BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  SB 490
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 6, 2013

                       ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
                                 Das Williams, Chair
                     SB 490 (Jackson) - As Amended:  May 15, 2013

           SENATE VOTE  :   39-0
           
          SUBJECT  :   Early Assessment Program: common core academic  
          content standards.

           SUMMARY  :   Permits the California Community College (CCC) and  
          California State University (CSU) systems to use, in addition to  
          the existing California Standards Tests (CSTs), future  
          standards-aligned assessments for the purposes of the Early  
          Assessment Program (EAP).    

           EXISTING LAW  : 

          1)Establishes the Leroy Greene California Assessment of Academic  
            Achievement Act (Greene Act), to provide a statewide pupil  
            assessment program.  The Greene Act will become inoperative on  
            July 1, 2014, and as of January 1, 2015, will be repealed  
            (Education Code § 60600, et seq.).

          2)Recognizes the establishment of the EAP at the CSU to enable  
            pupils to learn about their readiness for college-level  
            English language arts and mathematics before their senior year  
            of high school; establishes the CCC EAP and authorizes the  
            CCCs to use the results of the CST for diagnostic or placement  
            purpose of prospective students who participate; and,  
            encourages school districts that choose to participate in the  
            EAP to consult with the Academic Senate of the CCC to work  
            toward sequencing their pre-collegiate level courses in  
            English language arts and mathematics to the academic content  
            standards (EC §99300, et seq.).

           FISCAL EFFECT  :   Unknown.  This measure is keyed non-fiscal by  
          the Legislative Counsel.

           COMMENTS  :   Early Assessment Program  .  Developed in collaboration  
          with the California Department of Education (CDE), the State  
          Board of Education (SBE), and the CSU, and accepted by  
          participating CCC campuses, the EAP is a voluntary program  
          designed to provide students, their families, and high schools  








                                                                  SB 490
                                                                  Page  2

          with early signals about students' readiness for college-level  
          English language arts and mathematics courses.  Students in  
          grade 11 who are eligible to take the English language arts, the  
          Algebra II, or the Summative High School Mathematics CST may  
          participate in the EAP.  

          The EAP identifies a student's need for additional preparation  
          in these areas while still enrolled in high school.  Students  
          then have an opportunity to enroll in English language arts  
          and/or mathematics classes that include additional instruction  
          during their senior year to prepare for placement exams  
          necessary at the CSU and the CCC systems.  Students who  
          demonstrate proficiency for college-level coursework, based on  
          their EAP results, are exempt from taking CSU and participating  
          CCC placement tests in English language arts and mathematics and  
          are permitted to move directly into college-level classes upon  
          enrollment.  If a student is identified as deficient in  
          mathematics and/or English language arts as indicated by their  
          test score on the EAP, the student who has been accepted to a  
          CSU will participate in a program designed to develop  
          proficiency in their area of deficiency before they enroll as  
          matriculated freshmen.              

          Students who participate in the EAP must complete the specified  
          CSTs and an additional 15 questions on the English language arts  
          and mathematics portions of the CSTs ("augmented CST").   
          Students are also required to complete an essay for the English  
          language arts portion of the EAP.  The EAP results are  
          incorporated into the Standardized Testing and Reporting -  
          Student Report.  Students who seek or intend to enroll in a CSU  
          or CCC have the opportunity to indicate that they want the  
          scores released to the institution at the time they take the  
          exams.

          According to the CSU, in spring 2012, 87 percent of eligible  
          grade 11 students participated in the EAP in English language  
          arts and 83 percent of eligible grade 11 students participated  
          in the EAP in mathematics.   Of the 87 percent of grade 11  
          students participating in the EAP for English language arts, 23  
          percent scored college ready; of the 83 percent of grade 11  
          students participating in the EAP for mathematics, 15 percent  
          scored college ready.

          According to the CCC Chancellor's Office, based on the most  
          recent data, 67 of the 112 CCC campuses accept EAP results and  








                                                                  SB 490
                                                                  Page  3

          thus students scoring college ready are exempt from having to  
          take the local CCC English language arts and/or mathematics  
          placement exams.

           Common core state standards (CCSS)  .  The State Board of  
          Education (SBE) adopted the CCSS English language arts and  
          mathematics on August 2, 2010.  Current law requires the SBE to  
          adopt revised frameworks that are aligned to the CCSS in  
          Mathematics by November 30, 2013, and English language arts by  
          May 30, 2014 (EC §60207).  
           
          California joined the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium  
          (SBAC) as a governing state in 2011, for the purpose of  
          developing assessments that are aligned to the CCSS.  A  
          condition of becoming a governing member state, California  
          committed to administering the SBAC assessments to pupils  
          beginning in the 2014-15 school year  
           (www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/sa//sbac-faqs.asp  ).


          The CCSS are designed to prepare students for college and career  
          readiness and in turn, mastery of these standards may be  
          evidence of such readiness.  Therefore, SBAC has encouraged  
          institutions of higher education to recognize its assessment as  
          evidence that students are ready for entry-level, credit-bearing  
          courses and should be exempted from remediation in English  
          language arts and mathematics.  



           Need for the bill  .  According to the author, due to the  
          approaching sunset of the Greene Act, this measure will allow  
          for the Education Code to be updated to reflect the changes in  
          assessments with the CCSS.  Additionally, this measure is needed  
          in order to encourage the CCC campuses to sequence their English  
          language arts and mathematics courses to the CCSS.


           Related Legislation  .  AB 484 (Bonilla), which is pending a  
          hearing in the Senate Appropriations Committee, suspends the  
          assessments required as part of the Standardized Testing and  
          Accountability Reporting (STAR) Program, except for those  
          assessments in the core subjects necessary to satisfy the  
          requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 in  
          grades 3 to 8, inclusive, and grade 10 and those assessments  








                                                                  SB 490
                                                                  Page  4

          augmented for use as part of the EAP in grade 11, until new  
          assessments addressing the CCSS are developed and implemented.  

          To note, this measure is amending the same code section as SB  
          490; the authors offices have indicated that they are working  
          together to create double-jointing amendments should both  
          measures reach the Floors of both Houses.

          AB 959 (Bonilla), which was held in Assembly Appropriations,  
          required the Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop a  
          recommendation for the use of the SBAC assessments for use in  
          the EAP as well as entry requirements and course placement  
          decisions of colleges and universities no later than January 1,  
          2018, to allow for the use of the assessment data that will be  
          available at that time.  

          SB 247 (Liu), which is pending a hearing in the Assembly  
          Appropriations Committee, excludes pupils in grade 2 from the  
          STAR Program and extends the inoperative date of the STAR  
          Program from July 1, 2014 until July 1, 2016.

           Previous Legislation  .  AB 2001 (Bonilla, 2012), which was held  
          in Senate Appropriations, stated the intent of the Legislature  
          that the reauthorization of the statewide pupil assessment  
          program include specified plans to reform that program as it  
          relates to grades 7 to 12, inclusive and required the SPI, in  
          consultation with various groups of individuals and entities, to  
          develop recommendations to effectuate those reforms. 

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :

           Support 
           
          Association of California School Administrators
          California Federation of Teachers
          Community College League of California
           
            Opposition 
           
          None on file.


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Jeanice Warden / HIGHER ED. / (916)  
          319-3960 









                                                                  SB 490
                                                                  Page  5