BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION Carol Liu, Chair 2013-2014 Regular Session BILL NO: AB 1764 AUTHOR: Olsen AMENDED: April 24, 2014 FISCAL COMM: No HEARING DATE: June 18, 2014 URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Lynn Lorber SUBJECT : A-G course requirements: computer science. SUMMARY This bill authorizes school districts that require more than two years of mathematics for high school graduation to award credit for a "category C" approved computer science course. BACKGROUND High school graduation requirements Current law: 1) Requires a pupil to pass both the English language arts and mathematics portions of the California High School Exit Exam and complete the following courses as a condition of graduating from high school: a) Three years of English. b) Two years of mathematics, one year of which must be Algebra I. c) Two years of science, including biological and physical sciences. d) Three years of social studies, including United States history and geography; world history, culture, and geography; one semester of American government and civics, and one semester of economics. AB 1764 Page 2 e) One year of visual or performing arts, foreign language, or until July 1, 2017, career technical education. f) Two years of physical education. (Education Code § 60851, § 51225.3, and § 51224.5) 2) Authorizes school districts to impose additional coursework requirements as a condition of graduation from high school. (EC§51225.3) A-G course requirements Current law requires the California State University (CSU) and requests the University of California (UC) to establish a model uniform set of academic standards for high school courses that satisfy university admission requirements. In addition, both the CSU and the UC are directed to implement a speedy process whereby schools may obtain approval of their courses for admission purposes, and requires that this process notify applicant schools whether a submitted course has been approved or denied by August 1 each school year. (Education Code § 66205.5) The UC and the CSU have established common high school course requirements for undergraduate admissions to ensure that potential university students are prepared to engage and be successful in university-level coursework. Students who follow the articulated sequence of courses in each of the subject areas listed below and who meet other specified criteria are eligible to apply and be considered for admission. The following list is commonly referred to as the "a-g" subject area requirements: a) 2 years of history-social science. b) 4 years of college preparatory English. c) 3 years of college preparatory mathematics. AB 1764 Page 3 d) 2 years of laboratory science. e) 2 years of the same language other than English. f) 1 year visual and performing arts. g) 1 year college preparatory electives. ANALYSIS This bill authorizes school districts that require more than two years of mathematics for high school graduation to award credit for a "category C" approved computer science course. Specifically, this bill: 1) Authorizes school districts that require more than two courses (years) in mathematics for graduation to award up to one mathematics course credit for successful completion of a "category C" approved computer science course. 2) Prohibits the school district from awarding mathematics course credit for a "category C" approved computer science course if the district also awards credit for that course in science or arts, foreign language or career technical education. 3) Provides that "category C" refers to the "A-G" admission requirements for the California State University and the University of California. STAFF COMMENTS 1) Necessary ? This bill authorizes action that can already be taken by school districts. School districts currently grant mathematics credit for computer science courses that meet mathematics standards, regardless of whether the district requires more than two years of mathematics for high school graduation. Further, the California State University (CSU) and University of California (UC) currently recognize computer science courses as meeting admission requirements for mathematics ("category C") or AB 1764 Page 4 electives ("category G"). While permissive, and intended to incentivize completion of high school computer science coursework that meets "A-G" requirements, it is possible that this bill could be misconstrued to limit the awarding of credit for computer science courses to only those districts that require more than 2 years of mathematics to graduate (even though the CSU and UC require three years of mathematics for freshman admission), or if the computer science course is not approved for "category C" by the UC. Should this bill state that nothing precludes districts from awarding credit toward graduation for computer science if the district does not require more than two years of mathematics, or if the course is not "A-G" approved (whether for mathematics or elective credit)? Staff recommends an amendment that encourages the governing board of a school district to ensure that computer science courses determined to satisfy mathematics subject area requirements build upon fundamental mathematics content. 2) Author's amendments . The author wishes to amend this bill as follows: a) Delete language that specifically prohibits districts from awarding mathematics credit for a computer science course if credit was awarded for science or visual performing arts, foreign language or career technical education. b) Encourage school districts to submit computer science courses to the University of California for "A-G" review. 3) How are high school courses approved for A-G ? Generally, the process of assessing the suitability of specific courses for meeting subject area requirements has been in the purview of the faculty of the University of California (UC), through the Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS) which AB 1764 Page 5 oversees all matters relating to the admissions of undergraduate students. A course's "A-G" approval is based on the "A-G" course evaluation guidelines and the subject-specific course criteria established by UC faculty. While CSU ultimately has the final decision regarding the acceptance of these courses, the UC has generally taken the lead on "A-G" subject matter requirements. California high schools may submit their courses to UC for "A-G" certification and once approved, the "A-G" course is added to the school's "A-G" course list. According to the UC Office of the President, all approved courses in the mathematics "category C" requirement are expected to satisfy specified criteria, as outlined in the "Statement of Competencies in Mathematics Expected of Entering College Students." 4) Current computer science courses . The UC Office of the President issued a status report on high school computer science courses in January 2014. According to the UC, in 2013-14 over 400 high schools (about 20%) offered at least one UC approved computer science course. The majority of these courses will satisfy the "G" elective requirement for admissions purposes. In its status report, the UC noted that some of the challenges of expanding computer science education in high schools include identifying appropriate instructors and institutional resource limitations. 5) Related legislation . SB 1200 (Padilla) (2014), requires the California State University, and requests the UC, to develop guidelines for high school computer science courses that may be approved for admission. SB 1200 is pending in the Assembly Higher Education Committee. ACR 108 (Wagner, Chapter 42, 2014) designates the week of December 8, 2014, as Computer Science Education Week. AB 1530 (Chau) (2014), encourages the Superintendent of AB 1764 Page 6 Public Instruction to develop or revise a model curriculum on computer science by July 1, 2017. AB 1530 is pending referral in the Senate Rules Committee. AB 1539 (Hagman) (2014), requires the Instructional Quality Commission to develop computer science content standards by July 31, 2016. AB 1539 is pending referral in the Senate Rules Committee. AB 2110 (Ting) (2014), requires the Instructional Quality Commission to incorporate computer science curriculum content into the mathematics, science, history-social science, and language arts curriculum frameworks, as it deems appropriate. AB 2110 is pending referral in the Senate Rules Committee. SUPPORT Alliance for California Computing Education for Students and Schools California Chamber of Commerce California STEM Learning Network California Teachers Association Code.org Computer Science Teachers Association Computing in the Core County of San Diego Microsoft Mountain View Chamber of Commerce San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce San Diego Regional EDC San Francisco Chamber of Commerce San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce StudentsFirst TechNet OPPOSITION None on file. AB 1764 Page 7