BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1539
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Date of Hearing: April 30, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 1539 (Hagman) - As Amended: April 22, 2014
Policy Committee: EducationVote:7-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill encourages the Instructional Quality Commission (IQC),
on or before July 31, 2015, to develop and recommend to the
State Board of Education (SBE), computer science standards
developed by science experts, as specified. Specifically, this
bill:
1)Encourages the IQC, in developing recommendations, to consider
existing computer science standards developed by the Computer
Science Teachers Association and content standards, including
standards for teaching coding.
2)Encourages the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to
consult with a group of experts, including but not limited to
computer science teachers, schoolsite principals,
administrators, university professors and private industry.
Requires half of this group to be teachers.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)General Fund administrative costs to the IQC of $300,000 if
the commission elects to develop computer science standards as
authorized. Computer science standards currently embedded in
the Career Technical Education Model Curriculum standards and
Model School Library standards may meet the needs of what is
intended by this legislation, in which case the above costs
would be substantially reduced.
AB 1539
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2)Ongoing costs in the range of $20,000 to $100,000 to CDE to
publish and edit updated standards, costs could be offset
through sales of materials.
3)General Fund/Proposition 98 cost pressure, likely in the
millions of dollars, to hire credentialed teachers to teach
computer science, provide equipment and materials, and provide
professional development. Local boards will also need to take
action to offer courses.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose. According to a report by the Computer Science
Teachers Association, the certification for teachers of
computer science is a "deeply flawed system" with lack of
agreement about what teachers should know and understand in
order to be exemplary Computer Science teachers. Currently,
California has three Single Subject Teaching Credentials
(Mathematics, Business, and Industrial and Technology
Education) and a supplementary authorization (Computer
Concepts and Applications) that authorize a teacher to provide
instruction in computer science. According to the author,
these varied approaches and emphases may lead to a disjointed
and widely disparate approach to computer science. This bill
seeks to develop content standards the California Commission
on Teacher Credentialing could use to inform development of
computer science authorization(s).
2)Background. California curriculum is based on academic content
standards that are developed by the IQC and approved by the
SBE. The frameworks, similarly developed by the IQC and
approved by the SBE, are guidelines for implementing these
standards. The IQC is an 18-member commission consisting of
one member of the Assembly, one member of the Senate, and 16
public members. At least seven of the public members must
have taught, written, or lectured on the subject areas
required for graduation. The state suspended the review of
frameworks and the adoption of instructional until the 2015-16
school year, though specific statutory exceptions have been
made for the review of the English language arts, mathematics,
and history/social science frameworks.
AB 1539
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To date, the SBE has adopted academic content standards in
career technical education, English language arts/English
language development, health education, history/social
science, mathematics, model school library, physical
education, science, visual and performing arts, and world
languages.
3)Implementation timeframe concerns. The CDE has expressed
concern with the proposed deadline of July 1, 2015 as they are
concerned the tight timeframe could compromise the crafting of
high quality standards. The committee may wish to consider
extending the timeframe to July 31, 2016 to allow for a
two-year process.
4)Related Legislation:
a) AB 1530 (Chau), 2014, pending in the Assembly Education
Committee, encourages the SPI to develop or revise a model
curriculum on computer science, and to submit the model
curriculum to the SBE for adoption.
b) AB 1764 (Olsen and Buchanan), 2014, pending action on
the Assembly Floor, allows a school district to award
mathematics credit for completion of a California State
University and Universities of California approved
"category c" computer science course if the district
requires more than two years of mathematics courses for
graduation.
c) AB 2110 (Ting), 2014, pending in this committee,
requires the SBE to incorporate computer science curriculum
content into the mathematics, science, history-social
science, and language arts curriculum frameworks as it
deems appropriate.
Analysis Prepared by : Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)
319-2081