BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 201
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Date of Hearing: August 21, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
SB 201 (Liu) - As Amended: August 15, 2013
Policy Committee: Education Vote:7-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill authorizes the State Board of Education (SBE) to adopt
basic instructional materials (IM) aligned to the Common Core
(CC) Standards in English language arts (ELA) and the English
language development standards (ELD) for grades K-8 no later
than November 30, 2015. Further requires the development of an
initial and summative ELD assessment for the purpose of
identifying and measuring English language proficiency, as
specified.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)GF administrative costs to SDE, of approximately $400,000, to
conduct an adoption process for basic IM aligned to ELA and
ELD standards, as specified. The majority of this cost will
likely be offset with fees the State Department of Education
(SDE) is authorized to assess to IM publishers for this
purpose.
2)GF/98 cost pressure, likely in the tens of millions, to
provide school districts with funding to purchase basic IM
aligned to ELA and ELD standards. Under the Local Control
Funding Formula, however, local education agencies (LEAs) are
expected to utilize their base and supplemental grants for
this purpose. Likewise, AB 2 X4 (Evans), Chapter 2, Statutes
of 2009, specified LEAs are not required to purchase IM
through the 2012-13 FY. SB 70 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal
Review), Chapter 7, Statutes of 2011, extended this suspension
until the 2014-15 FY. This bill does not interfere with these
provisions.
3)GF/98 costs, of approximately $7.6 million, to develop an
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initial and summative language proficiency assessment. This
cost may decrease depending on the results of an analysis of
the CELDT to determine what assessment questions are able to
be incorporated into any new language proficiency assessments.
Likewise, current year federal carryover funds and on-going
federal funding may offset GF costs. Currently, the majority
of CELDT contract costs are paid through federal Title VI:
Assessment and Accountability funds.
The 2013 Budget Act language that provides SDE with authority
to utilize any contract CELDT savings to begin the process of
development an initial and summative language proficiency
assessment, subject to enacted legislation in the 2013-14
Legislative Session. This bill meets this requirement. SDE
estimates it may have up to $1 million in current year
contract savings available for this purpose.
SUMMARY CONTINUED
1)Requires SDE to implement specified procedures for the
solicitation of basic ELA and ELD aligned IM, including the
following:
a) Providing a notice to all IM publishers and
manufacturers known to produce basic IM specifying if they
choose to participate in the adoption they will be assessed
a fee based on the number of programs they submit for
review, as specified.
2)Requires the fee to be in an amount that does not exceed
reasonable costs to SDE in conducting the adoption process.
Further authorizes SDE to reduce the fee for a small publisher
or manufacturer - an independently owned or operated publisher
or manufacturer that has fewer than 100 employees and average
annual gross receipts of $10 million or less over the previous
three years.
3)Requires SDE to develop the following ELD assessments:
a) An initial identification ELD assessment for the purpose
of identifying a pupil as an English learner (EL).
b) A summative ELD assessment for the purpose of providing
grade level information to determine English language
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proficiency of an EL pupil. This assessment is required to
assess the progress of EL pupils acquiring listening,
reading, speaking, and English writing skills.
4)Requires SDE to not administer an initial or summative
language proficiency assessment until both assessments are
developed and adopted by the SBE.
COMMENTS
1)Background . Since 1999, California schools have EL pupils
using both the ELA standards and ELD standards. The purpose of
the ELD standards is "to assist teachers in moving ELL pupils
to fluency in English and proficiency on the California ELA
Content Standards." Specifically, the ELD standards are
designed to specify the English literacy skills ELs need to
acquire to become proficient in the ELA academic content
standards. The ELD standards are also the basis for the
California English Language Development Test (CELDT). The
CELDT is used to identify, reclassify and assess the
proficiency of ELL pupils.
As a condition of applying for the federal Race to the Top
(RTT) grant program, states were required to adopt the CC
Standards in ELA and mathematics by the fall of 2010. In
August 2010, the SBE adopted these standards.
In 2011 and 2012, the Legislature approved and the governor
signed the following bills with the purpose of aligning and
integrating the newly adopted CC Standards to instruct
students, including EL pupils.
a) AB 124 (Fuentes), Chapter 605, Statutes of 2011,
established the ELD Advisory Committee for the purpose of
aligning the ELD Standards to the CC Standards in ELA. The
SBE adopted the newly aligned standards in November 2012.
b) AB 1719 (Fuentes), Chapter 636, Statues of 2012,
established a process for SDE to conduct a review of
supplemental IM aligned to the CC Standards in ELA and the
revised ELD Standards. In March 2013, the SBE approved
evaluation criteria by which to review submitted
instructional materials. The SBE is expected to adopt a
list of approve supplemental materials by the end of 2013.
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2)Purpose . There are 1.4 million EL pupils enrolled in
California schools. This represents 22.3% of all children
enrolled in school. According to SDE, 35% of ELs are enrolled
in kindergarten.
According to the author, "Recent legislation establishes
processes for the development of supplemental instructional
materials in ELA, ELD, and mathematics. (SB 140, Chapter 623,
2011; AB 1719, Chapter 636, 2012) California currently has
separate common core-aligned instructional materials for ELA
and ELD. The next step in implementing the common core
curriculum and helping prepare pupils for the new common core
assessments is to authorize an adoption of basic instructional
materials in ELA and ELD that are aligned to the common core
standards."
The author further states: "The existing CELDT is aligned to
outdated standards, and therefore, it is necessary to update
the assessment for alignment with current ELD standards."
This bill, sponsored by the Superintendent of Public
Instruction, requires SDE to develop an initial and summative
CELDT assessment and authorizes the SBE to adopt basic IM
aligned to ELA and ELD standards.
3)Development of an initial and summative ELD assessment . In
the spring of 2013, SDE submitted a budget request proposal to
develop an initial and summative English language proficiency
assessment. Currently, there is only a summative language
proficiency assessment - the CELDT. SDE argues the
development and implementation of an initial assessment will
save time and money because it can be locally scored (as
opposed to sending to the test contractor for scoring), which
will enable schoolsite staff to have immediate pupil data.
Likewise, there will be less of a need to consistently replace
test questions because the assessment is only given once when
a pupil enters school.
As mentioned above, the CELDT, the state's current summative
assessment, needs to be updated to reflect the revised ELD
Standards adopted in November 2012.
As part of the 2013 May Revision, the Department of Finance
proposed trailer bill language for the development of an
initial and summative ELD assessment. The Budget Conference
Committee rejected this trailer bill language and instead,
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directed the language be vetted in a policy committee. This
bill implements this recommendation. The Budget Conference
Committee, however, included budget bill language to enable
SDE to capture current year CELDT contract savings to begin
developing the initial and summative assessments.
4)Technical amendment . In the IM section of this bill, it
references a prior version of ELD Standards. AB 124, Statutes
of 2011, required the standards to be updated. Any IM adopted
by the SBE should be aligned to the revised ELD Standards.
The committee suggests the author correct this error.
5)Related Legislation . AB 899 (Weber), pending in the Senate
Appropriations Committee, requires the Superintendent of
Public Instruction to recommend modifications to the ELD
standards to link those standards with the CC Standards in
mathematics and science.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081