BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2660
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Date of Hearing: April 20, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Patrick O'Donnell, Chair
AB 2660
(McCarty) - As Amended April 12, 2016
SUBJECT: Early education: three-year plan
SUMMARY: Establishes the Quality Early Education and
Development Act of 2016 and requires the California Department
of Education (CDE) to develop a specified multiyear plan for
providing prekindergarten program access to income eligible
children and for ensuring that publicly funded prekindergarten
programs are of high quality. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the CDE, on or before January 1, 2018, in
consultation with the State Board of Education (SBE) and the
State Advisory Council on Early Learning and Care, to submit
to the Legislature and the Department of Finance a plan that
provides both of the following:
a) A multiyear plan for providing access for
income-eligible children to high-quality prekindergarten
programs for a minimum of one year before enrollment in
kindergarten, which shall include opportunities and
challenges related to facility requirements.
b) A multiyear plan for ensuring that publicly funded
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prekindergarten programs include, but are not limited to,
all of the following elements, which are most closely
associated with high-quality kindergarten programs,
positive outcomes for children, and sustainable funding at
a level adequate to achieve high quality:
i) Comprehensive and developmentally appropriate early
learning standards and curricula that address the whole
child, including academic, social-emotional, and physical
development.
ii) Child assessments that consider academic,
social-emotional, and physical development progress, and
support meaningful teacher-child interaction and
instruction, and program planning that addresses the
needs of a child.
iii) Sufficient learning time through the provision of a
full-day program.
iv) Meaningful family encouragement that promotes
partnerships between the program and families to support
child development across multiple domains, including, but
not limited to, academic, social-emotional, and physical.
v) Support for diverse learners, including dual
language learners and children with special needs, which
may include primary language instruction and inclusion
programs.
vi) Class size and child-to-staff ratios that promote
optimal learning, based on generally accepted
evidence-based professional standards.
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vii) Comprehensive program assessments that measure
elements of program quality, including, but not limited
to, child-to-staff ratios, teacher qualifications, the
nature of interactions between children and teachers, and
the types of learning activities in which the children
engage.
viii) A well-implemented quality rating and improvement
system (QRIS) that builds upon the existing QRIS
infrastructure in the state, articulates standards that
promote continuous improvement, and provides a basis for
program accountability.
ix) Continuous support for teachers, staff, and program
leaders through evidence-based coaching and mentoring
programs and job-embedded professional learning
opportunities.
x) Well-prepared teachers with training that addresses
early childhood education, including child development
and instruction of young children. This portion of the
plan shall specifically address all of the following:
(1) Strategies for multiple pathways to degrees,
certificates, and credentials, including support for
early childhood educators to attain additional
education and qualifications, and strategies to
support a workforce that reflects the diversity of the
state.
(2) Recommendations for changes to the Commission
on Teacher Credentialing's (CTC) requirements for the
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issuance and renewal of permits authorizing service in
the care, development, and instruction of children in
child care and development programs and permits
authorizing supervision of a child care and
development program.
(3) Recommendations for aligning preparation
requirements for educators working with children from
infancy through eight years of age to the 2015 report
by the Institute of Medicine and National Research
Council titled Transforming the Workforce for Children
Birth Through Age 8: A Unifying Foundation.
(4) Strategies for achieving pay parity for
prekindergarten educators and staff with educators and
staff of the transitional kindergarten through 12th
grade public education system.
2)Specifies that "prekindergarten programs" includes all of the
following:
a) Transitional kindergarten.
b) State preschool.
c) Head Start programs.
3)Specifies that "income eligible" has the same meaning
specified for each prekindergarten program, as applicable.
4)Requires the report to be submitted in accordance with the
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process required under the Government Code Section 9795.
5)Repeals on January 1, 2021.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes eligibility for child care services and child
development programs administered by the CDE and requires the
Superintendent of Public Instruction 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,
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paraprofession or profession, (ii) employed or seeking
employment, (iii) seeking permanent housing for family
stability, or (iv) incapacitated. (EC Section 8263(a))
3)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)
4)Establishes the California State Preschool Program (CSPP) 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)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS: Background on child care and development programs.
The CDE administers a child care and development system,
maintaining over 1,300 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, county offices of education, 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, including almost 24,000 slots for CSPP. The combined
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federal and state funding for child care and development
programs total $3.6 billion (state funds of $2.7 billion and
federal funds of $938 million), offering 436,185 slots.
The author states, "A powerful body of research shows that
investing in quality pre-kindergarten programs provides kids
with a strong start to academic success, prevents kids from
entering the juvenile justice system, and fights poverty. While
all children benefit from high quality pre-kindergarten
programs, it's especially beneficial for children from low
income families and English language learners.
"A recent brief by the Learning Policy Institute identifies key
elements of high quality prekindergarten programs, supported by
compelling research - giving policymakers and service providers
a clear focus to improve teacher-child interactions, which are
critical to early childhood development necessary for later
success in school and life. These elements include appropriate
and rigorous early learning standards and curricula, formative
assessments to improve instruction and practice, a well-prepared
and continually supported workforce, family engagement, and
sufficient learning time. Also critical are small class sizes
with low student-teacher ratios, program assessments that
promote continuous improvement, and a well-implemented state
quality rating and improvement system. While California has
taken steps in a number of these areas, the state system remains
fragmented."
This bill requires the CDE to develop a plan with two
components, in consultation with the SBE and the State Advisory
Council on Early Learning and Care.
Access and facility needs. One component will focus on
providing access to at least one year of prekindergarten for
income-eligible children. A recent report by the American
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Institutes for Research identified more than 33,000
four-year-olds from low-income families who are not
participating in or do not have access to state-subsidized early
learning programs, despite a restoration of almost 24,000 slots
over the last two years. Access is mostly a funding issue. The
bill also requires the plan to include a review of challenges to
accessing facilities. Providers, including local educational
agency providers, have cited facilities as a barrier to
expanding services.
Ensuring high quality. The other component will focus on how to
ensure that publicly funded prekindergarten programs are of high
quality. The bill identifies a number of features associated
with high quality; some of which were identified by the Learning
Policy Institute's (LPI) "The Building Blocks of High-Quality
Early Childhood Education Program," a summary of research on
elements of quality.
California has embarked on a number of the features identified
in the bill, including the following:
Early learning standards. In the area of developmentally
appropriate early learning standards and curricula that address
the whole child, including academic, social-emotional, and
physical development, California has developed the Preschool
Learning Foundations. Current law requires prekindergarten
learning development 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.
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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.
The CDE released three series of the Preschool Learning
Foundations in 2008. 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
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.
Assessments. In the area of child assessments that consider
academic, social-emotional, and physical development progress,
and support meaningful teacher-child interaction and
instruction, and program planning that addresses the needs of a
child, California has the Desired Results Developmental Profile
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(DRDP). Implemented in 2000, the DRDP 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
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: 1) approaches to
learning - self regulation; 2) social and emotional development;
3) language and literacy development; 4) English-Language
development; 5) cognition, including math and science; 6)
physical development - health; 7) history-social science; and 8)
visual and performing arts.
Full day programs. The CSPP offers both part-day and full-day
programs. The LPI's research found that while part-day programs
are beneficial, highly effective programs are full day. The LPI
also found studies that show that children who attend preschool
for two or three years are less likely to need special education
services and are less likely to commit crimes later in life.
Family participation. Current law, under EC Section 8238,
requires the CSPP to coordinate the provision of opportunities
for parenting education and support, including how to support
the development of their children's literacy skills and
improving parent-school communication. California's funding
also includes a component for family literacy.
Class size and child-to-staff ratio. The LPI's research did not
yield findings on optimal class size or child-to-staff ratio,
but states that the general professional standards are a class
size of 20 and child-to-staff ratio of 10 to 1. California does
not have class size requirements, but requires a child-to-staff
ratio of 8 to 1 and teacher-to-child ratio of 24 to 1 for
children between the ages of three and six.
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Teacher qualifications. Current law authorizes a person meeting
the following to serve in an instructional capacity in a child
care and development program:
1)Possesses a credential issued by the CTC authorizing that
person to teach in an elementary school or a single subject
credential in home economics.
2)Twelve units in early childhood development (ECE) or child
development, or both, or two years' experience in an early
childhood education or a child care and development program.
The CTC establishes varying level of teacher permits for child
care and development programs. The level that meets existing
law is categorized as the "Associate Teacher," which requires 12
units in ECE or child development courses and 50 days of three
hours or more per day experience completed within two years.
One of the areas that may be beneficial for review is in the
area of needs of English learners (ELs). Early education
programs are critical in establishing a base for success for EL
students. It is not clear that ECE courses include how best to
serve EL kids.
QRIS. The state provides $50 million for the QRIS, defined as a
"locally determined system for continuous quality improvement
based on a tiered rating structure with progressively higher
quality standards for each tier that provides supports and
incentives for programs, teachers, and administrators to reach
higher levels of quality, monitors and evaluates the impacts on
child outcomes, and disseminates information to parents and the
public about program quality." In 2011, California received a
federal Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge grant to
develop a QRIS. California chose to use a network of local
consortia to expand and strengthen preexisting quality
initiatives in 16 counties. According to the LPI, while 40
states have adopted a statewide QRIS, California is one of three
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states where counties develop and manage a QRIS. The QRIS
establishes a five-tier block system that assesses child
development and school readiness, teachers and teaching, and
program and environment.
Definition of prekindergarten. The bill defines prekindergarten
to include the CSPP, transitional kindergarten and Head Start.
The Head Start is a federally-funded program. The author may
wish to consider striking Head Start.
Related legislation. AB 47 (McCarty), establishes the Preschool
for All Act of 2015 and requires, on or before June 30, 2018,
all eligible children who are not enrolled in transitional
kindergarten to have access to the CSPP the year before they
enter kindergarten, if their parents wish to enroll them and
contingent upon the appropriation of sufficient funding in the
annual Budget Act for this purpose. Governor Brown vetoed the
bill last year stating that discussion on expanding state
preschool should be considered in the budget process.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Early Edge California (sponsor)
Abriendo Puertas/Opening Door
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Advancement Project
Bay Area Council
California Association for Bilingual Education
California Catholic Conference
California State PTA
Californians Together
Compton Unified School District
Congregation Beth Am
Educare California at Silicon Valley
Ellis Alden Vineyards
Fight Crime: Invest in Kids California
First 5 Association of California
First 5 Santa Clara County
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Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones
Kidango, Inc.
Lutheran Office of Public Policy - California
Mission Readiness - Military Leaders for Kids
MomsRising
North Bay Leadership Council
Northrop Bay Leadership Council
Palo Alto League of Women Voters
Sacramento City Unified School District
San Francisco Unified School District
Santa Clara County Office of Education
Small School Districts' Association
The Opportunity Institute
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United Ways of California
Yolo County Office of Education
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087