BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 631
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Date of Hearing: May 8, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Joan Buchanan, Chair
AB 631 (Fox) - As Amended: April 30, 2013
SUBJECT : Pupils; Juvenile Court Schools
SUMMARY : Permits a county board of education to modify the
course of study offered to pupils in juvenile court schools.
Specifically, this bill :
1) Permits a county board of education to adopt an enhanced
course of study for pupils enrolled in juvenile court
schools who are performing three or more grades below grade
level.
2) Specifies that this course of study shall meet the
Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English language arts
(ELA) and math.
3) Allows a county board of education to use locally
approved assessments or statewide assessments to determine
the academic needs of the pupil.
4) Specifies the purpose of this course of study is to
increase a pupil's academic literacy and reading fluency.
5) Makes technical non-substantive amendments to this
section.
EXISTING LAW
1) Requires each person between the ages of 6 and 18, with
specified exceptions, to attend a full-time instructional
program.
2) Establishes the minimum school day for juvenile court
schools to be 240 minutes; vocational education programs in
these schools, as specified, must be at least 180 minutes.
3) Requires a county board of education to establish a
course of study for its juvenile court schools that meets
specified elements, including:
a) Be available for public inspection;
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b) Be evaluated and revised by the county board
of education as necessary;
c) Enforcement of the course of study and use
instructional materials as adopted by the county board
of education;
d) Contain all of the elements set forth
Education Code sections 51202-51284 which identifies
specific elements of instruction that must be included
in a course of study; and
e) Include instruction in the following content
areas: ELA, reading, history/social science, physical
education, science, mathematics, visual and preforming
arts, applied arts, career technology, and automobile
drivers education.
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill is keyed as non-fiscal by Legislative
Counsel
COMMENTS : According to the California Department of Education
(CDE), in October 2010, there were 83 Juvenile Court Schools
reporting an enrollment of 9,010 students. However, CDE
demographic reports for prior school years indicate that the
total number of students served by these schools over the entire
year averaged over 42,000.
Background
Juvenile court schools provide public education for individuals
who are incarcerated in facilities run by counties. Juvenile
court schools are public schools or classes in any juvenile
hall, juvenile home, day center, juvenile ranch, juvenile camp,
regional youth educational facility or in any group home housing
25 or more children. These schools operate under the central
administration of a county office of education, with acceptable
school structures at one or more centrally located sites to
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serve the single or composite populations of juvenile court
school pupils.
These schools, under the protection or authority of the juvenile
court system, provide an educational program that meets the
needs of students who have been incarcerated in juvenile halls
as well as students who have been expelled from their home
district schools because of a status offense or other infraction
or behavior governed by the Welfare and Institution Code or
Education Code. Funding is provided by the state General Fund
and is included in the annual apportionment to county offices of
education.
Using data available through the CDE from the 2011-12
administration of the California Standardized Tests (CST) in ELA
and math, the number of students in a sampling of juvenile
court schools that score below basic or far below basic is
staggering:
Imperial County Office of Education - Juvenile Court School
75% of students in grades 7 - 11 scored below basic or far below
basic on the CST ELA
89% of students in grades 10 and 11 scored below basic or far
below basic on the CST Algebra I
Los Angeles County Office of Education - Central Juvenile Hall
86% of students in grades 8 - 11 scored below basic or far below
basic on the CST ELA
96% of students in grades 9 - 11 scored below basic or far below
basic on the CST Algebra I
Fresno County Office of Education - Court School
75% of students in grades 8 - 11 scored below basic or far below
basic on the CST ELA
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89% of students in grades 10 and 11 scored below basic or far
below basic on the CST Algebra I
Because of the severe magnitude of underperformance, the
committee recommends deleting the limitation that enhanced
instruction be limited only to those students who are performing
three or more grade below grade level and instead permit a
county office of education to offer such instruction to any
pupil, as appropriate. In order to assist in the appropriate
placement of pupils, the committee recommends allowing a county
office of education to use a pupil's scores on statewide
assessments. Using a pupil's previous scores, can serve as a
valuable tool in reducing testing time and, in turn, increasing
instructional time.
Course of Study
Existing law requires each local educational agency (LEA) to
adopt a course of study for use in each of its schools. There
are numerous elements that must be met within this course of
study as prescribed by statute. These courses of study, while
often aligned to the state's academic content standards, are
designed by each LEA to meet the unique needs of its pupils. A
county office of education may set its priorities within this
course of study, so long as all required elements are included.
Given the flexibility in existing law for a county board of
education to establish a course of study for pupils in juvenile
hall, the committee may wish to consider whether this bill is
necessary.
Narrowing of the Curriculum
The requirements of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act and
state accountability programs have resulted in districts
spending much of their instructional time on reading and math.
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School and school districts that fail to make their annual
targets in English language arts and math are subject to a
variety of sanctions ranging from redirection of federal Title I
funds to state takeover. For these reasons instructional time
in other subject areas has greatly diminished and there is
almost no time for teachers to teach critical thinking skills.
Partly in response to this, California adopted the CCSS.
Building on the rigorous standards of NCLB but recognizing the
unintended consequence of a narrowed curriculum, the CCSS focus
on core conceptual understandings and procedures starting in the
early grades, thus enabling teachers to take the time needed to
teach core concepts and procedures well-and to give students the
opportunity to master them. In adopting the CCSS, this
Legislature signaled an end to curriculum that, whether
intentionally or unintentionally, excluded a comprehensive
curriculum.
This bill would permit a county board of education to adopt a
separate course of study for its pupils in juvenile hall by
providing increased attention to basic reading and math skills
for specified pupils who are performing three or more grades
below grade level. The author, however, has indicated that
while increased instruction in reading fluency and academic
literacy is intended, it is not the author's intention that this
increased focus be at the cost of a pupil's access to the
general curriculum. By using the literacy strands in science,
social science, and technical subjects embedded in the CCSS in
English language arts, this increased focus would permit
intensive remediation within the given instructional time
without limiting curriculum areas.
Access to the General Curriculum
This bill speaks only to a differentiated curriculum for those
students who are performing three grades or more below grade
level for reasons other than a specified learning disability.
For a student who is defined as a student with a disability
under the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA),
his/her individualized educational program is offered in
accordance with the laws governing special education, namely the
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IDEA. While not applicable here, examining the use of the
phrase "general curriculum" and its specific meaning under IDEA
and California's special education laws can be helpful in
providing context for examining the potential effects of this
bill. In the special education setting, "general curriculum"
means the same curriculum as that established for students
without disabilities (34 C.F.R. § 300.347(a)(1)(i)). The general
curriculum can be thought of as the overall plan for instruction
adopted by an LEA with the purpose of guiding the individual,
coordinated instructional activities and providing clear and
consistent methods and outcomes as influenced by the
state-adopted academic content standards.
If we borrow the definitions used in implementing IDEA, this
would mean that students in juvenile court schools would need to
be provided access to the same curriculum as provided to
students in other school under the supervision of the county
office of education. The committee may wish to consider whether
this bill could be interpreted to eliminate a pupil's access to
the full curriculum in an effort to provide remediation to
increase that pupil's reading and mathematics skills.
Previous Legislation AB 741 (Goldberg, 2005) required the CDE to
submit recommendations to the Legislature to ensure that the K-8
curriculum contained specified components. This bill was held
in the Senate Appropriations Committee suspense file.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Los Angeles County Office of Education (Sponsor)
Advancement Project
California Federation of Teachers
Junior Leagues of California
School for Integrated Academics and Technologies (SIATech)
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Jill Rice / ED. / (916) 319-2087
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