BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2259|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2259
Author: Medina (D)
Introduced:2/18/16
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 9-0, 6/8/16
AYES: Liu, Block, Hancock, Huff, Leyva, Mendoza, Monning, Pan,
Vidak
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/11/16
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 4/21/16 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: School accountability: dropout recovery high
schools
SOURCE: School for Integrated Academics and Technologies
DIGEST: 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.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI), with
the approval of the State Board of Education (SBE), to develop
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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))
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:
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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.
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.
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 SPI and the SBE 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."
Comments
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 (CDE) has not yet certified an individual pupil growth
model authorized by current law. The authorizing legislation
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for this model was enacted after the alternative school
accountability model was rendered inoperative.
Status of the K-12 school accountability system. The existing
school accountability metric, the API, has been suspended due to
the shift to new assessments that are aligned to the common core
academic standards. The SBE 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.
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 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]
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, extending the
program's sunset would continue to allow up to 10 dropout
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recovery high schools to propose an individual student growth
model to the SPI. This bill could result in potentially
significant one-time General Fund costs to the CDE to review and
certify that any proposed growth models submitted meet certain
criteria. The CDE would also incur lesser ongoing costs to
develop and maintain a Web site displaying the growth model
data. To date, no models have been submitted to the CDE.
However, if in a given year 10 schools submit a model, the CDE
cites General Fund costs of up to $100,000 over two positions.
SUPPORT: (Verified8/12/16)
School for Integrated Academics and Technologies (source)
Association of California School Administrators
California School Boards Association
Riverside County Superintendent of Schools
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/12/16)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 4/21/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley,
Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth
Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto,
Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper,
Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim,
Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis,
Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte,
O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk, Rodriguez, Salas,
Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner,
Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon
NO VOTE RECORDED: Ridley-Thomas
Prepared by:Lynn Lorber / ED. / (916) 651-4105
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