Amended in Senate August 2, 2016

Amended in Assembly May 27, 2016

Amended in Assembly April 11, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 2548

Introduced by Assembly Member Weber

February 19, 2016

An act to add Article 3 (commencing with Section 52053) to Chapter 6.1 of Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code, relating to school accountability.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2548, as amended, Weber. School accountability: statewide accountability system.

(1) Existing law required, on or before July 1, 2014, the governing boards of school districts and county boards of education to adopt a local control and accountability plan using a state template adopted by the State Board of Education. Existing law requires the local control and accountability plan to include, among other things, a description of annual goals for all pupils and specified subgroups of pupils to be achieved for each state priority, as specified, and a description of the specific actions the school district or county superintendent of schools will take to achieve those goals. Existing law requires the charter petition for a charter school to include those same elements. Existing law provides that an adopted local control and accountability plan is effective for 3 years and shall be updated annually on or before July 1. Existing law requires the state board, on or before October 1, 2016, to adopt evaluation rubrics to, among other things, assist a school district, county office of education, or charter school in evaluating its strengths, weaknesses, and areas that require improvement. Existing law establishes the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence for purposes of advising and assisting school districts, county superintendents of schools, and charter schools in achieving the goals set forth in a local control and accountability plan.

This bill would, for purposes of a statewide accountability system and to ensure alignment and fidelity with the state priorities and federal law, require the state board to adopt a statewide accountability system. The bill would require the system to (1) satisfy the accountability requirements of specified federal law, (2) align California’s local control framework, which is focused on identifying and supporting local educational agencies with the additional need to identify, support, and improve California’s highest need schools, as specified, (3) rely upon data from key indicators established by the evaluation rubrics adopted by the state board and as otherwise specified, (4) provide the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, county superintendents of schools, and the public with data to be used in a multitiered system of review and assistance, and (5) ensure the creation of a data and reporting system that provides meaningful and accessible information on school and school district performance that is displayed through an electronic platform. In identifying appropriate assistance for a school or local educational agency, the bill would require the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence and county superintendents of schools to analyze data aligned with all the state priorities in order to align the level of support, collaboration, and intervention to the needs of the local educational agency or individual school or schools. By imposing additional duties on county superintendents of schools, and to the extent this bill would impose additional duties on local educational agency officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

(2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.

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

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

SECTION 1.  

Article 3 (commencing with Section 52053) is
added to Chapter 6.1 of Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code, to read:

 

Article 3.  Statewide Accountability System

 

52053.  

(a) (1) It is the intent of the Legislature and purpose
of this article to do all of the following:

(A) Establish a coherent, aligned local-state-federal
accountability system that addresses state, local, parent,
community, and public needs, as well as federal requirements.

(B) Ensure ambitious, statewide standards for performance and
expectations for improvement that encourage continuous
improvement and the closure of opportunity and achievement gaps.

(C) Establish a mechanism using multiple measures that
meaningfully differentiates the performance of schools and
identifies schools and local educational agencies in need of
technical assistance, support, and intervention.

(2) It is further the intent of the Legislature that the
accountability system continues to support and advance the
framework established by the local control funding formula and
California’s emphasis on continuous improvement, technical
assistance, and support.

(b) For purposes of a statewide accountability system and to
ensure alignment and fidelity with the state priorities established
pursuant to Sections 52060 and 52066 and with federal law, the
state board shall adopt a statewide accountability system that does
all of the following:

(1) Satisfies the accountability system requirements of the
federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20
U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.), as amended by the Every Student
Succeeds Act (Public Law 114-95).

(2) Aligns California’s local control framework, which is
focused on identifying and supporting local educational agencies
with the additional need to identify, support, and improve
California’s highest need schools. In doing so, the state board shall
do all of the following:

(A) Set clear, ambitious, statewide standards for performance
and expectations for improvement toward each of the key indicators
described in paragraph (3) for pupils overall and for each
numerically significant subgroup, as identified in Section 52052.
To comply with federal law, these improvement standards shall
be differentiated by subgroup so that subgroups that start off at
lower performance levels make greater growth to achieve the
statewide standards.

(B) Establish a mechanism to meaningfully differentiate the
performance of all public schools, to identify local educational
agencies for purposes of Sections begin delete 52072 end delete begin insert 52071, 52071.5, 52072, end insert
and 52072.5 on an annual basis based on outcomes for all pupils
and for each subgroup of pupils using the multiple measures
identified in paragraph (3), and to do all of the following:

(i) Distinguish multiple levels of performance for purposes of
continuous improvement, transparency, meaningful stakeholder
engagement, recognition, and support, including the identification
of the following:

(I) Not less than the lowest-performing 5 percent of all schools
receiving federal Title I funds and all public high schools in the
state failing to graduate one-third or more of their pupils.

(II) All schools in which any subgroup of pupils is consistently
underperforming, as determined by the state board, based on all
of the indicators identified in paragraph (3) and the system
established pursuant this section.

(III) All schools where any one subgroup of pupils, on its own,
would lead that school to be in the lowest 5 percent of schools for
pupils overall.

(ii) Support parents and guardians in making informed school
decisions on behalf of their children.

(iii) Enable school districts, county offices of education, the
department, and the California Collaborative for Educational
Excellence to identify schools for recognition, support, and
assistance and ensure that support and assistance is provided to at
least those schools identified pursuant to clause (i).

(C) Comply with all notification, stakeholder engagement,
school support, and improvement activities required by Section
1111(d) of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (Public Law
114-95).

(3) (A) Relies upon data from key indicators established
pursuant to the evaluation rubrics adopted by the state board
pursuant to Section 52064.5. At a minimum, for purposes of
paragraph (2), those key indicators shall include, if not already
included by the state board pursuant to Section 52064.5, all of the
following:

(i) For elementary and middle schools:

(I) A measure of pupil achievement in at least English language
arts, mathematics, and science.

(II) A measure of academic growth.

(III) A measure of progress toward English proficiency.

(IV) A measure of chronic absenteeism.

(V) A measure of school climate.

(ii) For high schools:

(I) A measure of pupil achievement in at least English language
arts, mathematics, and science.

(II) A measure of graduation rates.

(III) A measure of progress toward English proficiency.

(IV) A measure of college and career readiness.

(V) A measure of chronic absenteeism.

(VI) A measure of school climate.

(B) This paragraph shall not be construed as to preclude the
state board from including additional statewide measures that can
be disaggregated by subgroup in the accountability system for
purposes of meaningful differentiation of all schools or from
grouping the measures into common clusters. Furthermore, it is
the intent of the Legislature that the state will continue to use the
evaluation rubrics established pursuant to Section 52064.5 and all
indicators identified as state priorities established pursuant to
Sections 52060 and 52066 and the subgroups identified pursuant
to Section 52052 for purposes of continuous improvement and to
guide the provision of technical assistance, support, and
intervention.

(C) In order to comply with federal law, the academic indicators
specified in subclauses (I) to (III), inclusive, of clauses (i) and (ii)
of subparagraph (A) shall receive substantial weight and, in
aggregate, much greater weight than is afforded to all other
indicators.

(D) For purposes of paragraph (2), performance of subgroups
shall receive substantial weight.

(4) Provides the California Collaborative for Educational
Excellence established pursuant to Section 52074, county
superintendents of schools, and the public with data to be used in
a multitiered system of review and assistance. Notwithstanding
the key indicators used for purposes of paragraph (2), in identifying
appropriate assistance for a school or local educational agency,
the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence and the
county superintendents of schools shall analyze data aligned with
all the state priorities established pursuant to Sections 52060 and
52066 in order to align the level of support, collaboration, and
intervention to the needs of the local educational agency or
individual school or schools.

(5) Ensures the creation of a data and reporting system that
provides meaningful and accessible information on school and
school district performance that is displayed through an electronic
platform. Parents and the public shall have the ability to easily
access, compare, analyze, and summarize school reports, pupil
performance results, and the progress made by schools and school
districts in reaching all of the state’s priority areas for purposes of
local control and accountability plans and the local control funding
formula. It is the intent of the Legislature to ensure that any
Web-based data and analysis tools should enable all stakeholders
to readily identify strengths and weaknesses, identify inequities
between schools and subgroups of pupils across multiple measures,
monitor academic achievement and improvement, provide for
meaningful differentiation, as required by Section 1111(c)(4)(C)
of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (Public Law 114-95),
and enable users to download data and reports in machine-readable
formats.

SEC. 2.  

If the Commission on State Mandates determines that
this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to
local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made
pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division
4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.