BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 2350 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 2350 (O'Donnell) As Amended August 19, 2016 Majority vote -------------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: |78-0 |(June 1, 2016) |SENATE: | 39-0 |(August 23, | | | | | | |2016) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------- Original Committee Reference: ED. SUMMARY: Prohibits middle and high school English learner students from being denied enrollment in core curriculum courses, courses required for graduation, and courses required for middle school grade promotion, consistent with federal law. The Senate amendments: 1)Delete the section of the bill which required that the California Department of Education (CDE) contract for the development of a series of videos demonstrating best practices for implementing designated and integrated English language development (ELD). This project was funded in the Budget Act of 2016. 2)Delete the section of the bill which required that if a local AB 2350 Page 2 educational agency (LEA) offered a course designed for long term English learners the course confer credits in English language arts necessary to meet graduation or grade promotion requirements. 3)Delete the section defining "integrated and designated" ELD as used in the state's ELD framework. 4)Delete the section updating the term "specially designed content instruction in English," as defined for the purpose of teacher credentialing, to conform with existing practice in teacher credentialing. 5)Align with federal law the section prohibiting middle and high school English learners from being denied enrollment in specified courses, by: a) Defining the "standard instructional program" of a school (as used in case law related to federal law) to include, at a minimum, core curriculum courses in English language arts, mathematics and science; courses required for graduation; and courses required for grade promotion. b) Stating that English learners cannot be denied enrollment in "a-g" courses or advanced courses which are not part of the standard instructional program on the sole basis of their classification as English learners. c) Clarifying that the exemption from the above prohibition applies to programs designed to meet the academic and transitional needs of newly arrived immigrants by focusing on English proficiency as a primary objective, provided that they are designed to remedy any academic deficits incurred during participation and are reasonably calculated to enable parity of participation in the standard instructional program. AB 2350 Page 3 EXISTING LAW: 1)The federal Equal Educational Opportunity Act of 1974 (EEOA, 20 United States Code (U.S.C.) Section 1701 et seq.) prohibits the denial of equal educational opportunity by the failure of an educational agency to take appropriate action to overcome language barriers that impede equal participation by its students in its instructional programs. 2)Existing case law, Castaneda v. Pickard (1981, 648 F.2d 989), interprets the EEOA to require schools to ensure English learners' participation in the "standard instructional program" of a school either by providing access to the standard instructional program along with English language support, or instead by providing a program for English learners, "during the early part of their school career, which has, as its primary objective the development of literacy in English," provided that the program is designed to help the student "overcome the academic deficits" incurred during participation in that program, and that it is "reasonably calculated to enable students to attain parity of participation in the standard instructional program within a reasonable length of time after they enter the school system." FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations Committee (based on August 1, 2016 version), this bill is not anticipated to result in significant costs to the state as the prohibition of preventing English learners (ELs) from enrolling in courses required for graduation, grade promotion, or minimum course requirements for University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) admission, is predicated on federal law which prohibits a state from denying equal educational opportunity, as specified. This bill provides greater specificity on this federal requirement that appears to align AB 2350 Page 4 with federal guidance. COMMENTS: Access to the core curriculum for English learners. This bill addresses English learners' access to core curriculum courses in middle and high school by prohibiting ELs from being prevented from taking core curriculum courses and courses necessary for graduation. Policy Analysis for California Education's (PACE) 2015 report, "Improving the Opportunities and Outcomes of California's Students Learning English," reported that ELs are less likely than non-ELs to be enrolled in core academic subject courses such as English language arts, mathematics, and science, and as a result earn fewer credits toward graduation than non-EL students. The research further found that limited access to English Language Arts (ELA) is largely due to 1) ELD courses being used as a substitute, rather than a complement, for ELA courses, and 2) the enrollment of elementary and secondary ELs in intervention classes for language arts and math which were not designed for ELs' language and academic needs. Specifically, this research found that in one large California district: 1)42% of ELs were not enrolled in ELA courses (compared to 1-2% of non-ELs) 2)4% were not enrolled in math courses (compared to 1% of non-ELs) 3)10% of ELs were not enrolled in science courses (compared to 1% of non-ELs) 4)Overall, 47% of ELs were not enrolled in at least one core AB 2350 Page 5 curriculum area, compared to 5% of non ELs 5)In math and science, ELs with higher levels of English proficiency are just as likely as those with lower levels of English proficiency to not be enrolled. 6)Controlling for prior achievement, ELs are still 40% less likely to be enrolled in a full academic course load compared to similarly achieving non-ELs. 7)Some students were prohibited from taking ELA courses because they were enrolled in ELD courses, the content area preventing ELs from being reclassified was generally ELA itself. This finding suggests that some English learners are stuck in a kind of trap - unable to access ELA courses until they are proficient in ELA. Other recent research on English learners' course enrollment in other California districts has found similar patterns of restricted access to the core curriculum. These findings are consistent with recent national research, which concluded, that even with demographic and academic controls, English learners have markedly different course taking patterns, and that overall they experience significantly less academic exposure. PACE reported that this research "suggests that English learners often suffer from restricted educational opportunity compared to that of non-English learners, particularly with regard to their academic learning needs." Clarification of federal law. Current federal law and related case law prohibit the denial of English learner's participation in the "standard instructional program" of a school, and authorize schools to either provide access to the standard instructional program along with English language support, or instead provide a program for English learners, "during the AB 2350 Page 6 early part of their school career, which has, as its primary objective the development of literacy in English," provided that the program is designed to help the student "overcome the academic deficits" incurred during participation in that program, and that it is "reasonably calculated to enable students to attain parity of participation in the standard instructional program within a reasonable length of time after they enter the school system." This bill is intended to clarify the requirements of federal law for California schools. It clarifies the meaning of "standard instructional program of a school" in this state (to mean core curriculum courses in English language arts, mathematics, and science, and courses needed for graduation and for middle school grade promotion). It clarifies that English learners cannot be denied the ability to enroll in a full course load of these courses. And the bill clarifies that the option to provide a program for middle and high school students (who are in the early part of their school career in U.S. schools), which emphasizes English over the standard instructional program, must be designed to "remedy academic deficits" incurred during the program, as required by federal law. Analysis Prepared by: Tanya Lieberman / ED. / (916) 319-2087 FN: 0004813