BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



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          Date of Hearing:  April 13, 2016


                           ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION


                              Patrick O'Donnell, Chair


          AB 2237  
          (Olsen) - As Amended March 18, 2016


          SUBJECT:  Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics  
          Partnership Academies


          SUMMARY:  Establishes the Science, Technology, Engineering, and  
          Mathematics (STEM) Partnership Academies program, for the  
          purpose of providing grants to school districts to establish up  
          to 100 partnership academies in STEM occupations.  Specifically,  
          this bill:  


          1)Makes findings and declarations relative to the importance of  
            high-quality STEM education in the classroom.


          2)Requires, beginning with the 2016-17 school year, the  
            California Department of Education (CDE), in coordination with  
            the State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI), to issue  
            grants for the establishment of 100 partnership academies  
            dedicated to training young people in STEM occupations,  
            including:


             a)   application software developer










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             b)   computer user support specialist


             c)   computer programmer


             d)   computer hardware engineer


             e)   industrial engineer


             f)   civil engineer


             g)   architectural engineer


             h)   aerospace engineer


             i)   dietetic technician


             j)   medical scientist


             aa)  microbiologist


             bb)  general medical practitioner


             cc)  dental services provider


             dd)  chemist










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          3)Requires the selection of school districts to establish STEM  
            partnership academies, and the planning and development of  
            these academies, to be consistent with current requirements  
            for partnership academies.


          4)Authorizes school districts applying to convert existing  
            school programs into STEM partnership academies to receive  
            first-year implementation funds.


          5)Requires that in order to receive funding for the purposes of  
            this bill, each proposed partnership academy meet the  
            following requirements:


             a)   Coursework and internship or pre-apprenticeship programs  
               which focus significant time on the use of emerging  
               technologies and state-of-the-art equipment.


             b)   Staff development opportunities to ensure that teaching  
               staff have the opportunity to be trained in the use of  
               emerging technologies and become familiar with new  
               equipment and current practices in STEM fields.


          EXISTING LAW:  


          1)Establishes the California Partnership Academies (CPA) program  
            as a state-school-private sector partnership to provide  
            combined academic and occupational training to eligible  
            at-risk students in grades 10-12, inclusive.


          2)Establishes funding and grant amounts to be awarded to school  
            districts for purposes of planning, establishing and  
            maintaining academies, and expresses legislative intent to  








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            expand the CPA program. 


          3)Requires the SPI to ensure that the planning grants are  
            equitably distributed among high-wealth and low-wealth school  
            districts in urban, rural, and suburban areas. 


          4)Requires districts and participating businesses to each  
            provide 100% matching funds for all state funds received;  
            provides that the match may be in the form of direct and  
            in-kind support; and requires the district to establish an  
            advisory committee consisting of specified individuals and  
            representatives. 


          5)Requires each district operating academies to annually certify  
            information to the SPI regarding the number of qualified  
            students enrolled during the just completed school year, by  
            grade level, and for each academy operated by the district.


          6)Establishes the Green Technology Partnership Academies and the  
            Goods Movement Partnership Academies, commencing with the  
            2009-10 school year, and requires, when funds become available  
            for additional partnership academies, the SPI to issue grants  
            for the establishment of such partnership academies in each of  
            the nine economic regions established by the state.


          FISCAL EFFECT:  Unknown


          COMMENTS:  


          Need for the bill. The author's office states, "Right now, not  
          enough of our youth have access to quality STEM learning  
          opportunities, and too few students see these disciplines as  








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          springboards for their careers. Although 81 percent of  
          Asian-American high school students and 71 percent of Caucasian  
          high school students attend high schools where the full range of  
          math and science courses are offered, access to these courses  
          for American Indian, Native Alaskan, African-America and  
          Hispanic high school students is significantly worse.


          A child's race, zip code, or socioeconomic status should never  
          determine their STEM fluency. Children must be provided with the  
          opportunity to be career and college-ready and to thrive in a  
          modern STEM economy. Furthermore, only 16 percent of American  
          high school seniors are proficient in math and interested in a  
          STEM career. Even among those who do go on to pursue a college  
          major in the STEM fields, only about half choose to work in a  
          related career. 


          By providing funding for 100 STEM Partnership Academies, AB 2237  
          would provide stronger access to quality STEM learning  
          opportunities in school so that students are better prepared for  
          the jobs and careers of the future."


          Overview of California Partnership Academies. A CPA is a small  
          learning community within a larger high school that contains  
          college-preparatory curriculum organized around a career-related  
          theme. Under the CPA model, a team of teachers work with the  
          same group of students over several years, aligning instruction  
          across disciplines, while employers provide internships and  
          other opportunities for students to learn outside the classroom.  
          Each CPA frames its curriculum around one of the 15 industry  
          fields established for Career Technical Education by the CDE.  
          The most common themes are Health Science and Medical  
          Technology; Arts, Media and Entertainment; Finance and Business;  
          Engineering and Design; and Public Services. 


          According to a report prepared for the CDE by the Career Academy  








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          Support Network at UC Berkeley, 467 CPAs submitted reports to  
          the CDE for the 2009-10 school year. These academies operated in  
          278 of the state's 1,264 comprehensive high schools. Most high  
          schools with CPAs ranked below average on the state's Academic  
          Performance Index.  The 437 CPAs that provided student-level  
          data enrolled 48,436 students in grades 10-12-about 3% of the  
          state's 1.6 million students in these grades. CPAs serve 36 of  
          California's 58 counties, and the state's six most populous  
          counties-Los Angeles, Sacramento, Alameda, Riverside, San Diego,  
          and Contra Costa-have a total of 287 CPAs.


          In order to receive the full amount of state funding, an academy  
          must show that at least 50% of the students in each incoming  
          class of CPA sophomores meet three of the following six  
          "at-risk" criteria: 1) having a poor attendance record; 2) being  
          significantly behind in credits; 3) demonstrating low motivation  
          for the regular school program; 4) being economically  
          disadvantaged; 5) having low state test scores; or 6) having a  
          low grade point average. 


          CPA students are 53% female and 47% male. CPA student gender  
          balances vary considerably among industry sectors, from Fashion  
          and Interior Design (2 academies) which is 79% female to  
          Manufacturing and Product Development (8 academies) which is 78%  
          male. Compared to the state as a whole, CPAs enroll larger  
          percentages of Hispanic and African American students: 59% of  
          students enrolled are Hispanic, 16% are Caucasian, 10% are  
          Asian, and 9% are African American.


          Focus on CTE in California has grown.  With dramatic changes in  
          industry and workforce demands, as well as renewed focus on  
          supporting career readiness, policymakers, business leaders and  
          educators have enacted numerous reforms to increase student  
          access to CTE courses in recent years.  










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          In addition to the Regional Occupational Centers and Programs  
          (ROC/Ps) and the CPAs, the Legislature recently established the  
          Career Pathways Trust and the CTE Incentive Grant programs.  The  
          Legislature has also made courses in CTE an option to meet state  
          graduation requirements.  In January, 2013, the SBE adopted  
          revised CTE Model Curriculum Standards, which reflect the  
          specific conditions and expectations of each industry sector.  
          The standards are organized into 15 industry sectors, which each  
          contain three to seven different pathway learning approaches. 


          Underrepresentation in STEM education.  STEM education includes  
          four specific disciplines-science, technology, engineering, and  
          mathematics-in an interdisciplinary and applied approach. STEM  
          teaches and trains students to engage in critical thinking,  
          inquiry, problem solving, collaboration, and what is often  
          referred to in engineering as design thinking. In recent years  
          the state has undertaken a number of policy reforms to address  
          STEM teaching and assessment practices, curriculum, and policies  
          that expand STEM opportunities for all students. 


          According to a 2009 report from the Institute for Higher  
          Education Leadership & Policy at California State University,  
          Sacramento titled Technical Difficulties: Meeting California's  
          Workforce Needs in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math  
          (STEM) Fields, the supply of STEM-educated workers is not  
          keeping pace with the employment demand in STEM fields. To  
          ensure that there are enough STEM workers, the report concluded  
          that increasing STEM achievement by underrepresented groups is  
          essential. The report noted that only three percent of STEM  
          majors in the state are African-American, and 18% are Latino.  


          The gender gap in many STEM fields has been widely recognized  
          for years, and in several fields has remained stagnant or  
          worsened in recent years.  This gap is reflected in CTE STEM  
          programs at the high school level, degree attainment in higher  
          education and employment in STEM professions:








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                 According to the U.S. Department of Education, girls are  
               significantly less likely to be enrolled in CTE programs  
               which focus on STEM occupations.  The Department reports  
               that in 2009-2010, girls made up only 24% of enrollment in  
               science, technology, engineering, and math CTE programs  
               nationally.  



                 Women remain far less likely to earn STEM degrees in  
               several fields, including engineering and computer science,  
               and this gap has remained relatively stagnant over the last  
               ten years.  According to the National Student Clearinghouse  
               Research Center, between 2004 and 2014 women earned  
               bachelor's degrees in engineering at the rate of 20% and  
               19% respectively, and the rate of degrees earned in  
               computer sciences dropped from 23% to 18% over that decade.  
                



                 The U.S. Department of Labor reports that in the  
               occupation of computer programmer (one of the professions  
               specified in this bill), women represent only 23% of the  
               workforce in 2012, a slight decline from the rate of 25% in  
               2002.  The representation of women in a number of  
               engineering professions is even lower, from 1% to 18%.



          Current law requires the SPI to ensure that CPA planning grants  
          are equitably distributed among high-wealth and low-wealth  
          school districts in urban, rural, and suburban areas. The law  
          also requires that at least 50% of students enrolled in  
          partnership academy are "at-risk."  However, current law and  
          this bill do not require programs to address issues of  
          underrepresentation in the fields for which they are preparing  








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          students.  Staff recommends an amendment requiring the SPI to  
          grant priority to STEM Partnership Academy proposals, authorized  
          by this bill, that address the participation of students  
          traditionally underrepresented in STEM education and  
          professions.


          Sources of CPA support.  There are three sources of supplemental  
          support for CPAs: grants from the state; financial or in-kind  
          support from the host district, required to be at least equal to  
          the State grant; and financial or in-kind contributions from  
          local employers, also required to be at least equal to the state  
          grant.  The state grant is therefore leveraged at least  
          two-to-one by local matching contributions. In total, state  
          grants amounted to $26.5 million in 2009-10, while school  
          districts matches totaled $41.3 million and employer matches  
          totaled $48.3 million. Thus, on average, CPAs received about 23%  
          of their supplemental support from state grant funds, 35% in  
          matching district support, and 42% in matching employer  
          contributions.  


          This bill is an expansion of one of the few categorical programs  
          left in the era of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF).  
          With the establishment of the LCFF in 2013, approximately  
          three-quarters of all categorical programs were eliminated, and  
          the funds previously dedicated for the programs were  
          incorporated into the LCFF. The retention of this program  
          indicates the Legislature's priority to maintain a separate and  
          dedicated funding stream for CPAs. 


          State-of-the-art requirement may disadvantage some areas. This  
          bill requires that in order to be eligible for funding, each  
          proposed partnership academy must focus significant time on the  
          use of emerging technologies and state-of-the-art equipment, as  
          well on staff development to ensure that teachers are familiar  
          with how to use the equipment.  The Committee may wish to  
          consider if all districts competing for the grants established  








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          by this bill will have the equal means to provide use of this,  
          presumably, very expensive equipment and technology. 


          Arguments in support: Microsoft Corporation writes, "By  
          providing funding for 100 STEM Partnership Academies, AB 2237  
          would provide stronger access to quality STEM learning  
          opportunities in schools so that students are better prepared  
          for the jobs and careers of the future. We believe AB 2237 is an  
          important tool in preparing students for careers in the  
          knowledge-based economy."


          Implementation date.  The bill authorizes the CDE to issue  
          grants for the establishment of 100 partnership academies  
          starting in the 2016-17 school year.  If this bill is enacted it  
          will require an appropriation, which would not be available  
          until July 2017.  Staff recommends that this bill be amended to  
          delay the establishment of the partnership academies until the  
          2017-18 school year. 


          Related legislation: AB 2072 (Chang) of this Session would  
          establish the State Seal of STEM, to be affixed to high school  
          diplomas of qualified students, to recognize students who have  
          attained a high level of proficiency in the STEM subjects. This  
          bill is currently pending in this Committee.


          AB 2275 (Dababneh) of this Session would authorize a person who  
          holds a single subject credential in business, industrial and  
          technology education, mathematics or science to teach courses in  
          computer science. This bill is currently pending in this  
          Committee.


          AB 2329 (Bonilla) of this Session establishes a computer science  
          strategic implementation advisory board to develop a K-12  
          computer science strategic implementation plan. This bill is  








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          approved by this Committee on a vote of 7-0 and has been  
          referred to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. 


          AB 1258 (Chau) of this Session would have established a Computer  
          Science Start-Up Courses Grant Pilot Program and a Computer  
          Science Educator Training Grant Pilot program, for the purposes  
          of providing grants to school districts to establish and  
          maintain computer science courses and provide professional  
          development for educators to teach computer science. This bill  
          was held in Senate Appropriations Committee.


          AB 252 (Holden) of this Session would have established a grant  
          program to award funds to cover the costs associated with a high  
          school establishing or expanding its Advanced Placement STEM  
          curriculum. This bill was held in Senate Appropriations  
          Committee.


          Prior legislation: SB 1354 (Hancock), Chapter 650, Statutes of  
          2010, revised the criteria for identifying pupils that are "at  
          risk" for purposes of enrollment in California Partnership  
          Academies and required school districts to provide an assurance  
          that each CPA pupil will be provided with career technical  
          education courses that are part of an occupational course  
          sequence that targets comprehensive skills and meets specified  
          requirements.


          AB 2855 (Hancock), Chapter 685, Statutes of 2008, establishes,  
          commencing with the 2009-10 school year, the Green Technology  
          Partnership Academies and the Goods Movement Partnership  
          Academies as two new categories of CPAs.


          AB 999 (Hancock) of the 2007-08 Session would have established,  
          commencing with the 2008-09 school year, the Green Technology  
          Partnership Academies and the Goods Movement Partnership  








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          Academies as two new categories of CPAs. This bill was held in  
          the Assembly Appropriations Committee. 


          SB 830 (Kehoe) of the 2007-08 Session would have provided for  
          the expansion of the number of CPAs, revised funding formulas  
          and requirements for school districts operating academies, and  
          revised the eligibility criteria to allow for the participation  
          of 9th grade students. This bill was held in the Assembly  
          Appropriations Committee. 


          AB 2529 and AB 1570 (Salinas) of the 2005-06 Session, would have  
          expanded the CPAs, changed the per-pupil and per-academy grant  
          amounts, and revised student eligibility criteria and district  
          requirements for participation. These bills were held in the  
          Assembly and Senate Appropriations Committees, respectively.


          REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:




          Support


          Microsoft Corporation




          Opposition




          None received









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          Analysis Prepared by:Christine Aurre and  Tanya Lieberman / ED.  
          / (916) 319-2087