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))








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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.









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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."








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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  








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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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