BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                    AB 2401


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          Date of Hearing:  April 6, 2016


                           ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION


                              Patrick O'Donnell, Chair


          AB 2401  
          (O'Donnell) - As Amended March 30, 2016


          SUBJECT:  Teachers:  California Beginning Teacher Support and  
          Assessment System


          SUMMARY:  Reestablishes state funding for the Beginning Teacher  
          Support and Assessment (BTSA) System and modifies existing  
          program requirements.  Specifically, this bill:  


             1)   Makes findings and declarations regarding the value of  
               BTSA in improving the retention and effectiveness of  
               beginning teachers.


             2)   Appropriates an unspecified amount from the General Fund  
               to the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) and the  
               Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) to provide grants  
               for BTSA participants.


             3)   Expresses the intent of the Legislature that funding for  
               BTSA be provided each year in the annual Budget Act.


             4)   Revises existing BTSA statutes as follows:









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                  a.        Repeals provisions related to supplemental  
                    grants for program clusters and consultants;


                  b.        Replaces the requirement than an annual  
                    cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for BTSA grants be  
                    based on the revenue limit COLA and instead requires  
                    the COLA to be based on the amount provided in the  
                    annual Budget Act for this purpose;


                  c.        Requires the CTC to review induction programs  
                    as necessary to determine whether they meet current  
                    standards of quality and effectiveness; and


                  d.        Repeals outdated reporting requirements and a  
                    reference to a section of the Education Code that no  
                    longer exists;


          FISCAL EFFECT:  Unknown


          COMMENTS:  


          Background.  BTSA was established in 1992 by SB 1442 (Bergeson),  
          Chapter 1245, Statutes of 1992, following the success of the  
          California New Teacher Project (CNTP).  The CNTP was a pilot  
          project during the years 1988 to 1922 to assess the impact of a  
          structured, high quality induction program on new teacher  
          effectiveness and retention.  The project consisted of 37 local  
          programs and more than 3,000 beginning teachers.  The principle  
          components were individualized mentoring support, curriculum and  
          instruction workshops, and teacher self-assessment.  Independent  
          evaluations of the pilot program documented its effectiveness,  
          leading to the enactment of SB 1442 and the creation of BTSA.








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          The statutory objectives of BTSA are to do the following:


                 Provide an effective transition into the teaching career  
               for first-year and second-year teachers in California.


                 Improve the educational performance of pupils through  
               improved training, information, and assistance for new  
               teachers.


                 Enable beginning teachers to be effective in teaching  
               pupils who are culturally, linguistically, and academically  
               diverse


                 Ensure the professional success and retention of new  
               teachers.


                 Ensure that a support provider provides intensive  
               individualized support and assistance to each participating  
               beginning teacher.


                 Improve the rigor and consistency of individual teacher  
               performance assessments and the usefulness of assessment  
               results to teachers and decision makers.


                 Establish an effective, coherent system of performance  
               assessments that are based on the California Standards for  
               the Teaching Profession adopted by the commission.


                 Examine alternative ways in which the general public and  








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               the educational profession may be assured that new teachers  
               who remain in teaching have attained acceptable levels of  
               professional competence.


                 Ensure that an individual induction plan is in place for  
               each participating beginning teacher and is based on an  
               ongoing assessment of the development of the beginning  
               teacher.


                 Ensure continuous program improvement through ongoing  
               research, development, and evaluation.


          BTSA participants are teemed with a mentor teacher, or "support  
          provider," who serves in an advisory role with the beginning  
          teacher and is not part of the district's employment process  
          with respect to hiring or retention decisions.  The separation  
          of education support from the employment process allows  
          beginning teachers to freely share information and receive  
          assistance from the support provider in a way that facilitates  
          more effective guidance and assistance.


          Most BTSA programs are operated by local education agencies  
          (LEAs) or consortia of LEAs.  Of the 156 approved programs, 152  
          are offered by LEAs/consortia and the remaining four are  
          university based.


          Teacher retention.  One of the objectives of BTSA is to increase  
          teacher retention.  This is an especially important concern for  
          California at the present time because of the teacher shortage.   
          There are two primary contributors to the shortage:  a decline  
          in the number of students entering teacher preparation programs  
          and a high attrition rate among existing teachers.  Of these two  
          factors, addressing the attrition rate is the one that is more  
          amenable to policy intervention and the one that can have the  








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          most immediate impact.  


          Studies show that, nationally, between 30% and 50% of teachers  
          leave the profession within the first five years.  In  
          California, the California State Teachers Retirement System  
          reports that 40% of beginning teachers fail to vest in the  
          system after 5 years.  By contrast, data provided by the CTC  
          show that the five-year retention rate among BTSA participants  
          is 80% and 90%, depending on the year reviewed. 


          Teacher effectiveness.  The other primary objective of BTSA is  
          to improve teacher effectiveness.  Findings from the CNTP pilot  
          student found that program participants, when compared to other  
          new teachers:


                 More consistently used instructional practices that  
               improve student achievement;


                 Use more complex and challenging instructional  
               activities; and


                 Used a wider range of instructional materials.


          These outcomes have continued to be observed among BTSA  
          participants.  In addition, BTSA has been shown to help  
          beginning teachers to be more effective in teaching students who  
          are culturally, linguistically, and academically diverse.


          Funding history.  State funding for BTSA grew from $4.9 million  
          (serving 1,700 participants) in 1992-93 to a high of $128.7  
          million (serving 30,118 participants) in 2007-08.  After its  
          peak in 2007-08, BTSA funding was reduced as part of  








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          recession-related budget cuts and then eliminated in 2013-14  
          with the enactment of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF).


          BTSA is a matching grant program.  Statutorily, the state  
          provides $3,000 per participant, but with a COLA this amount  
          grew to more than $4,000 per participant in 2008-09.  School  
          districts are required to contribute at least $2,000 per  
          participant.  However, these provisions no longer apply since  
          dedicated funding for BTSA has been discontinued.


          Current status.  Funding for BTSA has been rolled into the LCFF.  
           As a result, the statutory requirements governing BTSA,  
          including the $2,000 local contribution, no longer apply.   
          However, successful completion of a CTC-approved induction  
          program is a requirement for a teacher to earn a clear  
          credential, if a program is available. If a program is not  
          available, then a teacher must complete a university Clear  
          Credential program that has been approved by the CTC.  These  
          have been referred to as "light" induction program because they  
          provide less intense mentoring, support, and guidance.  


          In the absence of dedicated funding, at least 13 district  
          induction programs have ceased operation in the last few years.   
          Other programs charge beginning teachers a fee for induction.   
          The CTC reports that, in 2014-15, 11.5% of participating  
          teachers paid a fee ranging from $390 to $3,350 for their  
          induction.  This can be a burden to teachers who are at the  
          bottom of the salary schedule and often have student loan debt  
          and could discourage entry into the profession.  In addition,  
          the CTC reports that the lack of dedicated funding has resulted  
          in the erosion of state-level and regional-level infrastructure  
          that supports the program.  Also, the Educator Excellence Task  
          Force, which was convened by Superintendent of Public  
          Instruction Tom Torlakson, concluded in its 2012 report that  
          BTSA has been negatively affected by budget cuts and there is an  
          uneven quality of programs across the state.  If these trends  








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          continue, the effectiveness of BTSA as a means of both  
          increasing retention and improving teacher quality can  
          substantially decline.


          Principle of subsidiarity.  The LCFF rests on the principle of  
          subsidiarity by giving LEAs more control over the allocation of  
          resources.  The theory is that LEAs will establish budget  
          priorities based on locally-perceived needs and conditions.   
          Accordingly, LEAs can be expected to prioritize spending on  
          those programs and services that produce a local benefit and to  
          give highest priority to those expenditures that result in the  
          greatest local benefit.  On the other hand, LEAs cannot be  
          expected to prioritize expenditures whose benefits are largely  
          external.


          There is no doubt that individual LEAs can benefit from a strong  
          induction program that improves the quality of its teachers and  
          reduces the need to recruit new teachers due to high attrition.   
          At the local level, however, the perceived cost-benefit of  
          investing in induction may be less than that of alternative  
          expenditures, leading to reduced support for BTSA.  There is  
          evidence of this in a 2012 report from the Legislative Analyst's  
          Office, which found that, when LEAs had discretion over the use  
          of BTSA dollars, more than half shifted funding to other  
          programs.


          In addition, the LCFF assumes that the impact of LEA budget  
          decisions is strictly local.  However, this is not the case with  
          LEAs that are members of a BTSA consortium.  In those cases, all  
          members of the consortium are affected by the budget actions of  
          a single member.


          Meanwhile, the need to retain and improve the effectiveness of  
          teachers is a high state priority.  Because teacher preparation  
          programs in our public universities are heavily subsidized by  








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          the state, there is a further interest in capturing the benefits  
          of that investment through improved teacher retention.  For  
          these reasons, re-establishing dedicated state funding for BTSA  
          may be justified, even though it is not entirely consistent with  
          the concept of the LCFF.


          


          REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:




          Support


          California Catholic Conference, Inc.


          California Federation of Teachers


          Children Now


          Public Advocates


          Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson




          Opposition


          None received








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          Analysis Prepared by:Rick Pratt / ED. / (916) 319-2087