BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 201
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 201 (Liu)
As Amended September 3, 2013
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :30-9
EDUCATION 7-0 APPROPRIATIONS 13-0
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Ayes:|Buchanan, Olsen, Ch�vez, |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
SB 201
Page 2
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.
SB 201
Page 3
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.
SB 201
Page 4
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
SB 201
Page 5
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.
SB 201
Page 6
Analysis Prepared by : Jill Rice / ED. / (916) 319-2087FN:
0002211