BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  SB 201
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          SENATE THIRD READING
          SB 201 (Liu)
          As Amended  September 3, 2013
          Majority vote 

           SENATE VOTE  :30-9  
           
           EDUCATION           7-0         APPROPRIATIONS      13-0        
           
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          |Ayes:|Buchanan, Olsen, Chávez,  |Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra,         |
          |     |Gonzalez, Nazarian,       |     |Bradford,                 |
          |     |Weber, Williams           |     |Ian Calderon, Campos,     |
          |     |                          |     |Eggman, Gomez, Hall,      |
          |     |                          |     |Holden, Linder, Pan,      |
          |     |                          |     |Quirk, Weber              |
          |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
          |     |                          |     |                          |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
           SUMMARY  :   Permits the adoption of instructional materials in  
          English language arts (ELA) and English language development  
          (ELD) and makes changes to the assessment of ELD for pupils who  
          are English Learners (ELs).  Specifically,  this bill  :  


          1)Permits the State Board of Education (SBE) to adopt  
            instructional materials aligned to the Common Core State  
            Standards in ELA/ELD, as specified.


          2)Permits the SBE to charge a fee for all publishers wishing to  
            submit materials for consideration by the SBE, as specified.


          3)Identifies the intent of the Legislature to continue  
            implementation of the Common Core State Standards and ensure  
            that pupils and teachers have access to instructional  
            materials that are both aligned to the Common Core State  
            Standards and meet the needs of ELs.


          4)Makes inoperative those sections of law governing the  
            administration, development, and maintenance of the existing  
            California English Language Development Test (CELDT) upon the  








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            report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to  
            the Legislature that both the assessment for the initial  
            identification of ELs and the summative assessment are ready  
            for their initial administration.


          5)Makes operative new sections of law governing the  
            administration of the assessment of ELs for the purpose of  
            determining the English language proficiency of those pupils  
            upon the report of the SPI to the Legislature that both the  
            assessment for the initial identification of ELs and the  
            summative assessment are ready for their initial  
            administration.


          6)Requires the development of two separate ELD assessments; one  
            for the initial identification of pupils as ELs and a second  
            for the annual summative assessment for ELs.


          7)Requires the assessment of pupils in kindergarten and grade 1  
            to be assessed in English listening and speaking, and, once an  
            assessment is developed, in early literacy skills.


          8)Identifies the window in which the annual summative assessment  
            may be administered as a four-month period after January 1 of  
            each school year, as determined by the SPI.


          9)Requires the SPI, in consultation with the SBE, to release a  
            request for proposals for the development of assessments for  
            the purposes set forth in this bill, if the SPI determines  
            that no existing assessments may be used.


          10)Requires the SBE to approve assessment blueprints, assessment  
            performance descriptors, and performance-level cut scores  
            based on standard settings.


          11)Specifies the minimum requirements of an assessment used for  
            the initial identification of ELs.









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          12)Specifies the purpose of an assessment used for the initial  
            identification be the identification of pupils who are limited  
            English proficient. 


          13)Specifies the minimum requirements of an annual summative  
            assessment of EL pupils.


          14)Specifies the purposes of a summative assessment are the  
            identification of the level of English proficiency of pupils  
            who are limited English proficient and to assess the progress  
            of limited-English-proficient pupils in acquiring the skills  
            of listening, reading, speaking, and writing in English.


          15)Makes technical and non-substantive changes to these  
            sections.


           FISCAL EFFECT:   According to the Assembly Committee on  
          Appropriations, this bill has the following costs:

          1)General Fund (GF) administrative costs to State Department of  
            Education (SDE), of approximately $400,000, to conduct an  
            adoption process for basic instructional materials aligned to  
            ELA and ELD standards, as specified.  The majority of this  
            cost will likely be offset with fees the SDE is authorized to  
            assess to instructional materials publishers for this purpose.  
             

          2)GF/Proposition 98 cost pressure, likely in the tens of  
            millions, to provide school districts with funding to purchase  
            basic instructional materials 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 instructional materials through the  
            2012-13 fiscal year (FY).  SB 70 (Budget and Fiscal Review  
            Committee), Chapter 7, Statutes of 2011, extended this  
            suspension until the 2014-15 FY.  This bill does not interfere  
            with these provisions.  








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          3)GF/ Proposition 98 costs, of approximately $7.6 million, to  
            develop an 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 provides CDE with authority to  
            utilize any contract CELDT savings to begin the process of  
            developing an initial and summative language proficiency  
            assessment, subject to enacted legislation in the 2013-14  
            Legislative Session.  This bill meets this requirement.  CDE  
            estimates it may have up to $1 million in current year  
            contract savings available for this purpose.  

           COMMENTS  :   During the 2012-13 school year almost 22% of all  
          pupils in California's K-12 public schools were ELs.  Of these  
          nearly 1.35 million pupils, approximately 85% spoke Spanish as  
          their primary language.  ELs are at a considerable disadvantage  
          relative to their native English speaking peers, as they enter  
          school with different levels of English fluency and therefore  
          have different instructional needs to achieve language and  
          academic proficiency.  In order to provide the necessary  
          instruction, pupils must first be accurately identified as ELs.   


           Instructional Materials  
          LEAs are currently either using ELA instructional materials that  
          are not aligned to the Common Core State Standards or have opted  
          to purchase supplemental materials that are designed to bridge  
          the gap between instructional materials aligned to the previous  
          content standards and the Common Core State Standards.  This  
          bill addresses the need for comprehensive instructional  
          materials in ELA that are aligned to the Common Core State  
          Standards. 
           
          English Language Development Assessments
           Current law requires the assessments used to determine the  
          English language development of ELs, to be aligned to the ELD  








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          standards.  Title III of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of  
          2001 (NCLB, requires ELD standards to be linked to content  
          standards and requires the English language proficiency test to  
          be appropriately aligned to the ELD standards.  Districts  
          administer a home language survey when students first enroll in  
          the California school system.  The survey asks 1) what language  
          the child first used when learning to speak; 2) what language  
          the child most frequently uses at home; 3) what language the  
          parents or guardians use when speaking to the child; and 4) what  
          language is most frequently spoken by adults in the home.  If  
          the answer to any of the first three questions is a language  
          other than English, students are required to take an English  
          language skills assessment. In California, the current  
          assessment used for this purpose is the California English  
          Language development Test (CELDT).  A student who has previously  
          been identified as an EL, based on a prior CELDT administration,  
          must take the CELDT once each year between July 1 and October 31  
          until he or she is reclassified as fluent English proficient.   
          In March, 2006, the United States Department of Education issued  
          recommendations to California in response to a compliance  
          monitoring visit.  The United States Department of Education  
          recommended that California review the use of the CELDT as a  
          measure for initially identifying K-12 students as ELs and  
          consider whether development of a separate screening measure  
          aligned to the CELDT would be beneficial.  These recommendations  
          also included the need for California to develop an appropriate  
          English language proficiency assessment of reading and writing  
          skills for EL students in kindergarten and grade one.  


          First, this bill requires the development of two separate  
          assessments:  one for the initial identification of a pupil as  
          an EL and the second for the annual assessment of an EL until  
          the pupil has been reclassified as English language proficient.   
          Currently, the CELDT is used for both purposes.  By calling for  
          the development of two distinct assessments this bill would  
          allow for a more reliable and valid measurement of students'  
          language skills.  Initial assessments are used to diagnose a  
          pupil's learning needs.  A summative assessment is designed to  
          take place after the pupil has learned the content area and  
          tells us where pupil is at given points in time and what has  
          been achieved.  It is used mainly to measure performance rather  
          than support learning.  









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           Analysis Prepared by  :    Jill Rice / ED. / (916) 319-2087FN:  
          0002211