BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 770
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|Author: |Irwin |
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|Version: |July 1, 2015 Hearing |
| |Date July 15, 2015 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Kathleen Chavira |
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Subject: Community colleges: basic skills innovation program
SUMMARY
This bill adds new requirements for receiving grant funding
under the recently established Community Colleges Basic Skills
and Student Outcomes Transformation Program, specifies the
criteria and funding levels for distribution of the grant funds
to recipient colleges, and requires that $3 million of the $60
million appropriated for the program in the 2015-16 Budget Act
be set aside for statewide technical assistance, as specified.
BACKGROUND
Existing law establishes the Community Colleges Basic Skills and
Student Outcomes Transformation Program for the purpose of
adopting or expanding the use of evidence-based models of
academic assessment and placement, remediation, and student
support that accelerate the progress of underprepared students
toward achieving postsecondary educational and career goals.
(Education Code § 88800)
Existing law outlines the responsibilities of community college
districts, the responsibilities of the Chancellor's Office, and
requires that the Legislative Analyst's Office aggregate,
analyze and report specified information to the Legislature on
the progress of the grant program by December 1, 2019. (EC §
88810)
ANALYSIS
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This bill:
1)Requires that a community college district submit a plan to the
Chancellor's Office that details the strategy of a college or
colleges within the district for achieving the goals of the
grant program in order to receive a grant from the Basic
Skills and Student Outcomes Transformation Program.
2)Requires that two levels of funding be awarded to grant
recipients as follows:
a) Requires a $500,000 award to a recipient college
that has no evidence based practices in place as of the
date of the initial award and that in order to receive a
grant from the Basic Skills Innovation Grant Program plans
to implement two or more evidence-based practices.
b) Requires a $750,000 award to a recipient college
that has at least one evidence-based practice in place as
of the date of its initial award and plans to scale up one
or more practices or implement at least one additional new
practice, or both, as long as at least two evidence based
practices are implemented or scaled up with the funds.
3)Encourages recipients to implement additional evidence-based
practices as specified.
4)Authorizes, if funding is available, a college that receives a
grant to submit plans to scale up one or more of its
implemented practices to receive funds for years two or three
or both, but provides that grant priority is required to be
given to colleges yet to receive funding.
5)Requires that $3 million of the funds be set aside statewide for
technical assistance to be provided by content experts
selected through a proposal process, developed by the
Chancellor's Office, to provide technical assistance to
colleges in the following areas:
a) Improving student placement using multiple
measures, as specified.
b) Contextualizing remedial instruction, as
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specified.
c) Developing and offering effective and shortened
English and math remedial course sequences, as specified.
6)Provides that technical assistance should help achieve the
following goals:
a) Improve the accuracy of student placement.
b) Place as many students as appropriate directly in
gateway, University of California and California State
University transferable English and math courses and career
pathways, with remedial instruction integrated for
underprepared students.
c) Help students complete college-level English or
math within a two or three course sequence.
d) Provide proactive student support.
7)Provides that technical assistance be provided during the first
three years and authorizes a recipient college or district to
use grant funds to purchase additional technical assistance,
as appropriate.
8)Makes other technical changes.
STAFF COMMENTS
1)Need for the bill. According to the author this bill would
establish a more structured implementation of the Basic Skills
and Student Outcome Transformation Program recently authorized
in the 2015-16 Budget Act. Its provisions are an effort to
ensure that this funding is well targeted and provided at a
level that ensures the success of high impact practices in the
delivery of remedial instruction. The bill provides guidance
to the Chancellor's Office in the administration of the
program by outlining specific levels of funding, requiring
submission of a plan, and setting aside $3 million for
technical assistance.
2)Basic Skills. Basic skills courses provide those foundational
skills in reading, writing, mathematics, and English as a
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Second Language (ESL), as well as learning skills and study
skills, which are necessary for students to succeed in
college-level work. According to a survey by the California
Community Colleges (CCC) Chancellor's Office, about 85 percent
of incoming community college students arrive unprepared for
college-level work in math, and about 70 percent arrive
unprepared for college-level English.
According to the Community Colleges 2012 report on Basic
Skills Accountability, student progress metrics developed by
the CCC find that:
a) Of students who assessed at below transfer level in
mathematics, the largest
proportion assessed at three levels below transfer level, and
only 14 percent of this proportion succeeded in completing
transfer-level mathematics.
b) Of students who assessed at below transfer level in
English writing, the largest proportion assessed at two
levels below transfer level, and about 38 percent of this
proportion succeeded in completing transfer-level English.
1)Basic skills reform. In response to the high levels of
remediation and increased interest in improving college
completion rates, there has been a national movement to reform
remedial education. According to Learning Works a foundation
supported organization operated under the fiscal sponsorship
of Foundation for California Community Colleges (FCCC), the
non-profit auxiliary for the California Community Colleges,
this movement has been spurred by three important trends in
the national research on community colleges: 1) studies
showing that huge numbers of students drop out before making
meaningful progress in college, and that the more layers of
remedial coursework students must take, the lower their
completion of college-level English and math, 2) studies
questioning the accuracy of the standardized tests that sort
students into different levels of remediation, and 3) studies
showing significantly better outcomes among students enrolled
in accelerated models of remediation.
According to a Learning Works' 2014 brief entitled, "New Study
of the California Acceleration Project: Large and Robust
Gains in Student Completion of College English and Math,"
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accelerated models of remediation are producing great
increases in student completion of gatekeeper English and
mathematics requirements at CCCs. The brief found that
effective accelerated pathways led to completion gains among
all students, regardless of their level of preparation,
demographic group, or socioeconomic status. According to the
16 CCCs piloting accelerated remediation models in 2011-12 as
part of the California Acceleration Project (CAP) initiative,
found that by redesigning their curricula to reduce students'
time in remedial courses by one or more semesters, higher
completion rates among students in accelerated remediation
occurred. In English, students' odds of completing a
college-level course were 2.3 times greater in high-impact
models of acceleration than students in traditional
remediation; and, in mathematics, students' odds of completing
a college-level course were 4.5 times greater than students in
traditional remediation.
2)Community Colleges Basic Skills and Student Outcomes
Transformation Program. SB 81 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal
Review, Chapter 22, Statutes of 2015) established a new
program for the purpose of adopting or expanding the use of
evidence-based practices for accelerating completion of basic
skills courses. The Budget Act provided $60 million for the
program.
This bill sets aside $3 million of the $60 million for
purposes of providing technical assistance and specifies the
exact grant amounts to be awarded to districts. According to
the author and sponsor, these provisions are motivated by a
concern that the resources and expertise necessary for the
success of the program do not currently exist within the
Chancellor's office. The intent of this bill is to provide
guidance to the Chancellor's Office in the administration of
the program to ensure that sufficient funding is provided for
campuses to successfully implement the strategies and reforms
they propose and to ensure that grant recipients are provided
with the technical expertise and assistance necessary to
achieve the goals of the program.
However, as currently drafted the bill statutorily provides
for the distribution and use of funds without any clear
relationship to the scope and scale of the proposed plan. It
also eliminates the discretion of the Chancellor's Office to
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determine the appropriate balance of funding for grants and
technical support. In order to ensure that the Chancellor's
office retains the ability and flexibility to administer the
new program, but provide the support necessary for successful
program implementation, staff recommends the bill be amended
to delete lines 21-32 on page 6 and to delete page 7 and
instead:
Staff recommends the bill be amended on Page 3 line 7 to
require that the plan, at a minimum, specify the number of
students served, strategies to be employed and the plan's
projected outcomes.
Staff also recommends the bill be amended to expand the
responsibilities of the Office of the Chancellor in
subdivision (d) to additionally:
"3) Determine the level of funding to be awarded to a
recipient based upon the scope and complexity of the work
proposed in the plan as evidenced by the number of students
served, strategies to be employed and projected outcomes.
4) Consult with internal and external stakeholders for the
purpose of advising on the creation and composition of a team
of technical assistance providers to provide assistance to
colleges in the development of their proposals and the
implementation of their plans.
(A) Stakeholders shall include, but not be limited to,
representatives from campuses, faculty, administrators, and
other experts with experience implementing evidence-based
practices accelerating completion of basic skills courses.
(B) Technical assistance providers shall have demonstrated
that they have expertise in the development and/or
implementation of the evidence-based practices outlined in
subdivision (a).
(C) The Chancellor's Office may contract with the identified
technical assistance providers to provide assistance in the
development and implementation of plans by applicant and
recipient districts."
SUPPORT
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Asian American Advancing Justice - Los Angeles
California EDGE Coalition
California Manufacturers & Technology Association
California Teachers Association
Campaign for College Opportunity
Community College League of California
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce
MALDEF
ReadyNation California
OPPOSITION
None received.
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