BILL NUMBER: AB 2410 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
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) On or before June 30, 1999, the State
Department of Education (1) The
department shall develop prekindergarten learning development
guidelines. The development of these guidelines shall be
funded from funds appropriated for this purpose in the Budget Act of
1998. The guidelines shall focus on preparing four- and
five-year-old children for kindergarten. The
kindergarten, based on current science that reflects how publicly
funded programs can close the school readiness gap.
(2) The guidelines developed
under this section 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 State Board of Education
state board for kindergarten and grades 1 to 12,
inclusive. The State Department of Education
department may contract with an appropriate public or private
agency to develop the guidelines.
(b) In future expenditure plans for quality improvement
activities, the State Department of Education
department 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 State Department of Education
department 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.