BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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Date of Hearing: April 20, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Patrick O'Donnell, Chair
AB 2410
(Bonta) - As Amended April 7, 2016
SUBJECT: Early learning: Local Control School Readiness Act of
2016
SUMMARY: Authorizes a local educational agency (LEA), in
partnership with community-based organizations, to apply to the
State Board of Education (SBE) for a waiver from the requirement
to administer the childcare and development Desired Results
Quality Improvement System and establishes the California
Committee for Kindergarten Readiness to develop a definition for
kindergarten readiness. Specifically, this bill:
1)Makes the following findings and declarations:
a) Preschool to 3rd grade alignment is critical in the
areas of standards, curriculum, instruction practice,
professional development, family engagement, and
assessment.
b) The California Department of Education's (CDE's)
requirement that early learning programs use specified
formative assessments for pupils, classroom environments,
professional development and parent satisfaction survey
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prevent LEAs and other local preschool providers from
meeting the needs of their pupils and to align with K-3rd
grade education.
c) The mandated assessments and professional developments
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.
d) The state is falling short by not having 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.
2)Authorizes a LEA, including a school district, charter school,
and county office of education (COE), in partnership with
community-based organizations, to apply to the SBE for a
waiver from the CDE's Desired Results Quality Improvement
System, which includes the developmental profile. Requires the
submission of A Local Control Quality Improvement Plan that
shall include all of the following:
a) At least one formative 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;
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b) A regular process for reviewing the assessment data with
teachers and adult caregivers;
c) A plan for providing coaching and professional
development to support teachers to meet pupil needs; and,
d) 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.
3)Provides that once a waiver is approved, the LEA shall submit
an annual continuous quality improvement plan to the CDE, and
shall participate in a stakeholder group to share data and
findings with the state.
4)Authorizes a waiver applicant to substitute the developmental
profile with their own kindergarten readiness outcomes or
formative assessment tool in order to continue participation
in the Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS).
5)Establishes the California Committee for Kindergarten
Readiness and requires the Committee to convene on or before
March 1, 2017. Requires on or before January 1, 2018, the
committee to submit to the SBE a kindergarten readiness
definition that has clear benchmarks for skills that are
predictive of later success in academics and social-emotional
and executive functioning skills as evidenced by current
research. Authorizes the Committee to contract with an
appropriate public or private agency for purposes of
developing a kindergarten readiness definition.
6)Requires the California Committee for Kindergarten Readiness
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to be composed of the following 10 members:
a) The president of the SBE, or his or her designee, who
shall be a co-chair.
b) The chair of the California Children and Families
Commission, or his or her designee, who shall be a
co-chair.
c) The Superintendent, or his or her designee, who shall be
a co-chair.
d) The chair of the State Advisory Council on Early
Learning and Care, or his or her designee.
e) An expert on early childhood brain development,
appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly.
f) An expert on kindergarten readiness standards, appointed
by the Speaker of the Assembly.
g) A preschool or kindergarten teacher, appointed by the
Speaker of the Assembly.
h) An expert on dual language learners, appointed by the
President pro Tempore of the Senate.
i) An expert on family engagement and support, appointed by
the President pro Tempore of the Senate.
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j) A preschool or kindergarten teacher, appointed by the
President pro Tempore of the Senate.
7)Repeals the Committee and the requirements associated with the
Committee on January 1, 2019.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes eligibility for child care services and child
development programs administered by the CDE and requires the
Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to adopt rules and
regulations on eligibility, enrollment and priority of
services needed for implementation (Education Code (EC)
Section 8263).
2)Specifies that in order to be eligible for federal and state
subsidized child development services, families must meet at
least one requirement in each of the following areas:
a) A family is (A) a current aid recipient, (B) income
eligible, (C) homeless or (D) one whose children are
recipients of protective services, or whose children have
been identified as being abused, neglected, or exploited,
or at risk of being abused, neglected, or exploited; and,
b) A family needs the child care services (A) because the
child is identified by a legal, medical, social services
agency, or emergency shelter as (i) a recipient of
protective services or (ii) being neglected, abused, or
exploited, or at risk of neglect, abuse or exploitation, or
(B) because the parents are (i) engaged in vocational
training leading directly to a recognized trade,
paraprofession or profession, (ii) employed or seeking
employment, (iii) seeking permanent housing for family
stability, or (iv) incapacitated. (EC Section 8263(a))
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3)Establishes the California State Preschool Program and
provides that the programs shall include, but not be limited
to, part-day age and developmentally appropriate programs
designed to facilitate the transition to kindergarten for
three- and four-year-old children in educational development,
health services, social services, nutritional services, parent
education and parent participation, evaluation, and staff
development. (EC Section 8235)
4)Defines "income eligible" as a family whose adjusted monthly
income is at or below 70% of the state median income (SMI),
adjusted for family size, and adjusted annually. For the
2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15, and 2015-16 fiscal years, the
income eligibility is 70% of the SMI that was in use for the
2007-08 fiscal year, adjusted for family size. (EC Section
8263.1)
5)Requires, on or before June 30, 1999, the CDE to develop
prekindergarten learning development guidelines. Requires the
guidelines to do the following:
a) Focus on preparing four- and five-year-old children for
kindergarten.
b) 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.
c) Identify any basic beginning skills needed to prepare
children for kindergarten or first grade, and methods for
teaching these basic skills.
d) Be articulated with the academic content and performance
standards adopted by the SBE for kindergarten and grades 1
through 12. (EC Section 8203.3)
6)Requires the SPI 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
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cognitive growth of each child served in order to promote the
child's success in the public schools. To the extent possible,
the department shall provide a developmental profile to all
public and private providers using existing profile
instruments that are most cost efficient. The provider of any
program to be responsible for maintaining developmental
profiles upon entry through exit from a child development
program. (EC Section 8203.5)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS: Background on child care and development programs.
The CDE administers a child care and development system,
maintaining over 1,301 service contracts with approximately 750
public and private agencies supporting and providing services to
children from birth through 12 years of age. Contractors include
school districts, COEs, cities, colleges, other public entities,
community-based organizations, and private agencies. According
to the Legislative Analyst's Office, overall funding for the
child care and development programs decreased by almost $1
billion between 2008-09 and 2012-13, with the elimination of
110,000 slots. Over the last two years, state funds have
restored some of the funding and slots, with combined federal
and state funding totaling $3.6 billion (state funds of $2.7
billion and federal funds of $938 million), offering 436,185
slots.
This bill has two parts. The bill allows a LEA to seek a waiver
from the SBE from the requirement to administer the Desired
Results Developmental Profile (DRDP) and requires an appointed
committee to develop a definition for kindergarten readiness.
DRDP. The DRDP was implemented in 2000 and is a formative
assessment instrument developed by the CDE for young children
and their families to be used to inform instruction and program
development. Children are assessed upon enrollment in a state
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subsidized program and then every six months. The instrument is
observation based and allows teachers to indicate the level a
child is "Responding," "Exploring," "Building" or "Integrating"
to eight domains, which include the following:
Approaches to learning - self regulation
Social and emotional development
Language and literacy development
English-Language development
Cognition, including math and science
Physical development - health
History-social science
Visual and performing arts
According to the author, the state's requirement for contractors
to assess children with the DRDP is time consuming. However, if
waivers are allowed, it is unclear how the CDE will be able to
keep track of potentially hundreds of different assessment
systems. The DRDP was developed with experts from UC Berkeley
and is valid and reliable. The CDE may be required to contract
with outside entities to evaluate a proposed assessment system
to ensure its validity and to ensure that it meets the state's
standards, which may be costly.
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The CDE is already responding to concerns that the DRDP is too
long. The DRDP for preschool children currently contains 54
areas of inquiry within the eight domains. Beginning in the
2016-17 fiscal year, contractors will be required to cover the
"fundamental" domains, which will be comprised of the following:
Approaches to Learning - Self-regulation
Social and Emotional Development
Language and Literacy Development
Cognition
Physical Development - Health
The CDE indicates that these five domains are those that
research says are most predictive of school readiness and
success and are consistent with National Goals Panel and the
federal Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge. The remaining
domains may be used by the contractor voluntarily. The
"Preschool Fundamental View" will reduce the number of
assessment measures from 54 to 29. As such, the author has
agreed to strike the waiver provision of the bill in order to
work with CDE in ensuring that the DRDP is useful and
manageable. Staff recommends striking the waiver provision of
the bill.
Kindergarten readiness. The second component of this bill
requires an appointed committee to develop a definition of
kindergarten readiness that has "clear benchmarks for skills
that are predictive of later success in academics and
social-emotional and executive funding skills as evidenced by
current research." The bill authorizes the committee to
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contract with an appropriate public or private agency for
purposes of developing a kindergarten readiness definition.
Preschool Learning Foundations. Current law requires the CDE to
develop prekindergarten learning development guidelines and
requires the guidelines to do the following:
Focus on preparing four- and five-year-old children for
kindergarten.
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.
Identify any basic beginning skills needed to prepare
children for kindergarten or first grade, and methods for
teaching these basic skills.
Be articulated with the academic content and performance
standards adopted by the SBE for kindergarten and grades 1
through 12.
In 2008, the CDE released three series of the Preschool Learning
Foundations. Volume 1 focuses on the domains of
social-emotional development, language and literacy,
English-language development, and mathematics, and provide a
comprehensive understanding of what children learn in these four
domains. Volume 2 covers the skills and knowledge that children
attain at around 36 months and 48 months in the areas of visual
and performing arts, physical development, and health. Volume 3
covers the skills and knowledge that children attain at around
36 months and 48 months in the areas of history-social science
and science. According to the CDE, "The researchers who wrote
the preschool learning foundations made a conscious effort to
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align the preschool foundations with the kindergarten content
standards and the infant/toddler foundations. The terminology in
the preschool foundations represents an amalgam of developmental
concepts that preschool educators use, concepts from the
infant/toddler foundations that apply to the entire
birth-to-five age range, and concepts from the kindergarten
content standards." The CDE also reports that the Preschool
Learning Foundations are aligned with the Common Core State
Standards.
Committee. This bill establishes the California Committee for
Kindergarten Readiness, co-chaired by the president of the SBE,
the SPI, and the president of the First 5 Commission, with
specified appointments by the Speaker of the State Assembly and
the President pro Tem of the State Senate. Rather than
establishing a formal appointed committee, staff recommends
requiring the CDE to establish a stakeholder group comprised of
the representatives specified in the bill, and in addition to
submitting a recommendation to the SBE, require the stakeholder
group to submit recommendations to the appropriate policy
committees of the Legislature. This process is similar to that
established through the Budget Act.
The author states, "High quality, early learning experiences
have been shown to produce substantial short-term benefits for
children's early language, literacy, mathematics and social
skills as well as long-term effects on a wide range of school,
health behavioral outcomes that persist into adulthood. Without
access to high-quality school readiness programs, low-income
children, children of color and English learners enter school at
a disadvantage. Unfortunately, those who start behind often stay
behind; evidence of this school readiness gap is apparent by age
4, when low-income children are already 18 months behind their
more affluent peers. Establishing a Kindergarten Readiness
definition rooted in evidence-based research that shows skills
predictive of later success will help providers and teachers to
be coordinated and aligned in making sure every child in
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California starts kindergarten with the skills and experiences
they need to succeed."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Children Now
Early Edge California
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087
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