AB 2548, 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 that, among other things, is a single integrated system that aligns local, state, and federal accountability requirements. 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.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
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:
(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 meets all of the following requirements:
(1) Is a single, integrated system that aligns local, state, and federal accountability requirements.
(2) 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).
(3) 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 (4) 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 52071, 52071.5, 52072, 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 (4), 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 (4) 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), and, to the extent required by state and federal law, ensure notifications of stakeholder engagement, school support, and improvement activities are translated in the top five languages as identified by the department.
(4) (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 (3), 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, including, but not limited to, data on the reclassification rates of English learners and long-term English learners when available.
(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, including, but not limited to, data on the reclassification rates of English learners and long-term English learners when available.
(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 (3), performance of subgroups shall receive substantial weight.
(5) 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 (3), 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.
(6) 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. It is further the intent of the Legislature to ensure that, to the extent required by state and federal law, the information on school, school district, and subgroup performance be made available in the top five languages as identified by the department.
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.
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