BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Alan Lowenthal, Chair
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 753
AUTHOR: Padilla
INTRODUCED: February 18, 2011
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: April 13, 2011
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Kathleen
Chavira
SUBJECT : California English Language Development Test
(CELDT)
SUMMARY
This bill requires that the California English Language
Development Test (CELDT) be administered annually during a
three-month test period commencing with the day upon which
65 percent of the instructional year is completed and
establishes new requirements for the California Department
of Education (CDE) related to the CELDT, including that the
CDE report test results to parents, as specified.
BACKGROUND
Both federal and State law require that each school
district with English language learners annually assess
these students' English language development until they are
redesignated as English proficient. The California English
Language Development Test (CELDT) must be administered to
all students whose primary language is not English within
30 calendar days after they are enrolled in a California
public school for the first time, and annually thereafter
during a period of time determined by the Superintendent of
Public Instruction and the State Board of Education until
they are reclassified as fluent English proficient.
Districts are required to inform parents of test results
within 30 calendar days of receiving student results from
the testing contractor, or within two weeks of the child
being enrolled in a language instruction program after the
beginning of the school year. The CELDT serves three
purposes. It 1) identifies pupils as limited English
proficient, 2) determines the level of English language
proficiency of these students, and 3) annually assesses the
SB 753
Page 2
progress of these students in acquiring the skills of
listening, speaking, reading, and writing in English.
(Education Code § 313 and § 60810)
ANALYSIS
This bill :
1) Deletes the authority of the Superintendent of Public
Instruction and the State Board of Education to
determine the period of time for annually
administering the CELDT.
2) Requires the California English Language Development
Test (CELDT) to instead be administered during a
three-month test period commencing with the day upon
which 65 percent of the instructional year is
completed.
3) Requires the California Department of Education (CDE)
to report test results to parents. More specifically
it:
a) Requires that results be reported
in English or, if available, the language
reported on the home language survey.
b) Requires the results be provided
in a format that utilizes easily understood
terminology and includes an explanation of the
test's purpose, the score, and the intended use
of the score by the district.
4) Makes other clarifying and technical amendments.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . In December 2007, The Los Angeles
Unified School District convened the Achieving A+
Summit which brought together over 40 researchers,
academics, and expert practitioners from across the
nation, as well as local community based organizations
and district staff. Among the extensive
recommendations to emerge from the group's work was
the proposal that the California Department of
Education change the testing window for the CELDT to
SB 753
Page 3
the spring. According to the author, moving the test
to the spring would better support end-of-year
reclassification by providing schools with up-to-date
scores aligned with student scores on the California
Standards Tests, allow students to be tested following
a school year of English language instruction rather
than following a summer break, and provide language
proficiency information early enough to ensure proper
placement of students for the following school year.
English learners constitute approximately 24 percent
of the total enrollment in California public schools.
During 2009-2010 the CDE administered the CELDT to 1.6
million students, 1.3 million of whom were tested
under the annual assessment window.
2) Current practice compared to bill provisions .
Test administration . California currently administers
the CELDT at the beginning of the school year (July 1-
October 31) and results are generally made available
to school districts by early February. The sponsors
contend that this makes it difficult for districts to
use this information to make informed placement and
instructional decisions, and, testing after summer
when students are not at peak proficiency can
negatively affect reclassification. According to
information provided by the bill's sponsor, only two
states (California and Montana) administer an English
language proficiency test in the fall. Forty-six
states, including Texas, New York, Florida, and
Illinois, administer the test in the Spring.
Parental reporting . According to the sponsors, the
test vendor prepares a report for distribution to
parents, which is printed completely in English and in
a bar graph format, and, unlike the California
Standards Tests (CSTs), it gives no information or
recommendations to parents on how to assist their
children to learn English. Current law requires that
the California Department of Education (CDE) report
individual results of the CSTs in writing to
parents/guardians and include a clear explanation of
the purpose of the test, the pupil's score, and its
intended use by the school district. This bill would
implement these same requirements in regards to the
California English Language Development Test (CELDT)
results.
SB 753
Page 4
3) Why 65 percent ? This bill requires the administration
of the CELDT during a three-month test period
commencing with the day upon which 65 percent of the
instructional year is completed. According to the
sponsors, this provision is intended to address
concerns that changing the timeframe for administering
the CELDT to the spring would result in conflict or
competition with the administration of other tests
(California Standards Tests, Standards-based Tests in
Spanish, the California High School Exit Exam, SATs
and ACTs). In general, this bill would authorize the
annual administration of the CELDT sometime after
March, but still give districts the flexibility to
schedule the test to accommodate other testing
requirements.
4) Consistent with American Institutes of Research (AIR)
findings . In its statutorily required report, Effects
on the Implementation of Proposition 227 on the
Education of English Learners, the AIR found that the
deadline for reporting reclassification results is
inconsistent with the calendar of assessments and
reporting of these results, complicating local
reclassification procedures. The report noted, "School
districts experience significant pressure carrying out
redesignation procedures and completing counts of
redesignated students in time for the Language Census
February 28 deadline. Moreover, some districts noted
that this short February timeframe is further
compressed as they also require parents to meet
one-on-one with educators, participate in the
redesignation process and or sign off approving the
decision to redesignate."
5) Prior legislation .
a) SB 521 (Romero, 2009) was nearly identical
to this bill and was heard and passed by this
committee on April 22, 2009, by a vote of 7-0.
The bill was subsequently held under submission
in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
b) AB 2077 (Fuentes, 2008), also nearly
identical to this bill, was heard and passed by
this committee on June 25, 2008, by a vote of
SB 753
Page 5
7-0. The bill was subsequently held under
submission in the Senate Appropriations
Committee.
SUPPORT
Boyle Heights Learning Collaborative
California Association for Bilingual Education
California Charter Schools Association
Californians Together
Central American Resource Center - Los Angeles
Green Dot Public Schools
Innercity Struggle
Latin Business Association
Long Beach Unified School District
Los Angeles Unified School District
National Council of La Raza
Parent Revolution
Public Advocates
SEIU California
Vaughn Next Century Learning Center
OPPOSITION
Association of California School Administrators (ACSA)