BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 484
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 484 (Bonilla)
As Amended September 6, 2013
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |55-16|(May 29, 2013) |SENATE: |26-7 |(September 10, |
| | | | | |2013) |
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Original Committee Reference: ED.
SUMMARY : Establishes the Measurement of Academic Performance
and Progress (MAPP), commencing with the 2013-14 school year, as
the statewide assessment program for specified pupils and
provides direction to the State Board of Education (SBE), the
Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI), and the California
Department of Education (CDE) on the transition of California's
current assessment system to the MAPP, the administration of the
MAPP, and the expansion of the MAPP to include additional
assessments beyond those specified in this bill. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Permits the SPI to make a determination that an Academic
Performance Index (API) will not be calculated for local
education agencies (LEAs) if the transition to the new
standards and assessments compromises the comparability of
results across, but limits the SPI's authority to make this
determination only for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 school years
and only with the approval of the SBE.
2)Specifies that for LEAs without an API due to the SPI's
determination specified above, similarly shall not receive a
growth target and shall instead use one of the following to
satisfy any statutory requirements requiring an API
calculation:
a) The LEA's most recent annual API calculation;
b) An average of the LEA's three most recent annual API
calculations;
c) Alternative measures that show increases in pupil
academic achievement for all groups of pupils school-wide
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and among significant subgroups.
3)Reauthorizes the Leroy Greene California Assessment of
Academic Achievement Act, which is California's system of
individual pupil assessment, until the year 2021.
4)Identifies the intent of the Legislature to provide an
assessment system of assessments of pupils that has the
primary purposes of assisting teachers, administrators, and
pupils and their parents; improving teaching and learning; and
promoting high-quality teaching and learning using a variety
of assessment approaches and item types.
5)Declares the intent of the Legislature that in order to
achieve the stated legislative goals for its system of
assessments, the state should adopt a coordinated testing
program that does all of the following:
a) Develop and adopt a set of statewide academically
rigorous content standards in all major subject areas and
produce performance standards for each subject area;
b) Provide information and resources to schools and LEAs to
assist with the selection of local benchmark assessments,
diagnostic assessments, and formative tools aligned with
the state-adopted California academic content standards;
c) Ensure that all assessment procedures, items,
instruments, scoring systems, and results meet high
standards of statistical reliability and validity, and that
they do not use procedures, items, instruments, or scoring
practices that are racially, culturally, socioeconomically,
or gender biased;
d) Provide information to pupils, parents and guardians,
teachers, schools, and local educational agencies on a
timely basis so the information can be used to further the
development of the pupil or to improve the educational
program;
e) Report results of any census administration in terms
describing a pupil's academic performance in relation to
the statewide academically rigorous content and performance
standards and in terms of college and career readiness
skills possessed by the pupil, in addition to being
reported as a numerical;
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f) Where feasible, administer assessments via technology;
and
g) Minimize the amount of instructional time devoted to
assessments administered pursuant to this chapter.
6)Makes inoperative those provisions of law governing the
development of the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR)
Program as of July 1, 2014.
7)Defines key terms for the development, implementation, and
administration of the MAPP.
8)Requires the SPI to provide annual updates to the Legislature,
Department of Finance, and the SBE, that include a five-year
cost projection, implementation plan, and time table for
implementing the assessment system set forth in this measure.
9)Repeals Education Code Sections 60605.5 and 60606 which
required the SBE, on or before November 15, 2001, to adopt
performance standards systems and established a Statewide
Pupil Assessment Review (SPAR) Panel.
10)Establishes the MAPP as the pupil assessment system to
replace the STAR program.
11)Requires individual pupil level data be reported from the
MAPP that documents a pupil's individual level of
accomplishment.
12)Permits the use of the grade 11 MAPP assessment in English
language arts and mathematics to be used for the Early
Assessment Program (EAP).
13)Requires the SPI to develop and post a periodic update on the
implementation of the MAPP.
14)Specifies the assessments that shall be included in the MAPP,
commencing with the 2013-14 school year.
15)Makes clear that in the 2013-14 school year, the consortium
summative assessment in English language arts and mathematics
shall be a field test only, and the results of this field test
shall not be used for any other purpose, including the
calculation of any accountability measure.
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16)Requires the SPI to make a recommendation to the SBE, as soon
as is feasible, regarding the assessment aligned to the Next
Generation Science Standards, adopted by the SBE on September
4, 2013. The measure also requires the SPI, before making
these recommendations, to consult with stakeholders, as
specified and requires the recommendation to include cost
estimates and a plan for implementation of at least one
assessment in specified grade spans.
17)Requires the CDE to make available to LEAs a primary language
assessment aligned to the English language arts standards for
assessing pupils who are enrolled in a dual language immersion
program.
18)Requires the SPI to consult with stakeholders, including
assessment and English learner experts, to determine the
content and purpose of a stand-alone language arts summative
assessment in primary languages other than English that aligns
with the English-language arts content standards and then
report and make recommendations to the SBE regarding an
implementation timeline and estimated costs of this
assessment.
19)Requires the SBE to adopt and the SPI to administer a primary
language assessment no later than the 2016-17 school year.
20)Requires the SPI, no later than March 1, 2016, to submit to
the SBE recommendations on expanding the MAPP to include
additional assessments, including, but not necessarily limited
to, history-social science, technology, visual and performing
arts, and other subjects as appropriate, and include a
recommendation for the use of matrix sampling, if appropriate,
and the use of population sampling in the administration of
these assessments. Upon approval by the SBE and the
appropriation of funding for this purpose, the SPI is required
to develop and administer the approved assessments.
21)Requires the CDE to make available to LEAs STAR Program test
forms no longer required by the MAPP, though if administered,
the costs of shipping, printing, scoring, and reporting per
pupil shall be borne by the LEA.
22)Requires the SPI to make available a paper and pencil version
of any computer-based MAPP assessment for use by pupils who
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are unable to access the computer-based version of the
assessment for a maximum of three years after a new
operational test is first administered.
23)Requires all LEAs, in the 2013-14 school year, to administer
the field tests in a manner described by the CDE.
24)Allows the CDE to approve additional LEAs to participate in
the field test beyond the representative sample already chosen
for participation.
25)Requires the CDE to use existing contract savings to fund LEA
participation in one or more tests per participant for the
purpose of allowing maximum participation in the field test
across the state.
26)Specifies that if savings in the current contract are not
available to fully fund LEA participation in the field test,
the CDE is required to prorate available funds by test and
specifies that LEAs shall bear any additional costs to
administer these assessments that are in excess of the
contracted amount.
27)Prohibits the generation of pupil-level data from the 2013-14
administration of the MAPP field tests unless it is determined
that these scores are valid and reliable.
28)Requires the SPI to apportion funds to LEAs to enable them to
administer assessments used to satisfy the voluntary EAP in
the 2013-14 school year.
29)Requires that when the SBE annually establishes the amount of
funding to be apportioned to LEAs for each test administered,
that it take into account changes to LEA test administration
activities under the MAPP, including, but not limited to, the
number, type of tests administered, and changes in
computerized test registration and administration procedures.
30)Prohibits state agencies or LEAs from using a comparison
resulting from the scores and results of the MAPP assessments
and the assessment scores and results from assessments that
measured previously adopted content standards.
31)Requires the SBE to adopt regulations that outline a calendar
for delivery and receipt of summative assessment results at
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the pupil, school, grade, district, county, and state levels.
Requires these regulations to provide for the timely return of
assessment results, consider the amount of paper-and-pencil
administered assessments, and the number of items requiring
hand scoring. Finally, the amendments require the regulations
to ensure that individual assessment results are reported to
LEAs within eight weeks of receipt by the contractor for
scoring.
32)Requires the CDE to acquire, and offer at no cost to LEAs,
interim and formative assessment tools for kindergarten and
grades 1 to 12, inclusive, as provided through the consortium
membership.
33)Permits, in approving a contract amendment to an assessment
contract authorized pursuant to this section, the CDE, in
consultation with the SBE, to make material amendments to the
contract that do not increase the contract cost.
34)Removes many of the statutory requirements for assessment
contracts and instead defers to the SPI and SBE to set the
terms of the assessment contracts.
35)Requires the CDE to use a competitive and open process
utilizing standardized scoring criteria through which to
select a potential administration contractor or contractors
for the purposes of this measure. When approving any such
contract, the CDE is required to consider specified criteria.
36)Removes the requirement of test publishers to make available
a reading list on the Internet by June 1 of the applicable
school year.
37)Removes the requirement that a panel reviews the assessment
to ensure that no assessment item solicits or invites
disclosure of a pupil's beliefs, practices, morality,
religion, or evaluates the pupil's personal behavioral
characteristics.
38)Specifies that the first full administration of assessments
aligned to the common core standards in English language arts
and mathematics shall occur in the 2014-15 school year unless
the SBE determines that the assessments cannot be fully
implemented.
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39)Requires the CDE to determine and report on how school
districts are progressing toward implementation of a
technology-enabled assessment system by October 1, 2014.
40)Requires the SBE, based on the report submitted by the CDE on
the districts' progress toward implementation of a
technology-enabled assessment, to determine whether the state
shall fully implement the operational consortium
computer-adaptive summative assessments in English language
arts and mathematics in grades 3 to 8, inclusive, and grade 11
for the 2014-15 school year.
41)Makes the MAPP assessments inoperative on July 1, 2021, and
then repeals the MAPP on January 1, 2022, unless legislative
action is taken to extend the operative date.
42)Specifies, that for the purpose of the EAP and beginning in
the 2014-15 school year, it is the grade 11 consortium
computer-adaptive assessments in English language arts and
mathematics that may be used to replace the California
Standards Test and the augmented California Standards Tests.
43)Double joints this bill to SB 490 (Jackson) of the current
legislative session and specifies that if both bills are
enacted and this bill is enacted after SB 490, Section 28 of
this bill shall not become operative.
44)Makes technical, non-substantive changes to these sections.
The Senate amendments :
1)Amend Education Code Section 52052 to permit the SPI to make a
determination that an API score would be an invalid measure of
the performance of the school or school district based on a
finding that a transition to new standards-based assessments
compromises comparability of results across schools or school
districts. This amendment limits the SPI's authority in this
subparagraph to the 2013-14 and 2014-15 school years only,
with approval of the SBE.
2)Establish a repeal date of January 1, 2015, for the section of
this bill that calls for the adoption of the STAR program.
3)Rename the California Measurement of Academic Performance and
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Progress for the 21st Century (CalMAPP21) to the Measurement
of Academic Performance and Progress (MAPP).
4)Add definitions for the following terms: computer-adaptive
assessment, computer-based assessment, field test, LEA, MAPP,
matrix sampling, performance tasks, personally identifiable
information, populations sampling, recently arrived English
learner, state-determined assessment calendar, and summative
assessment.
5)Replace the term "core curriculum areas" with the content
areas of reading, writing, mathematics, history-social
science, foreign languages, visual and performing arts, and
science.
6)Delete the definitions of "Elementary and Secondary Education
Act (ESEA) non-required subject area" and "ESEA required
subject area."
7)Require the SPI to design and implement a statewide pupil
assessment system that specifically contemplates summative
assessments or assessments that employ matrix sampling or
population sampling methods.
8)Require the SPI, when making information about and/or the
results of statewide summative assessments, to consider the
information already provided by assessment consortia of which
California is a member or the assessment contractor.
9)Specify that, commencing with the 2013-14 school year, the
MAPP shall be composed of all of the following:
a) A consortium summative assessment in English language
arts and mathematics for grades 3 to 8, inclusive, and
grade 11 but further specifies that for the 2013-14 school
year, the consortium summative assessment in English
language arts and mathematics shall be a field test only;
b) Science grade level assessments in grades 5, 8, and 10;
c) The California Alternative Performance Assessment (CAPA)
in grades 2 to 11, inclusive, in English language arts and
mathematics and science in grades 5, 8, and 10; and
d) The EAP.
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10)Permit the use of any data from the 2013-14 field tests of
the consortium assessment in ELA and mathematics to be used
only for the purpose of gauging the validity and reliability
of these assessment, conducting necessary psychometric
procedures and studies, and allowing the CDE to conduct
studies regarding full implementation of the assessment system
and specifies that the data shall not be used for any other
purpose, including the calculation of any accountability
measure.
11)Require the SPI to make a recommendation to the SBE, as soon
as is feasible, regarding the assessment of Next Generation
Science Standards, adopted by the SBE on September 4, 2013.
The measure also requires the SPI, before making these
recommendations, to consult with stakeholders, as specified,
and requires the recommendation to include cost estimates and
a plan for implementation of at least one assessment in each
specified grade spans.
12)Make mandatory the previously permissive language that
allowed the CDE to make available to LEAs a primary language
assessment for assessing pupils who are enrolled in a dual
language immersion program to require the CDE to provide this
assessment.
13)Remove the date by which the SPI shall report and make
recommendations to the SBE regarding an implementation
timeline and estimated costs of a stand-alone language arts
summative assessment in primary languages other than English
and instead requires the SPI to have developed and the SBE to
have adopted this assessment so that it may be administered by
the SPI no later than the 2016-17 school year.
14)Change the date by which the SPI is required to submit to the
SBE recommendations on expanding the MAPP to include
additional assessment (e.g., history-social science,
technology, visual and performing arts, and other subjects as
appropriate. As passed by the Assembly, the SPI was required
to present the recommendation on or before January 15, 2015.
The Senate amendments require the recommendation be presented
to the SBE, Legislature, and Department of Finance no later
than March 1, 2016.
15)Make mandatory the previously permissive language that
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permitted the CDE to make available to LEAs STAR Program test
forms no longer required by the MAPP, though if administered,
the costs of shipping, printing, scoring, and reporting per
pupil shall be borne by the LEA.
16)Require the SPI to make available a paper and pencil version
of any computer-based MAPP assessment for use by pupils who
are unable to access the computer-based version of the
assessment for a maximum of three years after a new
operational test is first administered.
17)Require all LEAs, in the 2013-14 school year, to administer
the field tests in a manner described by the CDE in
consultation with the president or executive director of the
SBE.
18)Allow the CDE to approve additional LEAs to participate in
the field test beyond the representative sample already chosen
for participation.
19)Require the CDE to use existing contract savings to fund LEA
participation in one or more tests per participant for the
purpose of allowing maximum participation in the field test
across the state.
20)Specify that if savings in the current contract are not
available to fully fund LEA participation in the field test,
the CDE is required to prorate available funds by test and
specifies that LEAs shall bear any additional costs to
administer these assessments that are in excess of the
contracted amount.
21)Prohibit the generation of pupil-level data from the 2013-14
administration of the MAPP field tests unless it is determined
that these scores are valid and reliable.
22)Require the SPI to apportion funds to LEAs to enable them to
administer assessments used to satisfy the voluntary EAP in
the 2013-14 school year
23)Require that when the SBE annually establishes the amount of
funding to be apportioned to LEAs for each test administered,
to take into account changes LEA test administration
activities under the MAPP, including, but not limited to, the
number, type of tests administered, and changes in
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computerized test registration and administration procedures.
24)Prohibit state agencies or LEAs from using a comparison
resulting from the scores and results of the MAPP assessments
and the assessment scores and results from assessments that
measured previously adopted content standards.
25)Require the SBE to adopt regulations that outline a calendar
for delivery and receipt of summative assessment results at
the pupil, school, grade, district, county, and state levels.
Specifies that these regulations shall provide for the timely
return of assessment results, consider the amount of
paper-and-pencil administered assessments, and the number of
items requiring hand scoring. Finally, the amendments require
the regulations to ensure that individual assessment results
are reported to LEAs within eight weeks of receipt by the
contractor for scoring.
26)Require the CDE to acquire, and offer at no cost to LEAs,
interim and formative assessment tools for kindergarten and
grades 1 to 12, inclusive, as provided through the consortium
membership.
27)Permit, in approving a contract amendment to an assessment
contract authorized pursuant to this section, the CDE, in
consultation with the SBE, to make material amendments to the
contract that do not increase the contract cost. The Senate
amendments also specify that those contract amendments that
increase contract costs may only be made with the approval of
the SBE and the Department of Finance.
28)Require the CDE to use a competitive and open process
utilizing standardized scoring criteria through which to
select a potential administration contractor or contractors
for the purposes of this measure. When approving any such
contract, the CDE is required to consider specified criteria.
29)Specify that the first full administration of assessments
aligned to the Common Core standards in English language arts
and mathematics shall occur in the 2014-15 school year unless
the SBE determines that the assessments cannot be fully
implemented.
30)Change the date by which the CDE is required to determine and
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report on how school districts are progressing toward
implementation of a technology-enabled assessment system, from
January 31, 2014, until October 1, 2014.
31)Require the SBE, based on the report submitted by the CDE on
the progress toward districts' progress toward implementation
of a technology-enabled assessment, to determine whether the
state shall fully implement the operational consortium
computer-adaptive summative assessments in English language
arts and mathematics in grades 3 to 8, inclusive, and grade 11
for the 2014-15 school year.
32)Change the date on which the statutes governing the
administration of the MAPP assessments become inoperative from
July 1, 2025, to July 1, 2021, and the repeal dates of these
statutes from January 1, 2026, to January 1, 2022.
33)Specify that for the purpose of the EAP Program and beginning
in the 2014-15 school year, it is the grade 11 consortium
computer-adaptive assessments in English language arts and
mathematics that may be used to replace the California
Standards Test and the augmented California Standards Tests.
34)Remove the urgency clause.
35)Make chaptering out amendments based on SB 490 (Jackson) and
specifies that if both bills are enacted and this bill is
enacted after SB 490, Section 28 of this bill shall not become
operative. The provisions of SB 490 differ from the language
of this in so far as SB 490 references the California
Standards Test (CST) and the augmented CST, as referenced in
Education Code Section 60641, or a standards-aligned successor
assessment, whereas this bill references more generally the
assessments referenced in Education Code Section 60641.
36)Make chaptering out amendments based on SB 344 (Padilla) of
the current legislative session and specifies that if both
bills are enacted and become effective on or before January 1,
2014, and this bill is enacted after SB 344, in which case
Section 1 of this bill shall not become operative. The
provisions of SB 344 differ from the language of this in so
far as SB 344 includes "reclassified English Learners" as a
subgroup for which a school or school district must
demonstrate comparable improvement in academic achievement as
measured by the API.
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37)Make technical, non-substantive changes to this measure.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, this bill, as amended, has the following costs:
1)Assessment Suspensions: Approximately $8 million in state
savings in 2013-14, and $1.5 million in state savings in
2014-15 (General Fund).
2)Field testing: Substantial potential costs/savings, as this
bill does not require schools that are not field testing new
assessments to assess students in 2013-14. Additionally,
schools that choose to field test the new assessments will not
have to double-test (by administering current STAR tests). To
the extent that more schools want to field test the new
assessments, there will likely be additional state costs. To
the extent that schools decline to participate in field
testing, there will likely be significant additional savings
from removing the testing requirements altogether for 2013-14.
3)Assessments: Approximately $81 million in 2014-15, and $82
million - $105 million (General Fund) in 2015-16, and annually
thereafter.
4)Multi-year Evaluation: Approximately $200,000 in 2013-14, and
$700,000 (General Fund) annually thereafter, to contract for
the independent evaluation required by this bill.
COMMENTS : The Senate amendments make sweeping changes to this
bill namely the elimination of assessments in English language
arts and mathematics for the current school year, the ability of
the SBE to determine that California cannot implement the full
consortium assessment in the 2014-15 school year, and the
potential suspension of API calculations for the 2013-14 and
2014-15 school years.
English Language Arts and Mathematics Assessments in the Current
School Year . The Senate amendments significantly change the
assessments administered during the current school year. The
Assembly considered language that kept in place those
assessments that met federal accountability requirements but
considered a transition to consortium assessments in the 2014-15
school year. As amended, this bill eliminates the assessments
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in English language arts and mathematics for the current school
year and instead requires all LEAs to participate consortium
field tests in grades 3-8, and 11 in mathematics and English
language arts. In an effort to encourage LEAs to provide Common
Core aligned instruction, the Senate has removed the incentive
to continue to provide instruction that is geared toward the
previous state adopted standards as measured by the STAR
program. While this means that there will be no statewide
achievement data for English language arts and mathematics
during the 2013-14 school year, it will, arguably, better
prepare LEAs for the administration of the consortium assessment
in the 2014-15 school year. It is important to note that this
bill will necessitate a request from California to the United
States Department of Education for a waiver from the federal
requirement that California demonstrate its success in terms of
the academic achievement of every student and that such evidence
be derived from testing data from every student's progress
toward state adopted standards by using assessments that are
aligned with the standards. In the absence of this waiver, the
approximate $1.6 billion in Title I funds would be put in
jeopardy.
Consortium Testing in the 2014-15 School Year . The Senate
amendments require the CDE, no later than October 2014, to
produce a report that examines how LEAs are progressing toward
implementation of a technology-enabled assessment system, and
the extent to which the assessments aligned to the common core
standards in English language arts and mathematics can be fully
implemented. Based on this report, the SBE is required to
determine, whether California shall fully implement the
operational consortium computer-adaptive summative assessments
in English language arts and mathematics in grades 3 to 8,
inclusive, and grade 11 for the 2014-15 school year. This will
allow a thorough analysis of the ability of LEAs, based on the
field tests in the 2013-14 school year to fully access the
consortium assessment and provide relief if necessary.
Changes to the Academic Performance Index (API) . The Senate
amendments allow the SPI, with the approval of the SBE, to
withhold the calculation of API scores if the previous API
scores cannot be accurately compared to those scores under the
new assessment system. This is limited to the 2013-14 and
2014-15 school years. The Assembly considered language that
instead required the development of a transitional API. The
Senate amendments specify that in the absence of these API
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calculations an LEA shall use its most recent API calculation,
an average of its three most recent annual API calculations, or
alternative measures that show increases in pupil academic
achievement for all groups of pupils both school-wide and among
significant subgroups. While additional clean up language may
be required in the future to address those LEAS who have a
statutory requirement to demonstrate academic growth, but have
no such data available, this addresses the concerns of LEAs that
continued accountability in a time of tremendous change will do
more harm than good.
Analysis Prepared by : Jill Rice / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN:
0002691