BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 753| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ UNFINISHED BUSINESS Bill No: SB 753 Author: Padilla (D) Amended: 9/1/11 Vote: 21 SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 9-0, 4/13/11 AYES: Lowenthal, Runner, Alquist, Hancock, Huff, Liu, Price, Simitian, Vargas NO VOTE RECORDED: Blakeslee, Vacancy SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 8-0, 5/26/11 AYES: Kehoe, Walters, Alquist, Lieu, Pavley, Price, Runner, Steinberg NO VOTE RECORDED: Emmerson SENATE FLOOR : 39-0, 6/2/11 AYES: Alquist, Anderson, Berryhill, Blakeslee, Calderon, Cannella, Corbett, Correa, De León, DeSaulnier, Dutton, Emmerson, Evans, Fuller, Gaines, Hancock, Harman, Hernandez, Huff, Kehoe, La Malfa, Leno, Lieu, Liu, Lowenthal, Negrete McLeod, Padilla, Pavley, Price, Rubio, Simitian, Steinberg, Strickland, Vargas, Walters, Wolk, Wright, Wyland, Yee NO VOTE RECORDED: Runner ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 9/7/11 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Pupils: English learners: assessment SOURCE : Los Angeles Unified School District CONTINUED SB 753 Page 2 DIGEST : This bill makes changes related to the timing and administration of the required English language development assessments. Assembly Amendments (1) require school districts to annually conduct the assessment during a period that starts on the day upon which 55 percent of the instructional year is completed through July 1 of that calendar year instead of 65 percent, (2) specifies that changes to the bill will not be implemented unless the California Department of Education receives written documentation from the U.S. Department of Education that implementation is permitted by federal law or until the 2013-14 school year, whichever occurs later, and (3) prohibits any pupil in grades 3 to 9, inclusive, from being required to retake portions of the ELD assessment for which he or she has previously achieved the advanced proficiency level within each appropriate grade span, and prohibits pupils in grades 10-12, inclusive, from being required to retake the portions of the ELD assessment for which he or she has previously achieved the early advanced or advanced levels. ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1.Requires each school district that has one or more pupils who are English learners (ELs) to assess each pupil's English language development (ELD), using a test acquired or developed by the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) with the approval of the State Board of Education (SBE), in order to determine the level of proficiency upon initial enrollment, and annually, thereafter, until the pupil is redesignated as English proficient; federal law extends this requirement to all ELs. 2.Requires the assessment to include, but not be limited to, an assessment of achievement of these pupils in grades 2-12, inclusive, in English listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills, and pupils in kindergarten and grade 1 in English listening, speaking, and until July 1, 2012, early literacy skills. Requires the ELD assessment, among other specifications, to be aligned CONTINUED SB 753 Page 3 with the English language development standards and be age and developmentally appropriate for pupils. 3.Requires the SPI and the SBE to establish procedures for conducting the ELD assessments, including determining the period of time in which the annual ELD testing is required to be conducted. 4.Requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to develop reclassification procedures that utilize multiple criteria in determining whether to reclassify a pupil as proficient in English, including, but not be limited to, the following: A. Assessment of language proficiency. B. Teacher evaluation. C. Parental opinion and consultation. D. Comparison of the pupil's performance in basic skills that demonstrates whether the pupil is sufficiently proficient in English to participate effectively in a curriculum designed for native English speaking pupils at the same age. This bill makes changes related to the timing and administration of the required ELD assessments. Specifically, this bill: 1.Requires, commencing with the point in time in which the CDE receives written documentation from the United States Department of Education (USDOE) that federal law permits the implementation of these changes or the 2013-14 school year, whichever occurs later, that the annual ELD assessment of ELs, using the test specified for that purpose, be conducted annually during a testing window that begins with the day upon which 55 percent of the instructional year is completed and ends on July 1 of the same calendar year. 2.Requires a school district to determine if the pupil is an EL by conducting an assessment of a pupil at the pupil's initial enrollment, using the current or prior year's test, as specified, for the grade in which the pupil is being enrolled. Also requires a school district to assess ELD of a pupil no more than one time per school CONTINUED SB 753 Page 4 year. 3.Prohibits a pupil in any of grades 3 to 9, inclusive, from being required to retake portions of the ELD assessment for which he or she has previously achieved the advanced proficiency level within each appropriate grade span, and prohibits pupils in grades 10 to 12, inclusive from being required to retake the portions of the ELD assessment for which he or she has previously achieved the early advanced or advanced levels. 4.Specifies the provisions in #3 above shall not be implemented until the existing ELD assessment contract expires, and shall not be implemented unless and until the CDE receives written documentation from the USDOE that implementation is permitted by federal law. Comments Nearly one quarter of the student population in California's public schools are classified as ELs, and closer to one half of the state's pupils come from homes where English is not the primary language. Current law requires schools to assess the English proficiency of all pupils whose primary language is not English, using an ELD test acquired or developed by the SPI with the approval of the SBE. The California English Language Development Test (CELDT) was developed and is required as the assessment to be used for this purpose. The ELD test is used for three purposes: (1) to identify new students who are ELs in kindergarten through grade 12; (2) to determine the level of English-language proficiency; and (3) to annually assess ELs progress in learning English until they are reclassified. ELs in grades 2-12 are administered the ELD test, which assesses those pupils in four domains: speaking, listening, reading and writing. Title III of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the current version of which is known as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), also places similar ELD testing requirements on states. This bill makes two proposals related to the ELD assessment. CONTINUED SB 753 Page 5 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 CDE change the testing window for the CELDT to the Spring. English learners constitute approximately 24 percent of the total enrollment in California public schools. During 2009-10, the CDE administered the CELDT to 1.6 million students, 1.3 million of whom were tested under the annual assessment window. 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 of the bill 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 sponsor of the bill, 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. Prior Legislation SB 521 (Romero), 2009-10 Session, was nearly identical to this bill. (Held under submission in the Senate Appropriations Committee) SAB 2077 (Fuentes), 2007-08 Session, was nearly identical to this bill. (Held under submission in the Senate Appropriations Committee) FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No According to the Senate Appropriations Committee: CONTINUED SB 753 Page 6 Fiscal Impact (in thousands) Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund Screening test $3,000-$6,000 annually, beginning in General implementation 2013-14 SUPPORT : (Verified 9/7/11) Los Angeles Unified School District (source) Alliance for a Better Community American Civil Liberties Union Antonio R. Villaraigosa, Mayor, City of Los Angeles Association of California School Administrators Boyle Heights Learning Collaborative California Association for Bilingual Education California Association of Latino Superintendents and Administrators California Charter Schools Association California Federation of Teachers California School Boards Association California State PTA California Teacher Association California Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages Californians Together Central American Resource Center, Los Angeles Coalition for Humane Immigrant Right of LA College Board Contra Costa County Superintendents' Coalition Fremont Unified School District Fresno Unified School District GreenDot Public Schools Hispanas Organized for Political Equality Innercity Struggle Japanese American Citizens League Latin Business Association Lennox School District Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom Long Beach Unified School District Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce CONTINUED SB 753 Page 7 Los Angeles County Office of Education MALDEF National Council of La Raza Parent Teacher Association Parent Revolution Public Advocates Riverside County School Superintendents' Association Riverside County Superintendent of Schools Rowland Unified School District San Francisco Unified School District Santa Clara Unified School District Service Employees International Union, California Services, Immigrant Rights & Educational Network Sierra Sands Unified School District United Teachers Los Angeles Vaughn Next Century Learning Center Visalia Unified School District Youth Policy Institute OPPOSITION : (Verified 9/7/11) Association of California School Administrators ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office, moving the test to the Spring would better support end-of-year reclassification by providing schools with up-to-date scores aligned with student scorers on the California Standards Test, 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. ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : In opposition, the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) contends that "?a date change to the spring will result in lost time for teachers to use the CELDT data to adjust curriculum based on the student's language proficiency within the school year. Waiting to use the data for the prospective year creates a lag during summer. ACSA has also expressed concerned with the excessive amount of testing in the spring particularly since the CELDT is a very time intensive and labor intensive assessment CONTINUED SB 753 Page 8 involving listening, speaking, reading and writing to gauge language proficiency. ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 9/7/11 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Beth Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NO VOTE RECORDED: Furutani, Gorell CPM:cm 9/8/11 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED