BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 812 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 29, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION Patrick O'Donnell, Chair AB 812 Weber - As Amended April 27, 2015 SUBJECT: Pupils of limited English proficiency: assessments SUMMARY: Requires that students of "limited academic English proficiency," as defined, be identified and annually assessed for academic English proficiency, and requires a study on best instructional practices for these students. Requires the development of an assessment tool and procedures for reclassification of these students. Specifically, this bill: 1)Defines "pupils of limited academic English proficiency" as students 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. 2)Defines Academic English and Academic Language as the oral, written, auditory, and visual language proficiency required to learn effectively in schools and academic programs. Specifically, Academic English and academic language is defined as the language which: a) is used in classroom lessons, books, tests, and AB 812 Page 2 assignments b) pupils are expected to learn and the language in which they are to achieve fluency c) includes a variety of formal-language skills such as vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, syntax, discipline-specific terminology, or rhetorical conventions, that allow students to acquire knowledge and academic skills while also successfully navigating school policies, assignments, expectations, and cultural norms 1)Requires that, by September 1, 2016, the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI), in consultation with the California Department of Education (CDE) and local educational agencies (LEAs) develop a formal process to identify pupils of limited academic English proficiency. 2)Requires that the identification process provide special consideration to students who: a) score in the lowest achievement levels on the Smarter Balanced Assessment System summative and interim assessments b) receive less than a passing grade on one or more consecutive progress and report cards in English language arts c) are identified by teachers or faculty members as meeting the above criteria 1)Requires, by January 1, 2017, the CDE, in consultation with AB 812 Page 3 LEAs, to develop a study on best practices for providing instruction to pupils of limited academic English proficiency, and provide this study to members of the Legislature, the Office of the Legislative Analyst, and the Governor. Requires that this study include information on: a) existing state and local programs b) effective pedagogical and instructional methods for pupils of limited English proficiency c) professional development and training needs for teachers who would be likely to provide instruction to pupils of limited English proficiency 1)Requires the CDE to develop an assessment tool to determine the proficiency level of pupils of limited academic English proficiency. 2)Requires the CDE, with the approval of the State Board of Education (SBE) to establish procedures for conducting the assessment and for the designation of a pupil of limited academic English proficiency to English proficient. 3)Beginning in the 2018-19 school year, requires the assessment to be conducted upon initial enrollment or as early as possible, and annually thereafter during a period of time determined by the SPI and the SBE. 4)Requires that the annual assessments to continue until a student is designated as academic English proficient. States that LEAs may use a score at the highest achievement level of 3 or higher on the Smarter Balance formative and summative AB 812 Page 4 assessments to designate a pupil as academic English proficient. 5)Requires that, if a student is still performing at a level of limited academic English proficiency after the 8th grade Smarter Balance formative and summative assessment, school districts must provide targeted resources with the goal of the pupil scoring at the level of 3 or higher on the 11th grade Smarter Balance formative and summative assessment 6)States that the assessments conducted pursuant to this section shall be conducted in a manner consistent with federal statutes and regulations. 7)Requires the SPI to develop a procedure to designate a pupil of limited academic English proficiency as academic English proficient using multiple criteria, including all of the following: a) an assessment of language proficiency using an objective assessment instrument b) teacher evaluation, including a review of the student's curriculum mastery c) parent opinion and consultation d) comparison of the performance of the student in basic skills relative to his or peers AB 812 Page 5 1)States that this chapter does not prohibit an LEA from testing pupils of limited English proficiency more than once in a school year if the school district or county office of education chooses to do so. EXISTING LAW: 1)Defines "English learner" or "pupil of limited English proficiency," and requires each school district to assess the English language development of each of those students within 30 days of initial enrollment and annually thereafter to assess until the students are redesignated as fluent English proficient. 2)Requires the CDE, with the approval of the SBE, to establish procedures for the reclassification of a student from English learner to English proficient. 3)Requires that the reclassification procedures developed by the CDE use multiple criteria in determining whether to reclassify a student, including, but not limited to, all of the following: a) assessment of language proficiency using an objective assessment instrument, including, but not limited to, the California English Language Development Test (CELDT) b) teacher evaluation, including, but not limited to, a review of the student's curriculum mastery AB 812 Page 6 c) parent opinion and consultation d) comparison of the performance of the student in basic skills with those of his or her peers 1)Establishes an English Language Development assessment to identify students who are limited English proficient, to determine the level of English proficiency of students, and to assess the progress of English learners in acquiring the skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing in English. 2)Requires the CDE, by January 1, 2015, to recommend to the SBE any modifications to the ELD standards to link them with the Common Core mathematics standards and the Next Generation Science Standards. FISCAL EFFECT: This bill has been keyed a state-mandated local program by the Office of Legislative Counsel. COMMENTS: Need for the bill. The author's office states, "Although there is a general consensus among academic researchers that all pupils must be proficient in academic English to thrive in professional or academic settings, a large portion of students still struggle to develop proficiency. AB 812 Page 7 According to research from California State University, Northridge, "Academic language is the language used in instruction, textbooks and exams. Academic language differs in structure and vocabulary from language used in daily social interactions. Academic language includes 1) a common vocabulary used in all disciplines, as well as 2) a technical vocabulary inherent to each individual discipline. Academic English is based more upon Latin and Greek roots than is common spoken English. In addition, academic language features more complex language and precise syntax than common English. Low academic language skills are associated with low performance in school. The issue transcends race but it certainly disproportionately impacts low-income and pupils of color. As indicated previously, data suggests that pupils who have limited academic English proficiency are generally "underprepared," and that there is a direct correlation between low performance and not being proficient in academic English. Specifically, one extensive field-test conducted over a ten year period based on student's performance on "assessment tasks" concluded that "students who are underprepared in academic language are less able to distinguish between important and unimportant information in lectures and text, are less able to recognize or produce correct affixes, are misled by text cues such as bolding, are less able to restate and summarize information, are less able to summarize text, are more likely to misunderstand lecture and text meaning, and take fewer lecture and reading notes." Currently, there are small programs such as the Academic English Mastery Program in Los Angeles Unified School District, but no formal or large scale efforts to funnel pupils into these types of programs that have been shown to be successful. Additionally, there is no formal state definition of Academic English, nor is there a description of the type of pupil would benefit from academic English instruction." AB 812 Page 8 Standard English learners discussed in 2014 English Language Arts Framework. The 2014 California English Language Arts Framework chapter on Access and Equity defines standard English learners as "native speakers of English who are ethnic minority students (e.g., African-American, American Indian Southeast Asian-American, Mexican-American, Native Pacific Islander) and whose mastery of the standard English language that is privileged in schools is limited because they use an ethnic -specific nonstandard dialect of English in their homes and communities and use standard English (SE) in limited ways in those communities." The Framework discusses African American English and Chicano/a English and notes: "Non-standard varieties of English are sometimes erroneously considered to be "ungrammatical" or "improper English," whereas these varieties are, in fact, systematic and rule governed dialects. Instead of taking a subtractive approach, teachers should give clear messages that non-standards varieties of English that students may speak or hear in their home communities are equally as valid as standard English." The Framework also shares a recommendation from a researcher in this field: "teachers should?make the linguistic features of school language, or SE, explicit to students in order to provide them with extended linguistic resources they can draw upon, depending upon the social context in which they find themselves." State once had a Standard English Proficiency program. The CDE once had a program specifically to support school districts in helping students achieve standard English proficiency. In a Senate Education Committee analysis of SB 205 (Haynes) of the 1997-98 Session, the program was described as follows: The California Department of Education (CDE) is responsible AB 812 Page 9 for the distribution of the Standard English Proficiency (SEP) handbook, which is based on a 1981 State Board of Education policy that directs the CDE to provide direction and leadership to local school districts to improve the standard English proficiency of speakers of Black language. The handbook is presently being revised to complement the English Language Arts Materials adopted by the State Board in December, 1996. The SEP is also known as the Proficiency in Standard English for Speakers of Black Language Program. This program appears to have been eliminated near the time the analysis written, a period during which the issue of standard English was widely debated in the media following the adoption of a controversial resolution by the governing board of the Oakland Unified School District. Committee staff was unable to locate any staff who worked in this program to provide further information. LAUSD Academic English Mastery Program and SEL policies. The Los Angeles Unified School District's (LAUSD) Academic English Mastery Program (AEMP) is a program designed to address the language needs of African American, Mexican American, Hawai'ian American, and Native American students for whom Standard English is not native. The program incorporates into the curriculum instructional strategies that facilitate the acquisition of standard and academic English in classroom environments that validate, value, and build upon the language and culture of students. It may be the only such program in the country. The AEMP promotes proficiency in academic English by working with school staff and parents. The program is currently working with 61 schools, providing training to teams of teachers, administrators, and parents from school sites which volunteer AB 812 Page 10 for this training. Over the summer they provide training to approximately 300 teams. In some cases participating schools provide instruction to SELs at the same time as English learners receive English Language Development instruction: students are split into groups according to their language need. The AEMP uses brief screening tools for the identification of the use of different language features, with a tool for African American, Mexican American, and Hawai'ian American students. The program also uses the LAS Links assessment to determine students' levels of language proficiency. The program uses curriculum materials available generally, such as California Treasures, Words their Way, and Lucy Calkins Units of Study. The AEMP emphasizes the use of culturally relevant materials, contrastive analysis, and an "additive" approach to teaching standard English. LAUSD English Learner Master Plan and Board Resolution. The 2012 LAUSD English Learner Master Plan includes a chapter on the education of SELs. It identifies Mainstream English Language Development (MELD) as a responsive instructional intervention that develops listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in standard and academic English. The plan states: The purpose of MELD is to assure that SELs will have meaningful access to the core curriculum, post-secondary educational opportunities, and career options. The MELD approach is linguistically responsive, in that it seeks to add Standard and academic English to the students' existing language repertoire. MELD accomplishes this additive approach by engaging in dual grammar study of the student's home language variety and target language (Standard English). This dual grammar study is referred to as contrastive analysis and has been shown by research to be effective in teaching Standard English. AB 812 Page 11 In May, 2014, the LAUSD governing board passed a resolution in support of standard English instruction. It calls for: appropriate assessment of the academic language needs of SELs professional development for teachers and administrators regarding best practices targeted resources to support SELs in all schools research and evaluation support for a SEL teacher advisor in each Educational Service Center parent education/engagement establishment of a model school in every Educational Service Center an annual count of SEL students beginning in the 2016-17 school year AEMP has formed a partnership with UCLA's Center X for the purpose of data collection and analysis, related in part to the above resolution. This collaboration is intended to provide AB 812 Page 12 more information on the need for this instruction among students in the district. Bill raises questions about what improves mastery of academic English. This bill proposes to create a system of identification, assessment, instruction, and reclassification of pupils of limited academic English proficiency which largely mirrors the system used for English learners. In proposing this system, this bill raises many policy and practice questions. Among them: How should LEAs identify students who are in need of explicit instruction in standard English? What assessments exist that could be used to measure proficiency in academic English? How should the target level of proficiency in academic English be defined? What curricula are available for explicit instruction in academic English? What are effective instructional methods for teaching academic English? What kinds of professional development improves mastery of academic English? What is the role of culturally relevant curricula in supporting mastery of academic English? AB 812 Page 13 To what extent should proficiency be measured by performance on assessments of core content area skills? And perhaps the most significant question raised by this bill: to what extent is it appropriate to use a system designed for English learners with students who already proficient in one form of English? It is not clear whether there are evidence-based answers to all of these questions at this time. But to the extent that mastery of academic English affects overall student academic performance, there may be a state interest in answering them. To that end, staff recommends that this bill be amended to delete its current contents and instead require, contingent upon an appropriation provided for this purpose, an evaluation of the LAUSD Mastery of Academic English program, through a partnership with the University of California, Los Angeles Center X. This evaluation would support data collection and analysis, focused around policy questions regarding identification, assessment, curriculum, instruction, professional development, and definitions of proficiency, with a specified timeline for completion. Prior legislation. AB 1249 (Davis) of the 2011-12 Session would have expanded the definition of "English learner" to include pupils whose native language is English and whose mastery of the standard English language or academic English is limited due to their use of nonstandard English. This bill died in the Assembly Education Committee. AB 1988 (Davis) of the 2011-12 Session would have required that AB 812 Page 14 the SBE policies ensure that the English language arts curriculum framework and instructional materials include strategies to address the language and literacy needs of pupils who use African American vernacular English. This bill died in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. SB 205 (Haynes) of the 1997-98 Session, as heard in the Senate Education Committee, would have required the CDE to terminate the Proficiency in Standard English for Speakers of Black Language program, and would have prohibited the teaching of non-standard English. REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION: Support None on file Opposition California Teachers Association Analysis Prepared by:Tanya Lieberman / ED. / (916) 319-2087 AB 812 Page 15