BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




                                                                  SB 1292
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          Date of Hearing:   June 13, 2012

                           ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
                                Julia Brownley, Chair
                       SB 1292 (Liu) - As Amended:  May 2, 2012

           SENATE VOTE :   38-0
           
          SUBJECT  :   School employees: principals: evaluation.

           SUMMARY  :   Authorizes school districts to evaluate principals 
          and establishes provisions to guide principal evaluation. 
          Specifically,  this bill  :   

          1)Authorizes the governing board of a school district to 
            evaluate a school principal annually for the first and second 
            year of employment as a new principal in a school district and 
            at regular intervals after this period.

          2)Specifies that additional evaluations may be agreed upon 
            between the evaluator and the principal and that the evaluator 
            and principal may review school success and progress 
            throughout the year. 

          3)Authorizes the criteria for principal evaluation to be based 
            upon the California Professional Standards for Educational 
            Leaders (CPSELs) and explains that these standards identify a 
            school administrator as being an educational leader who 
            promotes the success of all pupils through leadership that 
            fosters: 

             a)   A shared vision;
             b)   Effective teaching and learning; 
             c)   Management and safety;
             d)   Parent, family and community involvement; 
             e)   Professional and ethical leadership; and, 
             f)   Contextual awareness. 

          4)Authorizes a quality school principal evaluation to include 
            evidence of: 

             a)   Academic growth of pupils based on multiple measures 
               that may include pupil work as well as pupil and school 
               longitudinal data that demonstrates pupil academic growth 
               over time, as specified;









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             b)   Effective and comprehensive teacher evaluations;
             c)   Culturally responsive instructional strategies to 
               eliminate the achievement gap;
             d)   Ability to analyze quality instructional strategies and 
               provide effective feedback that leads to instructional 
               improvement;
             e)   High expectations to ensure active pupil engagement and 
               learning;
             f)   Collaborative professional practices for improving 
               instructional strategies; 
             g)   Effective school management including personnel and 
               resource management, organizational leadership, sound 
               fiscal practices, a safe campus environment and appropriate 
               pupil behavior;
             h)   Meaningful self-assessment to improve as a professional 
               educator; and,
             i)   Consistent and effective relationships with pupils, 
               parents, teachers, staff, and other administrators. 

          5)Specifies that federal carryover funds received from Title I 
            and Title II of the Federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 
            and any other available state and federal funds may be used to 
            implement this act. 

          6)Makes Legislative findings and declarations that: 

             a)   State and local educational agencies, not the federal 
               government, should determine the process for implementing 
               principal evaluations and determining what constitutes an 
               effective principal; 
             b)   School district evaluators have the obligation to ensure 
               that principals are evaluated fairly, consistently and 
               effectively;
             c)   Principal evaluation systems must consider the impact of 
               the diversity of schools in regard to size, demographics 
               and available resources;
             d)   Principals should be provided with the resources needed 
               to be truly effective; and, 
             e)   Policymakers must ensure there is a coherent and 
               comprehensive system to support principal development and 
               leadership. 

          7)Specifies that it is the intent of the Legislature that:

             a)   Governing boards of school districts establish a uniform 









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               system of evaluation;
             b)   Evaluations should reflect the complex responsibilities 
               of a principal's daily work;
             c)   Evaluations should differentiate how to accelerate 
               success, address professional development needs, or, as 
               necessary, intervene when there are persistent performance 
               issues; and,
             d)   Evaluators receive training for purposes of calibrating 
               evaluations when funds become available. 

           EXISTING LAW  for certificated non-instructional employees in 
          supervisory or administrative roles:
            
          1)Requires the governing board of each school district to 
            establish and define job responsibilities for certificated 
            non-instructional personnel (supervisory and administrative) 
            whose responsibilities cannot be evaluated appropriately under 
            the general provisions for certificated employees in 
            instructional roles. Requires that the performance of these 
            non-instructional certificated employees be evaluated and 
            assessed as it reasonably relates to the fulfillment of those 
            responsibilities (Education Code (EC) Section 44662).

          2)Requires, in the case of a certificated non-instructional 
            employee who is employed on a 12-month basis, the evaluation 
            and assessment made to be reduced to writing and for a copy to 
            be transmitted to the employee no later than June 30th of the 
            year in which the evaluation and assessment is made; provides 
            the employee the right to initiate a written reaction or 
            responses to the evaluation that will become a permanent 
            attachment to the employee's personnel file; and, requires 
            that a meeting between the employee and the evaluator to 
            discuss the evaluation and assessment be held before July 30th 
            of the year in which the evaluation and assessment takes 
            place. (EC Section 44663). 

           EXISTING LAW  for certificated employees: 

          1)Establishes Legislative intent that governing boards establish 
            a uniform system of evaluation and assessment of the 
            performance of all certificated personnel within each school 
            district. (EC Section 44660). 

          2)Specifies that in the development and adoption of guidelines 
            and procedures for evaluation and assessment the governing 









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            board must avail itself of the advice of the certificated 
            instructional personnel in the district's organization of 
            certificated personnel (EC Section 44661). 

          3)Specifies that when developing and adopting objective 
            evaluation and assessment guidelines, a school district may, 
            by mutual agreement between the exclusive representative of 
            the certificated employees of the school district and the 
            governing board of the school district, include, as long as 
            they are consistent with the Stull Act, any objective 
            standards from the: 

             a)   National Board for Professional Teaching Standards; or, 
             b)   California Standards for the Teaching Profession (EC 
               Section 44661.5). 

          4)Provides that the governing board of each school district must 
            evaluate and assess certificated employee performance as it 
            reasonably relates to: 

             a)   The progress of pupils toward established standards of 
               expected pupil achievement at each grade level and in each 
               area of study and state adopted academic content standards 
               as measured by state adopted criterion referenced 
               assessments;
             b)   The instructional techniques and strategies used by the 
               employee;
             c)   The employee's adherence to curricular objectives; and, 
             d)   The establishment and maintenance of a suitable learning 
               environment, within the scope of the employee's 
               responsibilities (EC Section 44662).

          5)Provides that evaluation and assessment of certificated 
            employees be made on a continue basis as follows: 

             a)   At least once each school year for probationary 
               personnel
             b)   At least every other year for personnel with permanent 
               status. 
             c)   At least every five years for personnel with permanent 
               status who have been employed at least 10 years with the 
               school district, are highly qualified, and whose pervious 
               evaluation rated the employee as meeting or exceeding the 
               standards (EC Section 44664). 










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          6)Provides that if a certificated employee is not performing his 
            or her duties in a satisfactory manner according to the 
            standards prescribed by the governing board, that the 
            employing authority shall notify the employee in writing of 
            that fact and describe the unsatisfactory performance. 
            Requires the employing authority to make specific 
            recommendations as to areas of improvement in the employee's 
            performance and endeavor to assist the employee in his or her 
            performance (EC Section 44664). 

           FISCAL EFFECT  :   This bill is keyed non-fiscal, however, the 
          Assembly Appropriations Committee has requested to hear this 
          bill.  If this bill is passed by the Assembly Education 
          Committee, it will be referred to the Committee on 
          Appropriations to consider the fiscal implications.
           
          COMMENTS  :   According to the author, this bill is in response to 
          the fact that "the Education Code simply states that a principal 
          shall be evaluated but provides no direction as to what should 
          be considered and why." The author further states that "many 
          school districts have established their own principal 
          evaluations but there are still many who do not make it a 
          priority. SB 1292 is intended to provide a foundation to work 
          from while providing the necessary flexibility to tailor an 
          evaluation plan to the individual district's needs."  

           National focus on principal evaluation:   Recently, President 
          Obama and the U.S. Department of Education have placed 
          significant emphasis on the role that evaluation and assessment 
          of certificated employees has in the nation's education system. 
          Through national programs and competition such as No Child Left 
          Behind (NCLB) and Race to the Top (RTTT), national pressure for 
          states to implement effective principal evaluation systems has 
          recently increased. Additionally, a state's ability to receive a 
          waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 being 
          contingent upon that state having a principal evaluation system 
          in place further promotes the use of principal evaluation 
          systems. 

          According to a 2011 WestED publication, however, identifying 
          strong principal evaluation systems or accessing substantive and 
          comprehensive information about such systems is very 












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          difficult.<1> Academic literature surrounding principal 
          evaluation, the study notes, is limited and many promoted 
          approaches are not research-based and have not been fully 
          evaluated. Many questions therefore remain about the best 
          practices of principal evaluations. A second 2011 WestED study 
          identified six states, Delaware, Iowa, New Mexico, North 
          Carolina, Ohio and South Carolina who have several years of 
          policy development and experience with implementing principal 
          evaluation systems.<2> Nearly all of these states crafted 
          standards for educational leaders that are closely aligned to 
          the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium standards 
          that were drafted in 2008. 

          Many other states have only recently begun moving towards a more 
          defined and thoroughly established principal evaluation system 
          in an effort to conform to the RTTT competition or NCLB waiver 
          requirements. 

           Principal evaluation in California in accordance with the Stull 
          Act:   Existing law in California requires that all certificated 
          employees be evaluated and assessed. The overwhelming majority 
          of certificated employees are teachers who are not in 
          administrative positions like principals. The Stull Act of 1971, 
          however, requires that each non-instructional certificated 
          employee, such as principals, be evaluated and assessed based on 
          his or her performance as it relates to the specific 
          responsibilities of the employee's job. Thus, while much of the 
          Stull Act most directly focuses on certificated employees in 
          teaching positions, there are provisions delineated for the 
          evaluation and assessment of principals. 

          Specifically, the Stull Act states that districts must establish 
          and define job responsibilities for principals. The district 
          must then evaluate and assess the principal's performance 
          against these responsibilities. The Stull Act provides 
          principals with the rights to a discussion about the evaluation 
          and assessment after its completion and to write a reaction or 
          response to the evaluation and assessment that can be included 
          in the employee's personnel file. Current law in California, 
          ---------------------------
          <1> Davis, S., Kearney, K., Sanders, N., Thomas, C., & Leon, R. 
          (2011). The policies and practices of principal evaluation: A 
          review of the literature. San Francisco, CA: WestEd.
          <2> Mattson Almanzán, H., Sanders, N., and Kearney, K. (2011). 
          How Six States Are Implementing Principal Evaluation Systems. 
          San Francisco: WestEd.








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          therefore, appears to already require principal evaluation and 
          assessment, but not with the rigidity supported by current 
          national programs. 

          The specifics of principal evaluation and assessment are left to 
          school districts to decide. The timing of principal evaluations 
          is not clearly specified in current law. Further, no detailed 
          guidelines on how to measure a principal's performance are 
          provided. This bill begins to address both of these areas for 
          principals by clarifying that districts can evaluate a principal 
          during each of that individual's first two years of employment 
          in the district and at a regular intervals thereafter and also 
          by providing criteria that may be used to evaluate the 
          employee's performance.  

           Two evaluations in a principal's first two years and at regular 
          intervals thereafter:   This bill authorizes a governing board to 
          evaluate a school principal on an annual basis for the first and 
          second year of his or her employment as a new principal in a 
          school district. It further authorizes the governing board to 
          evaluate a school principal at regular intervals after this 
          period. In current law, there is no clear guidance for the 
          specific timing of principal evaluations. Conducting these 
          evaluations would ideally provide necessary support for novice, 
          developing and experienced principals as they develop and hone 
          their abilities as administrators in the district. This change 
          is intended to provide greater support to administrators. The 
          bill also provides that additional evaluations outside of 
          evaluations during the first two years and at regular intervals 
          thereafter may be established for the principal upon agreement 
          between the evaluator and the principal, but does not provide 
          for these evaluations to take place. Staff recommends a 
          technical amendment to clarify that additional evaluations 
          outside of the regular interval decided by the governing board 
          may be agreed upon by the evaluator and principal.  
           
          California Professional Standards for Educational Leaders 
          (CPSELs):   This bill also provides that the criteria used for 
          effective principal evaluations may be based on the California 
          Professional Standards for Educational Leaders. In 2001, 
          representatives from the California School Leadership Academy at 
          WestEd, the Association of California School Administrators, the 
          California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, the California 
          Department of Education, and various California colleges and 
          universities adapted the Interstate School Leaders Licensure 









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          Consortium (ISLLC) Standards for School Leaders for California 
          to establish the current set of six CPSELs. The CPSELs guide the 
          practice of school administrators and inform preparation 
          programs that lead to the administrative services credential. 
          They highlight six broad standards that provide a framework of 
          outstanding actions taken by educational leaders.  

          Criteria for evaluation vs. what a quality evaluation may 
          include:   In addition to the CPSELs serving as the criteria for 
          evaluation, this bill also states what a quality evaluation may 
          include. This section highlights many specific occurrences at a 
          school that indicate the presence of a strong education leader. 
          For example, if there was evidence of culturally responsive 
          instructional strategies to address and eliminate the 
          achievement gap, this could be included and considered as part 
          of a quality principal evaluation. This portion of the bill, 
          however, may not include other components that successful 
          principal evaluations might include. Staff recommends clarifying 
          that these are examples of what evidence a principal evaluation 
          could include by striking the word "quality" from part (b) of 
          Section 44671. 
           
          Permissive, but impactful:   While this bill is permissive in 
          nature, in affording permission to governing boards to evaluate 
          and assess principals in their first two years and at regular 
          intervals thereafter within the district, it provides districts 
          with greater authority. Simply by authorizing the evaluation and 
          assessment of principals, this bill makes a substantive change 
          to current protocol. It also continues to provide for 
          significant local flexibility that the author states as an 
          intention of the bill. 

           Arguments in Support:   The Association of California School 
          Administrators (ACSA) writes, "SB 1292 reflects the work that 
          ACSA has undertaken to provide a 'best practices' principal 
          evaluation template based on the California Professional 
          Standards for Educational Leaders (CPSELs). These Standards are 
          very comprehensive and delineate all of the traits that an 
          effective school leader should possess. We believe SB 1292 is 
          comprehensive enough and still allows school districts to be 
          free to choose who will evaluate their principal(s) and the 
          frequency of those evaluations. ACSA recognizes that every 
          student deserves an effective principal who ensures high levels 
          of learning. And principals should be provided with the 
          resources needed to be truly effective. SB 1292 will provide the 









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          framework for principals to be supported in the very complex 
          world that they work in." 
           
          Related Legislation:   SB 257 (Liu), currently pending in the 
          Assembly Education Committee, encourages a school district to 
          include in its evaluation and assessment guidelines specific 
          information relating to current best teaching practices in all 
          subject areas and authorizes a school district to include 
          additional criteria into the evaluation and assessment of 
          certificated employees. 

          AB 5 (Fuentes), currently pending in the Senate Appropriations 
          Committee, requires school districts to implement a best 
          practices teacher evaluation system by July 1 of the first 
          fiscal year following the year in which the deficit factor is 
          reduced to zero.  
           
          Prior Legislation:   AB 2274 (Krekorian), from 2008, requires the 
          Superintendent of Public Instruction to adopt and implement a 
          plan to measure the quality of administrators in public schools. 
          This bill was held in the Assembly Education Committee. 

          AB 96 (Feuer), from 2007, requires the California Department of 
          Education (CDE), on or before January 1, 2009, to study and 
          submit a report to the Legislature and the Governor on the 
          effectiveness of the Administrator Training Program in training 
          participants to serve as administrators of specified schools. 

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :
           Support 
           Association of California School Administrators (sponsor) 
          California County Superintendents Educational Services 
          Association
          California School Boards Association
           Opposition 
           None on file. 

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Mark Murphy and Chelsea Kelley / ED. / 
          (916) 319-2087