BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION Carol Liu, Chair 2013-14 Regular Session BILL NO: AB 1159 AUTHOR: Blumenfield and Bloom INTRODUCED: February 22, 2013 FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: June 12, 2013 URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Lenin Del Castillo SUBJECT : Charter schools: Pupil achievement data. SUMMARY This bill requires the State Department of Education to provide individual pupil demographic, program, and achievement data, including test scores and unique pupil identification numbers, relating to pupils who attend a charter school for which a school district is the chartering authority in accordance with the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). BACKGROUND Existing law specifies that a school district may provide statistical data to a public agency or entity, private nonprofit college, university, or educational research and development organization, as long as no pupil may be identified from the data. (Education Code § 49076) Existing law requires every pupil to have an individual record of accomplishment by the end of grade 12 that includes the results of achievement tests administered as part of the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program, the results of end-of-course exams, and any vocational education certification exams a pupil may have taken. Existing law specifies that a pupil's record of accomplishment is private and may not be released to any person other than the pupil's parent or guardian, or a teacher, counselor, or administrator directly involved with the pupil, without the express written consent of either the parent or guardian if the pupil is a minor, or the pupil if the pupil has reached the age of majority or is AB 1159 Page 2 emancipated. (Education Code § 60607) Existing law specifies that individual test results from the STAR program may only be released with the permission of either the pupil's parent or guardian, or the pupil if the pupil has reached the age of majority or is emancipated. (Education Code § 60641) Under existing federal law, FERPA generally prohibits the improper disclosure of personally identifiable information derived from education records. FERPA applies to all educational agencies and institutions that receive funding under any program administered by the U.S. Department of Education. Under FERPA, schools are required to provide certain privacy protections for the educational records they maintain. Existing law requires a charter school to meet at least one of the following performance standards in order to be renewed: (1) attainment of the school's Academic Performance Index (API) growth target in two of the last three years or in the aggregate last three years; (2) an API decile ranking of four or better in the prior year or in two of the last three years; (3) a Similar Schools API ranking of four or better in two of the last three years; (4) academic performance that is at least equal to the academic performance of the public schools that the charter school pupils would otherwise been required to attend; or (5) qualification for participation in the Alternative School Accountability Model (ASAM). (Education Code § 47607) ANALYSIS This bill : 1) Requires the State Department of Education (SDE) to provide to a school district individual pupil demographic data, program data, and achievement data, including but not limited to, the results of the AB 1159 Page 3 standards-based achievement tests that are part of the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program, the English Language Development Test, and the California High School Exit Exam, relating to pupils who attend a charter school for which the school district is the chartering authority, as specified. 2) Requires the SDE to provide this data, to the extent it is available, along with the unique pupil identification number of each of those pupils, to the school district in accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). STAFF COMMENTS 1) Need for the bill : Although charter schools are exempt from most laws governing school districts and schools, they are required to participate in the STAR program and report the results of tests in that program to the SDE. Some charter schools report the information through the school district that authorized the school, while others report the information directly to SDE. When a charter school reports the data directly to SDE, the information is not available to the school district. According to the author's office, a school district that wishes to obtain student-level achievement data for students who attend a direct-reporting charter school must make individual requests from each school, costing time and resources that the school district cannot afford, especially for school districts with a high number of charter schools. AB 1159 seeks to expedite the process in which school districts seek pupil achievement data so that they may be able to identify learning disparities in the communities they serve. 2) Records privacy . Although current law allows a school district access to aggregate school-level data, existing law deems a pupil's individual assessment data, including Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program results to be private and precludes the AB 1159 Page 4 release of those data to anyone other than specified individuals. In 2010, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) requested student-level assessment data for pupils attending charter schools that it authorized from the State Department of Education (SDE). In October 2012, the Superintendent of Public Instruction denied the request stating "Because of the legal restrictions imposed on the release of student-level assessment data, SDE is unable to fulfill your current request." According to the LAUSD, "Access to individual student demographic and achievement data is important to assess how students are faring." The LAUSD states that "Given that school districts are responsible for renewing school charter agreements, access to pupil data for a district's charter is necessary to properly evaluate the performance of students at the charter school. Without this information, it is difficult for districts to know if the charter is meeting the needs of all of its students." They maintain that this bill will enable districts to maintain better oversight of the charter schools they authorize. 3) Academic Performance Index . The Academic Performance Index (API) is a single number on a scale of 200 to 1,000 that is an annual measure of test score performance in schools. The API is used to summarize the performance of students and a school, and is based on results of the STAR program and the California High School Exit Examination. The system is based on a two-year cycle that gives a "base" score for the first year and a "growth" score in the second year. The Base API is released in the spring and is derived from the previous spring's test scores. The Growth API, which is released in the fall, comes from the previous spring's test scores. The State Board of Education has established a statewide target of 800 for the API. Schools with API scores below 800 are expected to improve and are given a "growth target" that is 5 percent of the difference between their API score and 800, with a minimum target of 5 points. (Schools with AB 1159 Page 5 an API above the statewide target are expected to stay above 800.) A school's Base API score plus its growth target becomes that school's goal for its next Growth API. For example, a school with a Base API of 320 would be expected to improve its performance by 24 points in the next cycle, or attain an API of 344. 4) Prior legislation . AB 1919 (Brownley, 2012), nearly identical to this bill, was vetoed by Governor Brown in September 2012, whose veto message read: This bill would require the State Department of Education to send individual pupil ulevel data to school districts that request the information. The data would cover each and every student attending a charter school the district authorizes. Authorizing districts may already collect this data, so another law is unnecessary. The locals can handle it. SUPPORT Association of California School Administrators California Federation of Teachers Charter Schools Association Advocates Los Angeles Unified School District OPPOSITION Charter Schools Development Center