matter Projects (CSMP), deletes the sunset date on existing projects, adds new areas of emphasis for subject matter projects, and makes various changes to the concurrence committee and project advisory boards. Specifically, this bill : 1)Makes findings and declarations about the high dropout rate in California high schools; the need for an educated workforce; the value of schools offering a more integrated approach to learning; and declares that investments in delivering to pupils the skills and knowledge needed for further education and employment in California's high-growth, high-demand industries are investments in the growth of a knowledge-intensive, innovative economy. 2)Makes further findings and declarations about the role and purpose of CSMP as a statewide network of subject-specific professional development programs and how the CSMP infrastructure may be leveraged to align middle and high school curricula more closely to the needs of growing and emerging sectors of the California economy by providing teachers with the supports and tools necessary to deliver career-oriented, integrated academic and technical education content. 3)Adds two new areas of emphasis for CSMP to provide teachers with: a) Instructional strategies for delivering career-oriented, integrated academic and technical content in a manner that is linked to high priority industry sectors identified in the California Career Technical Education Model Curriculum Standards as adopted by the State Board of Education (SBE). Requires the CSMP Concurrence Committee, in consultation SB 612 Page 2 with the appropriate state entities, industry leaders, and representatives of organized labor, educators, and other parties, to determine the priority of the industry sectors. b) Instructional strategies for ongoing collaboration on the delivery of career-oriented, integrated academic and technical education content. 4)Clarifies that CSMP provide support to teachers to develop and enhance content knowledge and pedagogical skills necessary to implement the state-adopted content standards and the curriculum frameworks. 5)Requires the CSMP Concurrence Committee, beginning January 1, 2016, and every three years thereafter, to provide a report, as specified, on the subject matter projects to the Governor and to appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature. Makes the reporting requirement inoperative on January 1, 2020, pursuant to the Government Code. 6)Modifies the composition of the nine-member CSMP Concurrence Committee by reducing the number of representatives selected by SBE from two to one; and by adding a representative selected by the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI). 7)Requires the CSMP, in partnership with the University of California Curriculum Integration Institute or other appropriate entities, to provide teachers with support in the implementation of career-oriented, integrated academic and technical courses that meet course requirements for admission to the University of California (UC), the California State University (CSU), and align with high-priority industry sectors as specified. 8)Adds the following projects to the list of authorized subject matter projects: a) The California Physical Education-Health Project; b) The California Arts Project; and, c) The California World Language Project. 9)Deletes the inoperative and repeal dates, thereby extending SB 612 Page 3 the operation of these provisions indefinitely. 10) Modifies the composition of project advisory boards for each subject matter project by reducing from two to one, representatives selected by UC, CSU, SPI, and SBE such that the new composition of each advisory board is as follows: a) One representative selected by the California Postsecondary Education Committee (CPEC). b) One representative, selected by the UC President, who is a member of the faculty in the discipline addressed by the project. c) One representative, selected by the CSU Chancellor, who is a member of the faculty in the discipline addressed by the project. d) One representative, selected by the SPI, who is a classroom teacher in the subject area addressed by the project. e) One representative, selected by the SBE, who is a classroom teacher in the subject area addressed by the project. f) One representative selected by the Governor. g) One representative selected by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing. h) One representative of a statewide professional organization of teachers in the subject matter addressed by the project, as specified. i) One representative of the California Community Colleges, selected by the Chancellor, one of whom is a faculty member in the subject matter addressed by the project. j) One representative of an independent postsecondary institution selected by the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities, one of whom is a faculty member in the subject matter addressed by the project. SB 612 Page 4 aa) One representative who is from an industry sector that principally utilizes the discipline addressed by the project and who is selected by the advisory board. 11) Adds high pupil drop-out rates to the criteria each project advisory board must use in recommending funding for local project sites. 12) Specifies that for purposes of recommending funding for local project sites that serve middle or high school teachers, the project advisory board shall give special consideration to sites that utilize or are preparing to utilize instructional strategies to deliver career-oriented, integrated academic and technical content. EXISTING LAW : 1)Provides for the establishment and maintenance of six CSMPs for the purpose of developing and enhancing teachers' subject matter knowledge and pedagogical skills, as follows (Education Code § 99201): a) The California Writing Project. b) The California Reading and Literature Project. c) The California Mathematics Project. d) The California Science Project. e) The California History-Social Science Project. f) The World History and International Studies Project. 2)Authorizes UC to establish other subject matter projects and specifies that no funds allocated in the annual Budget Act shall be used for subject matter projects in subjects not specifically authorized in statute. (EC § 99201.5) 3)Requires the UC Regents, with the approval of an intersegmental Concurrence Committee, to establish and maintain the projects and specifies the composition of the concurrence committee to be representatives of the various segments of education. Requires the advisory board of each subject matter project to use specified criteria in recommending funding for local project sites. (EC § 99200) 4)Sunsets CSMP on June 30, 2012, and repeals the authorizing statute on January 1, 2013, unless a later-enacted statute deletes or extends those dates. (EC § 99206) SB 612 Page 5 FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, eliminating the sunset date will result in $6-7 million in ongoing cost pressures and adding the three CSMP subject areas will result in $1.8 million in additional costs per year when fully implemented. However, UC has stated that adding these three projects to statute would not create any cost pressure on the General Fund because there are no plans to request additional state funds above what CSMP currently receives ($5 million a year). Existing resources will continue to be utilized in funding all nine projects. COMMENTS : This bill is double-referred to the Assembly Education Committee, which will consider issues related to K-12 education. This bill is part of a four bill package (SB 547, SB1x 1, SB 611, and SB 612) that the author is sponsoring to align middle and high school curricula more closely to the needs of growing and emerging sectors of the California economy and reduce the middle and high school drop-out rate by engaging and motivating students. Need for this bill . According to the author, given the proven efficacy of the CSMP along with its broad statewide reach, the CSMP are uniquely positioned to help teachers deliver curriculum that is more closely aligned with the needs of growing and emerging sectors of the California economy. Further, state authorization for the CSMP is set to expire on June 30, 2012. CSMP . CSMP is an intersegmental effort of postsecondary education institutions that connects K-12 educators with faculty in the various disciplines from UC, CSU, and private higher education colleges and universities to provide professional development designed to enhance teachers' content knowledge and instructional strategies to improve student learning and academic performance as measured against the state's K-12 academic content standards. In addition, the CSMP provide teachers with instructional strategies for working with English learners and help teachers use research and data to improve student learning and achievement. According to UC, the projects served almost 26,000 teachers and administrators from 4,290 of the state's public K-12 schools in 2009-10, serving over 800 school districts and close to 100 sites statewide on campuses of UC, CSU, and independent colleges and universities. Legislative history . Prior to 1998, the Education Code provided SB 612 Page 6 for the establishment and maintenance of subject matter projects in each subject area of teachers in the public schools and established priority for funding according to subjects required for high school graduation and subjects that coincided with state curriculum initiatives. With the adoption of K-12 academic content standards in the late 1990s, the state narrowed the focus of the CSMP to the core content areas of English language arts, mathematics, science, and history-social science, and subject matter projects in arts, foreign language, and physical education-health were deleted from statute. AB 1734 (Mazzoni, Chapter 333, Statutes of 1998), authorized the six projects currently specified in statute and authorized UC to establish additional subject matter projects; however, the legislation prohibited such projects from receiving funding in the annual Budget Act. Three new subject areas . SB 611 (Ducheny, Chapter 857, Statutes of 2003) expressed legislative intent that maintenance-level funding be provided for projects in academic fields seeking standards approval from the State Board. Accordingly, the UC has continued to operate subject matter projects in the arts, foreign language, and physical education/health, for which the SBE adopted K-12 academic standards as follows: visual and performing arts (2001), physical education (2005), health education (2008), and world languages (2009). According to UC, it currently supports the three projects with the CSMP maintenance-level funding and will not seek additional state funding for the projects; however, the author notes that establishing these projects in statute could make it easier for UC to successfully compete for foundation funding to provide additional support for the projects. Sunset elimination . According to a 2005 evaluation of the CSMP conducted by SRI International, teachers reported that the CSMP influenced their instruction more than other professional development and contributed to improvements in student learning. The SRI study report also notes that when these changes influence teaching practice across departments or grade levels, schools have observed increases in student achievement and made progress in closing the achievement gap, especially for English learners. Career-oriented, integrated academic and technical content . Pursuant to AB 2648 (Bass, Chapter 681, Statutes of 2008), the California Department of Education submitted a report to the SB 612 Page 7 Governor and the Legislature in 2010, exploring the feasibility of establishing and expanding additional high school programs that prepare students to be successful in their chosen pathways after high school. The AB 2648 Multiple Pathways to Student Success Report suggests that teachers in linked learning programs "need to have competencies in four domains: knowledge, pedagogy, professional skills, and foundational comprehension. Teachers need knowledge of the academic concepts that underlie work in industries, intellectual skills to solve problems in the real world, and must know how to work in a community of practice." Previous legislation . SB 199 (Ducheny, 2009) would have authorized the establishment of subject matter projects in arts, physical education and health, and foreign languages, deleted the sunset date for CSMP and authorized projects to provide assistance to teachers providing instruction in integrated academic and career technical education programs. SB 232 (Ducheny, Chapter 292, 2007) would have required the Concurrence Committee to report to the Governor and the Legislature on specified elements of the CSM and would have also authorized the establishment of subject matter projects in arts, physical education and health, and foreign languages. SB 1073 (Simitian, 2006) would have added the California Arts Project, the California Foreign Language Project, and the California Physical Education-Health Project to the subject matter projects already created by law. The three bills were either held in the Senate Appropriations Committee or amended to remove the new subject projects. AB 108 (Mazzoni, 2000) would have, among other things, authorized the California Arts Project, the California Foreign Language Project, and the California Physical Education-Health Project to the statewide subject matter projects but was vetoed by Governor Gray Davis, who opined that the highest priority for the use of state funds should be to support the existing subject matter projects aimed at improving student academic performance in English, mathematics, science, and the social sciences. REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION : Support Association of Independent Colleges and Universities California Alliance for Arts Education California Art Education Association SB 612 Page 8 California Association for Bilingual Education California Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance California Association of Leaders for Career Preparation California Association of Music Education California Chamber of Commerce California Federation of Teachers California Language Teachers Association California Postsecondary Education Commission California State PTA California State University, Sacramento, Department of Teacher Education California Teachers Association Californians Together Children Now Fillmore Unified School District Fresno Unified School District Gary S. Thomas, Superintendent, San Bernardino County Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce Los Angeles Unified School District Magnolia School District North State Building Industry Association Orange County Department of Education San Diego County Office of Education San Diego Unified School District San Francisco Unified School District Temecula Valley Unified School District University of California Vista Del Lago High School Visual and Performing Arts/Career Technical Education teachers Opposition None on file. Analysis Prepared by : Sandra Fried / HIGHER ED. / (916) 319-3960