BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó






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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                       AB 2548|
          |Office of Senate Floor Analyses   |                              |
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                                   THIRD READING 


          Bill No:  AB 2548
          Author:   Weber (D), et al. 
          Amended:  8/19/16 in Senate
          Vote:     21 

           SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE:  8-0, 6/29/16
           AYES:  Liu, Block, Hancock, Huff, Leyva, Monning, Pan, Vidak
           NO VOTE RECORDED:  Mendoza

           SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE:  7-0, 8/11/16
           AYES:  Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza, Nielsen

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR:  75-1, 6/1/16 - See last page for vote

           SUBJECT:   School accountability:  statewide accountability  
                     system


          SOURCE:    Children Now
                     Education Trust-West


          DIGEST:  This bill requires the State Board of Education (SBE)  
          to establish state performance standards for key indicators and  
          adopt an accountability system for K-12 public schools that is  
          aligned to the requirements of federal law, relies upon data  
          from specified key indicators, and ensures the creation of a  
          data and reporting system that provides meaningful and  
          accessible information on school and school district  
          performance.


          Senate Floor Amendments of 8/19/16 add the requirement for  








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          specified information to be translated to the extent already  
          required by law, and expands measure of English proficiency to  
          include additional data when available.


          ANALYSIS:  


          Existing federal law:


           1) Establishes the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA),  
             which requires states to establish accountability systems  
             that include the following indicators:


              a)    Proficiency in reading and math;
              b)    Graduation rates for high schools;
              c)    English language proficiency;
              d)    For elementary and middle schools, student growth or  
                another indicator that is valid, reliable, and statewide;  
                and
              e)    At least one other indicator of school quality or  
                success, such as measures of safety, student engagement,  
                or educator engagement.


           2) Requires the accountability system to have substantial  
             weights on indicators a) through d) and, in aggregate,  
             indicators a) through d) must have much greater weight than  
             indicator e).


           3) Requires states, at least once every three years, to  
             identify the lowest performing 5% of Title I schools and all  
             high schools with a graduation rate that is below 67% for  
             comprehensive support.  (United States Code, Title 20, §  
             6301, et seq.)


          Existing state law:


           1) Establishes the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF),  







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             requires local educational agencies (LEAs) to adopt and  
             annually update a Local Control and Accountability Plan that  
             includes a description of:


              a)    The annual goals, for all students and each subgroup,  
                to be achieved for each of the state priorities and for  
                any additional local priorities.
              b)    The specific actions the school district or county  
                office of education will take during each year to achieve  
                the goals, including any specific actions to correct any  
                deficiencies in regard to the state priorities. (Education  
                Code § 42238, et seq., § 52060 and § 52066)


           2) Requires the SBE to adopt evaluation rubrics to assist:


              a)    A school district, county office of education or  
                charter school in evaluating its strengths, weaknesses,  
                and areas that require improvement.
              b)    A county superintendent of schools in identifying  
                school districts and charter schools in need of technical  
                assistance and the specific priorities upon which the  
                technical assistance should be focused.
              c)    The Superintendent of Public Instruction in  
                identifying school districts for intervention.


           3) Requires the SBE to adopt, as part of the evaluation  
             rubrics, standards for school district and individual school  
             performance and expectations for improvement in regard to  
             each of the state priorities.  (EC § 52064.5)


          This bill:  


           1) Requires the SBE to adopt a statewide accountability system,  
             to ensure alignment and fidelity with the state priorities  
             and federal law, that meets all of the following  
             requirements:









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              a)    Is a single, integrated system that aligns local,  
                state, and federal accountability requirements.
              b)    Satisfies the accountability system requirements of  
                the federal ESSA.
              c)    Aligns the state's local control framework, which is  
                focused on identifying and supporting local educational  
                agencies with the additional need to identify, support,  
                and improve the highest need schools.  
              d)    Relies upon data from specified key indicators (see #2  
                below) established pursuant to the evaluation rubrics.
              e)    Provides the California Collaborative for Educational  
                Excellence (CCEE), county superintendents of schools, and  
                the public with data to be used in a multi-tiered system  
                of review and assistance.  
              f)    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.  


          Key indicators


           2) Requires the key indicators for the accountability system to  
             include, if not already included by the SBE, all of the  
             following:


             For elementary and middle schools


              a)    A measure of student achievement in at least English  
                language arts, mathematics and science.
              b)    A measure of academic growth.  
              c)    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.  
              d)    A measure of chronic absenteeism.
              e)    A measure of school climate.


             For high schools








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              f)    A measure of student achievement in at least English  
                language arts, mathematics and science.
              g)    A measure of graduation rates.
              h)    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.
              i)    A measure of college and career readiness.
              j)    A measure of chronic absenteeism.
              aa)   A measure of school climate.


           3) Requires the academic indicators in a)-c) and f)-h) above to  
             receive substantial weight and, in aggregate, much greater  
             weight than is afforded to all other indicators.


           4) Requires the performance of subgroups to receive substantial  
             weight.


           5) Provides that the SBE is not precluded 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.  


           6) States legislative intent that the state will continue to  
             use the evaluation rubrics and all indicators identified as  
             state priorities and subgroups for purposes of continuous  
             improvement and to guide the provision of technical  
             assistance, support and intervention.


          Alignment of state and federal accountability


           7) Requires the SBE to do all of the following:


              a)    Set clear, ambitious, statewide standards for  
                performance and expectations for improvement toward each  







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                of the key indicators described in #2 for students overall  
                and for each numerically significant subgroup.  
              b)    Establish a mechanism to meaningfully differentiate  
                the performance of all public schools, to identify school  
                districts and county offices of education for intervention  
                or technical assistance on an annual basis based on  
                outcomes for all students and for each subgroup using the  
                key indicators (#2) 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, as specified.
                ii)     Support parents in making informed school  
                  decisions on behalf of their children.
                iii)    Enable school districts, county offices of  
                  education, the California Department of Education, and  
                  the CCEE to identify schools for recognition, support,  
                  and assistance and ensure that support and assistance is  
                  provided to at least those schools identified pursuant  
                  to i).
              c)    Comply with all notification, stakeholder engagement,  
                school support, and improvement activities required by the  
                federal ESSA, and to the extend required by state and  
                federal law, ensure notifications are translated in the  
                top five languages as identified by the California  
                Department of Education.


           8) Requires the standards for improvement to be differentiated  
             by subgroup so that subgroups that start off at lower  
             performance levels make greater growth to achieve the  
             statewide standards.  


          Multiple levels of performance


           9) Provides that the multiple level of performance includes the  
             identification of the following:


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







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                of their students.
              b)    All schools in which any subgroup of students is  
                consistently underperforming, as determined by the SBE,  
                based on all of the key indicators in #2 and the  
                accountability system established pursuant to this bill.
              c)    All schools where any one subgroup of students, on its  
                own, would lead that school to be in the lowest 5% of  
                schools for students overall.


          Technical assistance and intervention


           10)Requires the CCEE and county superintendents of schools, in  
             identifying appropriate assistance for a school or LEA, to  
             analyze data aligned with all the state priorities in order  
             to align the level of support, collaboration, and  
             intervention to the needs of LEAs or individual schools.


          Digital dashboard


           11)Requires that parents and the public have the ability to  
             easily access, compare, analyze, and summarize school  
             reports, student performance results, and the progress made  
             by schools and school districts in reaching all of the  
             state's LCFF and Local Control and Accountability Plan  
             priority areas.  


           12)States legislative intent 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 students across multiple  
             measures, monitor academic achievement and improvement,  
             provide for meaningful differentiation, and enable users to  
             download data and reports in machine-readable formats.


          Comments


          Status of the new accountability system.  The LCFF, among other  







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          things, requires school districts and county offices of  
          education to develop and annually update a Local Control And  
          Accountability Plan that includes a description of the annual  
          goals to be achieved for each of the eight state priorities and  
          a description of the specific actions that will be taken to  
          achieve the identified goals of the district or county office of  
          education.  Pursuant to the LCFF, the SBE is developing a new  
          accountability system that relies upon multiple measures (rather  
          than solely on test scores), and encompasses a system of  
          continuous improvement and support for schools.


          According to the SBE, the new accountability system will build  
          on the foundations of the LCFF, consisting of the Local Control  
          And Accountability Plan, the evaluation rubrics, and the CCEE  
          support structure.  The SBE has taken several actions related to  
          the development of the new accountability system; some notable  
          recent actions include:


           1) Approved a set of indicators that form the foundation for  
             the new multiple measures accountability system:


              a)    Student test scores and individual growth.
              b)    Progress of English learners toward English  
                proficiency.
              c)    Graduation rates.
              d)    Measures of student engagement including suspension  
                rates (and chronic absence when available at the state  
                level).


           2) Approved a measure of college and career readiness, as  
             specified.


           3) Approved a methodology for establishing standards for  
             specified state priorities. 


           4) Approved inclusion of a standard for the use of local  
             climate surveys to support a broader assessment of  
             performance.







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           5) Approved inclusion of an Equity Report, which identifies  
             instances where any student subgroup is in the two lowest  
             performance categories on a state indicator.


           6) Directed staff to develop, in advance of the September 2016  
             SBE meeting, a proposed timeline through the end of the 2017  
             calendar year that addresses the further developmental work  
             after approval of the initial phase of the evaluation  
             rubrics, as specified.


           7) Approved a method for calculating performance as a  
             combination of outcome and improvement, allowing performance  
             to be differentiated at the school, district and county  
             office of education levels as well as for student subgroups.


          FISCAL EFFECT:   Appropriation:    No          Fiscal  
          Com.:YesLocal:   Yes


          According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:




           Unknown, but likely significant costs in the hundreds of  
            thousands, to the California Department of Education related  
            to the creation of a data and reporting system on school  
            performance according to the specifications provided in this  
            bill.  (General Fund)


           Possible reimbursable state mandate costs for county  
            superintendents of schools to analyze data related to the  
            state priorities to align the level of support and  
            intervention provided to the needs of the LEAs.  See staff  
            comments.  (Proposition 98)


          SUPPORT:   (Verified8/18/16)







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          Children Now (co-source)
          Education Trust-West (co-source)


          OPPOSITION:   (Verified8/18/16)


          None received

          ASSEMBLY FLOOR:  75-1, 6/1/16
          AYES:  Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,  
            Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,  
            Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley,  
            Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth  
            Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto,  
            Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Harper, Roger  
            Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey,  
            Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes,  
            McCarty, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell,  
            Olsen, Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Salas, Santiago,  
            Steinorth, Mark Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk,  
            Williams, Rendon
          NOES:  Medina
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Hadley, Rodriguez, Thurmond, Wood

          Prepared by:Lynn Lorber / ED. / (916) 651-4105
          8/22/16 23:05:45


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