Amended in Assembly May 6, 2015

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 begin delete Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 350) to Part 1 of Division 1 of Title 1 end delete begin insert and repeal Section 314 end insert of the Education Code, relating to English proficiency.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 812, as amended, Weber. begin delete Pupils of limited academic English proficiency: assessments. end delete begin insert English proficiency: Los Angeles Unified School District’s Academic English Mastery Program: evaluation. end insert

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 English 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.

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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 academic English proficiency, as defined, and as determined by a formal process that the bill would require the Superintendent to develop in consultation with the department and local educational agencies, as provided. The bill would require the assessment to be conducted upon a pupil’s initial enrollment or as early as possible after enrollment, in order to provide information to determine if the pupil is a pupil of limited academic 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 academic English proficient, as provided. 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.

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

end delete begin insert

This bill would, contingent on the enactment of an appropriation in the annual Budget Act or related legislation for the purpose of implementing these provisions, require the Los Angeles Unified School District, in partnership with the University of California, Los Angeles Center X, to conduct an evaluation of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Academic English Mastery Program, as specified. The bill would require the evaluation to be completed by an unspecified date and submitted to the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature. To the extent the bill would impose additional duties on the Los Angeles Unified School District, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

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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:

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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:

 

Chapter  4. Pupils of Limited Academic English
Proficiency

 

350.  

(a) For purposes of this chapter, “pupils of limited
academic English proficiency” is defined as pupils who do not
have the clearly developed academic 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 also English.

(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.

350.1.  

(a) On or before September 1, 2016, the Superintendent,
in consultation with the department and local educational agencies,
shall develop a formal process to identify pupils who may meet
the definition in subdivision (a) of Section 350.

(b) The process may, at a minimum, provide special
consideration to 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 arts.

(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
academic 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 academic English proficiency.

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

(b) 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.

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 academic
English proficiency identified through the formal 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 academic English proficiency to academic 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 developed pursuant
to Section 350.3 shall be conducted upon initial enrollment or as
early as possible after enrollment, in order to provide information
to determine if the pupil is a pupil of limited academic 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 academic
English proficient pursuant to Section 350.5.

(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.

(c) 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 academic
English proficiency as academic English proficient. The
designation procedure developed by the Superintendent shall utilize
multiple criteria in determining whether to designate a pupil as
proficient in academic English, including, but not limited to, all
of the following:

(a) Assessment of academic 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 academic English proficient
pupils of the same age, that demonstrates whether the pupil is
sufficiently proficient in academic 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 academic English
proficiency more than once in a school year if the school district
or county office of education chooses to do so.

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begin insert

begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 314 is added to the end insert begin insert Education Code end insert begin insert , to
read: end insert

begin insert

begin insert 314. end insert   

(a) Contingent on the enactment of an appropriation in
the annual Budget Act or related legislation for the purpose of
implementing this section, the Los Angeles Unified School District,
in partnership with the University of California, Los Angeles
Center X, shall conduct an evaluation of the Los Angeles Unified
School District’s Academic English Mastery Program. This
evaluation shall include data collection and analysis, and shall
address policy questions regarding identification, assessment,
instruction, and professional development of, and curriculum and
definitions of proficiency for, pupils of limited academic English
proficiency. The evaluation shall be completed by ____ and shall
be submitted to the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of
the Legislature.

(b) This section is repealed on January 1, 20____.

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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.