BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 2259
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|Author: |Medina |
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|Version: |February 18, 2016 Hearing |
| |Date: June 8, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Lynn Lorber |
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Subject: School accountability: dropout recovery high schools
SUMMARY
This bill extends the sunset by three years on the ability of
dropout recovery high schools to use an individual student
growth model for purposes of school accountability.
BACKGROUND
Existing law:
1) Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI),
with the approval of the State Board of Education (SBE), to
develop an Academic Performance Index (API) to measure the
performance of schools and school districts, especially the
academic performance of students. (Education Code §
52052(a))
2) Requires the SPI, with approval of the SBE, to develop
an alternative accountability system for schools under the
jurisdiction of a county board of education or a county
superintendent of schools, community day schools non-public
schools (special education), and alternative schools
serving high-risk students. Existing law allows these
schools to receive an API score, but prohibits them from
being included in the API rankings of schools. (EC §
52052(g))
AB 2259 (Medina) Page 2
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3) Requires that the SPI and the SBE, as part of the
alternative accountability system or any successor system,
to allow up to 10 dropout recovery high schools to report,
in lieu of other indicators, the results of an individual
student growth model that is proposed by the school and
certified by the SPI.
4) Requires a dropout recovery high school to submit a
proposed individual student growth model, and requires the
SPI to review and certify that model if it meets all of the
following criteria:
a) The model measures learning based on valid and
reliable nationally normed or criterion-referenced
reading and mathematics tests.
b) The model measures skills and knowledge
aligned with state standards.
c) the model measures the extent to which a
student scored above an expected amount of growth
based on the individual student's initial achievement
score.
d) The model demonstrates the extent to which a
school is able to accelerate learning on an annual
basis.
5) Defines "dropout recovery high school" as a school
offering instruction in any of grades 9-12, in which at
least 50% of its students are either designated as
dropouts, as defined, or left a school and were not
otherwise enrolled in a school for a period of at least 180
days, and the school provides instruction in partnership
with any of the following:
a) The federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998.
b) Federally-affiliated Youthbuild programs.
c) Federal job corps training or instruction
provided pursuant to a memorandum of understanding
with the federal provider.
AB 2259 (Medina) Page 3
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d) The California Conservation Corps or local
conservation corps.
(EC § 52052.3)
6) Sunsets provisions related to an individual student
growth model for dropout recovery high schools on January
1, 2017.
ANALYSIS
This bill extends the sunset by three years on the ability of
dropout recovery high schools to use an individual student
growth model for purposes of school accountability.
Specifically, this bill:
1) Extends by three years, from January 1, 2017, to January 1,
2020, the sunset on the requirement that the Superintendent
of Public Instruction (SPI) and the State Board of
Education allow up to 10 dropout recovery high schools to
report the results of an individual student growth model
that is proposed by the school and certified by the SPI.
2) Updates terminology, from the federal "Workforce Investment
Act" to the federal "Workforce Innovation and Opportunity
Act."
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill. Existing law authorizes dropout
recovery high schools to submit a proposed individual pupil
growth model to the California Department of Education, and
requires certification of the model if it meets certain
criteria. California has adopted new standards (the common
core academic content standards), defunded the Alternative
Schools Accountability Model thereby rendering it
inoperative, and is now undertaking the development of a
new accountability system for K-12 schools. According to
the author, "AB 2259 will allow schools to apply for
certification and ensure that an individual growth model
strategy remains available. This bill helps to maintain an
important component of the accountability system for
dropout recovery high schools. Also, it allows the State
Board of Education and the Legislature to complete
deliberations on appropriate accountability."
AB 2259 (Medina) Page 4
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2) Individual pupil growth model. Dropout recovery high
schools serve students whose skills are generally credit
deficient, and enter and exit high school on an irregular
schedule. For these reasons, using an annual "point in
time" measure to gauge the performance of these schools
does not yield useful data, particularly for evaluation of
a school's performance. To get a more accurate picture of
student and school achievement, current law authorizes the
state to instead use an individual pupil growth model,
which measures student growth over time relative to grade
level content standards, using nationally normed
assessments. According to the author, California
Department of Education has not yet certified an individual
pupil growth model authorized by current law. The
authorizing legislation for this model was enacted after
the alternative school accountability model was rendered
inoperative.
3) Status of the K-12 school accountability system. The
existing school accountability metric, the Academic
Performance Index (API), has been suspended due to the
shift to new assessments that are aligned to the common
core academic standards. The State Board of Education is
in the process of designing a new accountability system for
the state's schools, built on the foundation of the local
control funding formula, local control and accountability
plans, evaluation rubrics, and the California Collaborative
for Educational Excellence. The API was developed prior to
the creation of the alternative school accountability
model. There is a desire to allow the new accountability
system to be fully developed prior to the recreation of an
accountability system for alternative schools. This bill
helps keep the focus on the use of an individual student
growth model for accountability for alternative schools.
4) Recent report on alternative school accountability. A May
2016 report by the Legislative Analyst's Office found that
the state does not have sufficient information to determine
how well alternative schools are educating students, and
recommended that the alternative accountability system
should use indicators that parallel the state's regular
school accountability program whenever possible, better
short-term alternative performance indicators should be
AB 2259 (Medina) Page 5
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developed, and longer-term student success should be
measured. The Analyst notes that annual standardized test
scores are not a good measure of student achievement in
alternative schools because those students are enrolled in
school for less than a full school year. The Analyst also
notes that current dropout and graduation rate data are
also not useful because they do not reflect transfers back
to traditional schools, and that a four-year cohort
graduation rate does not work for alternative schools
because students seldom enroll for four years.
[http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/report/R_516PWR.pdf]
SUPPORT
Association of California School Administrators
California School Boards Association
Riverside County Superintendent of Schools
School for Integrated Academics and Technologies (SIATech)
OPPOSITION
None received.
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