BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2350
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
2350 (O'Donnell)
As Amended August 19, 2016
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |78-0 |(June 1, 2016) |SENATE: | 39-0 |(August 23, |
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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