Amended in Assembly April 27, 2015

Amended in Assembly March 26, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 812

Introduced by Assembly Member Weber

February 26, 2015

An act to add Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 350) to Part 1 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code, relating to English proficiency.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 812, as amended, Weber. Pupils of limited begin insert academic end insert English proficiency: assessments.

Existing law requires the State Department of Education, with the approval of the State Board of Education, to establish procedures for conducting an assessment of pupils who are English learners in order to determine the level of begin insert English end insert proficiency. Existing law requires each school district that has one or more pupils who are English learners, to assess the English language development of each pupil. Existing law requires this assessment to be conducted upon initial enrollment, and annually thereafter, during a period determined by the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the state board.

This bill would, notwithstanding the above provisions, require the department, on or before September 1, 2017, to develop an assessment tool to determine the proficiency level of pupils of limited begin insert academic end insert English proficiency, as defined, and as determined by a begin delete survey end delete begin insert formal process that end insert the bill would require the Superintendent to develop begin delete and a end delete begin insert in consultation with the department and end insert local educational begin delete agency to administer, creating a state program, end delete begin insert agencies, end insert as provided. The bill would require the assessment to be conducted upon a pupil’s initial begin delete enrollment, end delete begin insert enrollment or as early as possible after enrollment, end insert in order to provide information to determine if the pupil is a pupil of limited begin insert academic end insert English proficiency, and annually thereafter, during a period of time determined by the Superintendent and the state board. The bill would require the annual assessments to continue until the pupil is designated as begin insert academic end insert English proficient, as provided. begin insert The bill would require, if a pupil is still performing at a level of limited academic English proficiency after the grade 8 Smarter Balanced Assessment System summative and interim assessments, the school district to provide targeted resources with the goal of the pupil scoring at the level of 3 or higher on the grade 11 Smarter Balanced Assessment System summative and interim assessments. end insert

By creating new duties for a local educational agency, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.

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

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

SECTION 1.  

Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 350) is
added to Part 1 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code, to
read:

 

begin insert

Chapter   begin insert 4. end insert begin insert Pupils of Limited Academic English
Proficiency end insert

end insert

 

350.  

begin delete For end delete begin insert (a) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert For end insert purposes of this chapter, “pupils of limited
begin insert academic end insert English proficiency” begin delete means end delete begin insert is defined as end insert pupils who do
not have the clearly developed begin insert academic end insert English language skills
of comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing necessary to
receive instruction in English at a level substantially equivalent to
pupils of the same age or grade whose primary language is begin insert also end insert
English.

begin insert

(b) For purposes of this chapter, “academic English” and
“academic language” shall have the same meaning and are defined
as the oral, written, auditory, and visual language proficiency
required to learn effectively in school and academic programs.
Academic English and academic language is the language used
in classroom lessons, books, tests, and assignments, and it is the
language that pupils are expected to learn and achieve fluency in.
Frequently contrasted with “conversational” or “social” language,
academic language includes a variety of formal-language skills
such as vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, syntax,
discipline-specific terminology, or rhetorical conventions, that
allow pupils to acquire knowledge and academic skills while also
successfully navigating school policies, assignments, expectations,
and cultural norms.

end insert

350.1.  

(a) On or before September 1, 2016, the Superintendent,
in consultation with the begin delete department, shall develop a survey for
local educational agencies that identifies the number of pupils
identifiable as pupils of limited English proficiency. end delete begin insert department
and local educational agencies, shall develop a formal process to
identify pupils who may meet the definition in subdivision (a) of
Section 350. end insert

(b)  begin delete Local educational agencies shall develop a process to
annually administer the surveys of pupils at the beginning of each
school year. At a minimum, local educational agencies shall survey
the end delete begin insert The process may, at a minimum, provide special consideration
to end insert pupils who meet any of the following criteria:

(1) Scores in the lowest achievement levels on the Smarter
Balanced Assessment System summative and interim assessments.

(2) Receives less than a passing grade on one or more
consecutive progress and report cards in English language begin delete arts
courses. end delete begin insert arts. end insert

(3) Is identified by teachers or faculty members as a candidate
who may meet one or more of the criteria in paragraphs (1) or (2).

350.2.  

(a) On or before January 1, 2017, the department, in
consultation with local educational agencies, shall develop a study
on best practices for providing instruction to pupils of limited
begin insert academic end insert English proficiency, and shall provide this study to
members of the Legislature, the Office of the Legislative Analyst,
and the Governor. The study shall include, but not be limited to,
information relating to all of the following:

(1) Existing state and local programs.

(2) Effective pedagogical and instructional methods for pupils
of limited begin insert academic end insert English proficiency.

(3) Professional development and training needs for teachers
who would be likely to provide instruction to pupils of limited
begin insert academic end insert English proficiency.

(b)  begin delete (1) end delete begin delete   end delete The study required to be submitted to the Legislature
pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be submitted in compliance with
Section 9795 of the Government Code.

begin delete

(2) This section shall become inoperative on January 1, 2021,
pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.

end delete

350.3.  

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, including Article
3.5 (commencing with Section 313) of Chapter 3, on or before
September 1, 2017, the department shall develop an assessment
tool to determine the proficiency level of pupils of limited
begin insert academic end insert English proficiency identified through the begin delete survey end delete begin insert formal end insert
process, pursuant to Section 350.1, for purposes of identifying an
adequate method of instruction for these pupils.

(b) The department, with the approval of the state board, shall
establish procedures for conducting the assessment required
pursuant to subdivision (a) and for the designation of a pupil of
limited begin insert academic end insert English proficiency to begin insert academic end insert English
proficient.

350.4.  

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, including Article
3.5 (commencing with Section 313) of Chapter 3, commencing
with the 2018-19 school year, the assessment begin insert developed pursuant
to Section 350.3 end insert shall be conducted upon initial begin delete enrollment, end delete
begin insert enrollment or as early as possible after enrollment, end insert in order to
provide information to determine if the pupil is a pupil of limited
begin insert academic end insert English proficiency, and annually thereafter during a
period of time determined by the Superintendent and the state
board. The annual assessments shall continue until the pupil is
designated as begin insert academic end insert English proficient pursuant to Section
350.5.

begin insert

(b) For purposes of this section, school districts may utilize a
pupil scoring at the highest achievement levels of 3 or higher on
the Smarter Balanced Assessment System summative and interim
assessments to designate the pupil as academic English proficient.
If a pupil is still performing at a level of limited academic English
proficiency after the grade 8 Smarter Balanced Assessment System
summative and interim assessments, the school district shall
provide targeted resources with the goal of the pupil scoring at
the level of 3 or higher on the grade 11 Smarter Balanced
Assessment System summative and interim assessments.

end insert begin delete

(b)

end delete

begin insert (c) end insert  The assessments conducted pursuant to this section shall be
conducted in a manner consistent with federal statutes and
regulations.

350.5.  

Notwithstanding any other law, including Article 3.5
(commencing with Section 313) of Chapter 3, the Superintendent
shall develop a procedure to designate a pupil of limited begin insert academic end insert
English proficiency as begin insert academic end insert English proficient. The
designation procedure developed by the Superintendent shall utilize
multiple criteria in determining whether to designate a pupil as
proficient in begin insert academic end insert English, including, but not limited to, all
of the following:

(a) Assessment of begin insert academic end insert language proficiency using an
objective assessment instrument.

(b) Teacher evaluation, including, but not limited to, a review
of the pupil’s curriculum mastery.

(c) Parental opinion and consultation.

(d) Comparison of the performance of the pupil in basic skills
against an empirically established range of performance in basic
skills based upon the performance of begin insert academic end insert English proficient
pupils of the same age, that demonstrates whether the pupil is
sufficiently proficient in begin insert academic end insert English to participate effectively
in a curriculum designed for pupils of the same age.

350.6.  

This chapter does not preclude a school district or county
office of education from testing pupils of limited begin insert academic end insert English
proficiency more than once in a school year if the school district
or county office of education chooses to do so.

SEC. 2.  

If the Commission on State Mandates determines that
this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to
local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made
pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division
4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.