Amended in Senate May 15, 2013

Senate Bill No. 490

Introduced by Senator Jackson

February 21, 2013

An act to amend Section 99301 of the Education Code, relating to postsecondary education.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 490, as amended, Jackson. Early Assessment Program: common core academic content standards.

Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges and the California State University as 2 of the 3 segments of public postsecondary education in the state. Existing law recognizes the establishment of the Early Assessment Program (EAP) at the California State University to enable pupils to learn about their readiness for college-level English and mathematics before their senior year of high school. Existing law states the intent of the Legislature that the EAP be expanded to include the California Community Colleges.

Existing law encourages community college districts participating in the EAP to consult with the Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges to work toward sequencing their precollegiate level courses and transfer-level courses in English and mathematics to the elementary and secondary education academic content standards adopted pursuant to specified law.

This bill would instead encourage those courses to be sequenced to the common core academic content standards for language arts and mathematics.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 99301 of the Education Code is amended
to read:

99301.  

(a) Notwithstanding subdivision (a) of Section 78213,
the individual results of the California Standards Test (CST) and
the augmented CST, as referenced in Section 60641, begin insert or a
standards-aligned successor assessment, end insert in addition to any other
purposes may be used by community college districts to provide
diagnostic advice to, or for the placement of, prospective
community college students participating in the EAP.

(b) (1) As authorized pursuant to subparagraph (B) of paragraph
(3) of subdivision (a) of Section 60641, the individual results of
the CST and the augmented CST, as referenced in Section 60641,
begin insert or a standards-aligned successor assessment, end insert shall be provided
to the office of the Chancellor of the California Community
Colleges.

(2) The office of the Chancellor of the California Community
Colleges shall coordinate with community college districts that
choose to voluntarily participate in the EAP as follows, and, to the
extent possible, shall accomplish all of the following activities
using existing resources:

(A) Encourage community college districts to choose to
voluntarily participate in the EAP and notify them of the
requirements of subdivision (c), including the requirements that
the standards utilized by CSU to assess readiness for college-level
English and mathematics courses, as expressed in the CST as
augmented by CSU, begin insert or a standards-aligned successor assessment, end insert
shall also be used for the purposes of the EAP.

(B) Coordinate the progress of the program, provide technical
assistance to participating community college districts pursuant
to subdivision (c) as needed, identify additional reporting and
program criteria as needed, and provide a report to the Legislature
and Governor on or before February 15, 2015, on the
implementation and results of the EAP for community college
students.

(C) Provide access to the individual test results of the CST and
the augmented CST, as referenced in Section 60641, begin insert or a
standards-aligned successor assessment, end insert to participating
community college districts.

(c) For those community college districts that choose to work
directly with high school pupils within their respective district
boundaries who took the augmented CST, as referenced in Section
60641, begin insert or a standards-aligned successor assessment, end insert and choose
to offer assistance to these pupils in strengthening their college
readiness skills, all of the following provisions apply:

(1) The individual results of the CST and the augmented CST,
as referenced in Section 60641, begin insert or a standards-aligned successor
assessment, end insert shall be released by the office of the Chancellor of the
California Community Colleges, as authorized pursuant to
subparagraph (B) of paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section
60641, to participating community college districts upon their
request for this information and may be used to provide diagnostic
advice to prospective community college students participating in
the EAP.

(2) Pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (2) of subdivision
(b), the same standards utilized by CSU to assess readiness shall
also be used for purposes of this section.

(3) The augmented CST as referenced in Section 60641, and
begin delete currently end delete utilized by CSU for purposes of early assessment, begin insert or a
standards-aligned successor assessment, end insert shall be used to assess
the college readiness of pupils in the EAP.

(4) Participating community college districts are encouraged to
consult with the Academic Senate for the California Community
Colleges to work toward sequencing their precollegiate level
courses and transfer-level courses in English and mathematics to
the common core academic content standards adopted pursuant to
Section 60605.8.

(5) Participating community college districts shall identify an
EAP coordinator and shall coordinate with CSU campuses and
schools offering instruction in kindergarten and any of grades 1
to 12, inclusive, in their respective district boundaries on
EAP-related activities that assist pupils in making decisions that
increase their college readiness skills and likelihood of pursuing
a postsecondary education.

(6) In order to provide high school pupils with an indicator of
their college readiness, a community college district participating
in the EAP shall use individual test results provided to that college
pursuant to paragraph (1) of, and subparagraph (C) of paragraph
(2) of, subdivision (b) to provide diagnostic advice to prospective
community college students participating in the EAP.

(7) The individual results of the augmented CST, as referenced
in Section 60641 for purposes of the EAP, begin insert or a standards-aligned
successor assessment, end insert shall not be used by a community college
as a criterion for admission.

(8) Participating community college districts shall utilize the
existing infrastructure of academic opportunities, as developed by
CSU, to provide additional preparation in grade 12 for prospective
community college students participating in the EAP.

(d) Both of the following provisions apply to CSU:

(1) The individual results of the CST and the augmented CST,
as referenced in Section 60641, begin insert or a standards-aligned successor
assessment, end insert as authorized pursuant to subparagraph (B) of
paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 60641, shall be released
to, and in addition to any other purposes may be used by, CSU to
provide diagnostic advice to, or for begin insert , end insert the placement of prospective
CSU students participating in the EAP.

(2) The individual results of the augmented CST, as referenced
in Section 60641 for purposes of the EAP, begin insert or a standards-aligned
successor assessment, end insert shall not be used by CSU as a criterion for
admission.