BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 2016 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 2016 (Alejo, et al.) As Amended August 16, 2016 Majority vote -------------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: |61-7 |(June 2, 2016) |SENATE: |32-5 |(August 17, | | | | | | |2016) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------- Original Committee Reference: ED. SUMMARY: Requires the Instructional Quality Commission (IQC) to develop, and the State Board of Education (SBE) to adopt, modify, or revise a model curriculum in ethnic studies, and requires that a school district or charter school which elects to offer a course in ethnic studies to offer the course as an elective in the social sciences or English language arts and make the course available in at least one year during each student's enrollment in grades nine to 12. The Senate amendments: 1)Authorize the SBE to modify or revise (in addition to adopt) the model curriculum in ethnic studies. 2)Change the date by which the IQC must submit the model AB 2016 Page 2 curriculum from June 30, 2019 to December 31, 2019, and change the date by which the SBE must adopt the model curriculum from November 30, 2019 to March 31, 2020. 3)Allows the IQC to provide more than 45 days for public comment before submitting the model curriculum to the SBE. FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations Committee: 1) The California Department of Education estimates one-time costs of about $763,000 over two fiscal years ($302,000 in the first year and $461,000 in the second year) to develop the model curriculum as prescribed by this bill, including required examples of courses. These costs would support 2.0 positions, a writer contract, outside curriculum experts, advisory committee meetings, and press editing. 2) Local cost pressure to provide ethnic courses based on the model curriculum as expressly encouraged by this bill. To implement a new ethnic studies course, school districts would have to purchase instructional materials and either hire appropriate teachers or provide professional development to existing teachers. These costs would not be reimbursable by the state. COMMENTS: Research on academic value of ethnic studies. A review by the National Education Association found that "there is considerable research evidence that well-designed and well-taught ethnic studies curricula have positive academic and social outcomes for students." Another recent analysis found "a consistent, significant, positive relationship between [Mexican American Studies] participation and student academic performance." AB 2016 Page 3 A 2016 study from Stanford University (published as a working paper) on the effects of an ethnic studies curriculum piloted in several San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) high schools found that assignment to a year-long 9th grade ethnic studies course was associated with an increase of ninth-grade student attendance by 21 percentage points, GPA (grade point average) by 1.4 grade points, and credits earned by 23. The authors conclude that "these surprisingly large effects are consistent with the hypothesis that the course reduced dropout rates and suggest that culturally relevant teaching, when implemented in a supportive, high-fidelity context, can provide effective support to at-risk students." They also note, "the implementation of ethnic studies in SFUSD was, arguably, conducted with a high degree of fidelity, forethought, and planning. In particular, it appeared to draw upon the work of a core group of dedicated teachers, engaging in a regular professional learning community, with outside support from experts in the subject to create and sustain the program. As scholars from a number of disciplines have noted, the effects of such smaller-scale interventions are often very different when the same policies are implemented at scale." Most social science ethnic studies courses do not meet A-G requirements. This bill requires that the model curriculum include examples of courses offered by schools that have been approved as meeting the A-G admissions requirements of the University of California and the California State University. According to data reported by the CDE, 8,678 students were enrolled in ethnic studies courses in the 2014-15 school year. Of those, 5,750 students were enrolled in 505 social science ethnic studies courses in 119 schools, and 2,298 students were enrolled in 146 language arts (ethnic literature) courses in 58 schools. 162 of the 505 social science courses were identified as approved University of California/California State University (UC/CSU) A-G courses, while 107 of the 146 language arts courses were approved. AB 2016 Page 4 Effect of requirement. This bill does not require each school district and charter school to offer ethnic studies courses, but it does require that if a school district or charter school elects to offer a single course in ethnic studies it make the course available in at least one year during each student's enrollment in grades 9-12. In other words, if school district or charter school chooses to offer any ethnic studies courses it must provide the opportunity for all students to take an ethnic studies courses during high school. It is unclear what effect this might have on school districts' and charter schools' willingness to offer ethnic studies courses, particularly those which do not currently offer such courses. Trend toward local graduation requirements. Several school districts have recently made completion of a course in ethnic studies a local graduation requirement. Among them are Los Angeles Unified School District (which also resolved that the total number of credits required for graduation would not increase), Montebello Unified School District, El Rancho Unified School District, and Coachella Valley Unified School District. SFUSD has resolved to offer ethnic studies courses at all high schools, and explore making it a graduation requirement in the next five years. The Oakland Unified School District has required all high schools to offer access to ethnic studies courses which confer credit toward graduation and which are A-G approved by the 2018-19 school year. Analysis Prepared by: Tanya Lieberman / ED. / (916) 319-2087 FN: 0004309 AB 2016 Page 5