California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 2410

Introduced by Assembly Member Bonta

February 19, 2016

An act to amend Section 8203.3 of, and to add Sections 8203.6 and 8203.7 to, the Education Code, relating to early learning.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2410, as introduced, Bonta. Early learning: Local Control School Readiness Act of 2016.

Existing law, the Child Care and Development Services Act, among other things, requires the State Department of Education to develop prekindergarten learning development guidelines in accordance with specified criteria. The act also requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to ensure that all contracts for child care and development programs include a requirement that each public or private provider maintain a developmental profile to appropriately identify the emotional, social, physical, and cognitive growth of each child in order to promote the child’s success in the public schools.

This bill would enact the Local Control School Readiness Act of 2016. The bill would require the department to develop prekindergarten learning development guidelines, focused on preparing 4- and 5-year-old children for kindergarten, based on current science that reflects how publicly funded programs can close the school readiness gap. The bill would authorize a local educational agency, as defined, in partnership with community-based organizations, to apply to the State Board of Education for a waiver from the department’s Desired Results Quality Improvement System. The bill would specify material to be submitted with such a waiver request.

The bill would require the department to submit to the state board, by July 1, 2018, a kindergarten readiness definition that has clear benchmarks for skills that are predictive of later success in academics and social-emotional, health, and executive functioning skills as evidenced by current research.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

(a) This act shall be known, and may be cited,
as the Local Control School Readiness Act of 2016.

(b) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(1) High-quality, early learning experiences have been shown
to produce substantial short-term gains in children’s early language,
literacy, mathematics, and social skills as well as long-term effects
on a wide range of school, health, and behavioral outcomes that
persist into adulthood, as has been demonstrated in studies
produced by numerous scholars.

(2) California’s investments in early learning should focus on
gains in school and behavioral outcomes that support low-income
California children, English language learners, and children of
color advancing with their peers.

(3) One feature of high-quality early learning programs is
alignment with the K-3rd grade education that preschoolers will
soon enter. Preschool to 3rd grade alignment is critical in the areas
of standards, curriculum, instructional practice, professional
development, family engagement, and assessments.

(4) For public K-12 education, in determining what pupils should
learn and how they should learn it, the role of the state is to set
standards, curriculum frameworks, and standardized assessments
for select grade levels. Local educational agencies (LEAs) select
curriculum, instructional materials and methods, provide
professional development, and monitor pupil progress through
diagnostic assessments.

(5) For California’s early learning programs, the role of the state
extends far beyond its role in K-12 education, and it falls short in
one key area. In addition to early learning standards and curriculum
frameworks, the State Department of Education develops, adopts,
and mandates specific diagnostic assessments to be used on pupils,
specific assessments for classroom environments, specific
professional development for instructional staff, and specific parent
satisfaction surveys. While these are important components of a
high-quality early learning program, LEAs and other local
preschool providers cannot tailor these to meet the unique needs
of their pupils nor to align with kindergarten-3rd grade. Nor do
these compliance-focused regulations support an outcome of school
readiness for low-income children in California. The
state-mandated assessments and professional development are
often done for compliance purposes only, do not improve the
quality of early learning programs, and are an undue administrative
burden on LEAs and preschool providers.

(6) Where the state falls short: California does not have a clear
definition for what pupils need to know to be ready for
kindergarten. Without this definition, the impact of California’s
early learning programs on school readiness is unknown. California
invests over $1.6 billion in state preschool and transitional
kindergarten, and there is no information on what percentage of
pupils start school ready for success.

(c) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to accomplish
both of the following:

(1) Empower LEAs and their nonprofit partners or
subcontractors to decide how best to prepare their preschool pupils
for success in school and align their preschool programs with K-3rd
grade.

(2) Begin to shift the role of the state from a compliance-based
early learning system to one that focuses on child outcomes. The
first step in this process is to mandate the State Department of
Education to conduct a study for establishing a kindergarten
readiness definition to be considered for adoption by the State
Board of Education by July 1, 2018.

SEC. 2.  

Section 8203.3 of the Education Code is amended to
read:

8203.3.  

(a)  begin delete On or before June 30, 1999, the State Department
of Education end delete begin insert (1) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert The department end insert shall develop prekindergarten
learning development guidelines. begin delete The development of these
guidelines shall be funded from funds appropriated for this purpose
in the Budget Act of 1998. end delete The guidelines shall focus on preparing
four- and five-year-old children for begin delete kindergarten. The end delete begin insert kindergarten,
based on current science that reflects how publicly funded
programs can close the school readiness gap. end insert

begin insert (2) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert The end insert guidelines begin insert developed under this section end insert shall identify
appropriate developmental milestones for each age, how to assess
where children are in relation to the milestones, and suggested
methods for achieving the milestones. In addition, the guidelines
shall identify any basic beginning skills needed to prepare children
for kindergarten or first grade, and methods for teaching these
basic skills. The guidelines shall be articulated with the academic
content and performance standards adopted by the begin delete State Board of
Education end delete begin insert state board end insert for kindergarten and grades 1 to 12,
inclusive. The begin delete State Department of Education end delete begin insert department end insert may
contract with an appropriate public or private agency to develop
the guidelines.

(b) In future expenditure plans for quality improvement
activities, the begin delete State Department of Education end delete begin insert department end insert shall
include funding for periodically updating the guidelines consistent
with academic and performance standards and relevant research,
broadly distributing the guidelines, and providing education,
outreach, and training services to implement the guidelines.

(c) Programs funded by the begin delete State Department of Education end delete
begin insert department end insert under Article 6 (commencing with Section 8230),
Article 7 (commencing with Section 8235), and Article 8
(commencing with Section 8240) shall use the prekindergarten
learning development guidelines developed pursuant to this section.

SEC. 3.  

Section 8203.6 is added to the Education Code, to
read:

8203.6.  

(a) A local educational agency, including a school
district, charter school, and county office of education, in
partnership with community-based organizations, may apply to
the state board for a waiver from the department’s Desired Results
Quality Improvement System, which includes the developmental
profile. A Local Control Quality Improvement Plan shall be
submitted with the waiver request, and shall include all of the
following:

(1) At least one diagnostic assessment tool that is used no less
than three times a year to monitor children’s developmental
progress. This assessment shall be valid, reliable, including
inter-rater reliability, and linguistically, culturally and
developmentally appropriate, and include a benchmark for
kindergarten readiness.

(2) A regular process for reviewing the assessment data with
teachers and adult caregivers.

(3) A plan for providing coaching and professional development
to support teachers to meet pupil needs.

(4) A plan for parent engagement and support that includes at
least two parent conferences each year to review children’s
developmental progress and school-home linkages to support
learning, and an annual parent satisfaction survey.

(b) Once a waiver is approved under subdivision (a), the local
educational agency shall submit an annual continuous quality
improvement plan to the department.

(c) To enable waiver applicants to continue to participate in the
Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS), they may
substitute the developmental profile with their own kindergarten
readiness outcomes or diagnostic assessment tool.

SEC. 4.  

Section 8203.7 is added to the Education Code, to
read:

8203.7.  

By July 1, 2018, the department shall submit to the
state board a kindergarten readiness definition that has clear
benchmarks for skills that are predictive of later success in
academics and social-emotional, health, and executive functioning
skills as evidenced by current research. The department may
contract with an appropriate public or private agency.