BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2698
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Date of Hearing: April 20, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Patrick O'Donnell, Chair
AB 2698
(Weber) - As Amended April 11, 2016
SUBJECT: School accountability: school climate and restorative
justice: assessments
SUMMARY: Establishes the School Climate and Student Achievement
Act and requires high-need schools to conduct a school climate
assessment. Specifically, this bill:
1)Establishes the following definitions:
a) "High-need schools," as also defined by the federal
Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et
seq.), means a public elementary or secondary school
operated by a school district, county office of education
or charter school that is located in an area in which the
percentage of pupils from families with incomes below the
poverty line is 30 percent or more.
b) "School climate" means the quality, culture, and
character of school life, based on the patterns of pupils',
teachers', school personnel's, and parents' school life
perceptions and experiences, and reflects a school's norms,
goals, values, expectations for behavior, interpersonal
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relationships, teaching and learning practices, safety, and
organizational structures. School climate is a learning
environment created through the interaction of personal
relationships, physical setting, and psychological
conditions.
c) "School climate assessment" means an evaluation of a
school's climate, to assess existing school culture and to
provide information to influence pupil academic outcome
improvements, and that incorporates the use of pupil,
teacher, school administrator, school personnel, and parent
individual and group surveys, interviews, school data
analysis, and direct observations.
d) "Alternative discipline programs, such as restorative
justice and positive behavioral interventions and
supports," means a set of ethical principles and practices
grounded in the values of showing respect, taking
responsibility, and strengthening pupil relationships that
prevent, respond to, and repair harmful pupil behaviors,
enabling school personnel to intervene more effectively by
increasing pupil support without compromising
accountability.
2)Requires, on or before September 1, 2017, high-need schools to
begin and, on or before July 1, 2018, to complete a school
climate assessment.
3)Requires every assessed school to take steps to ensure that
responses to school climate assessments remain anonymous and
that no individual is identified. Requires these schools to
publish the results of the assessment on their Internet Web
sites, provided that personally identifiable information or
information that can reasonably lead a reader to identify an
individual shall not be shared.
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4)Requires outcomes resulting from a school climate assessment
to be shared through meaningful engagement and collaboration
with pupils, teachers, school personnel, and parents to
develop corrective action recommendations through school
district local control and accountability plan (LCAP)
committees that address the assessment outcomes.
5)Requires the recommendations to be incorporated and
implemented by the school district no later than one year
after completion of the assessment.
6)Specifies that if the recommendations are not implemented
within one year of the completion of the assessment, the
governing board of the school district shall, within 60 days,
hold a public meeting explaining its reasons for not executing
corrective actions.
7)Requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to
develop and post to an easily accessible page on the CDE's
Internet Web site a listing of available school climate
assessment instruments and organizations.
8)Requires the CDE to convene an advisory committee comprised of
stakeholders and professionals who have participated in the
development and expansion of alternative discipline programs,
such as restorative justice and positive behavioral
interventions and supports, to make recommendations to the CDE
that take into account the following:
a) Improving pupil social and emotional support and
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expanding trauma-informed practices and cultural competency
in regions of the state with identified high-need schools.
b) Collecting best practices of existing districtwide,
countywide, and charterwide alternative discipline programs
and ensuring these best practices are widely disseminated.
c) Developing a network of teachers who have effectively
implemented these best practices and can provide training
to other schools and school districts, county offices of
education, and charter schools.
d) Developing evaluation tools to measure the effectiveness
of research-based alternative discipline strategies.
9)Requires, on or before January 1, 2023, the Legislative
Analyst's Office to compile data of the changes in pupil
academic achievement at targeted high-need schools, including
a breakdown by pupil ethnicity, and chronic absenteeism,
suspension, expulsion, and dropout rates of the targeted
schools and provide a report to the CDE, the Governor, and the
appropriate legislative budget and policy committees. Requires
the report to also compile a list of best practices used to
accomplish improvements in academic outcomes and a reduction
in disciplinary actions.
10)Makes uncodified findings and declarations regarding the
impact of school climate on student achievement and the
ability of alternative disciplinary programs such as
restorative justice and positive behavioral interventions and
supports to close the discipline gap between white and African
American students.
11)Makes codified findings regarding positive school climate
where pupils, teachers, school administrators, school
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personnel and parents are engaged and respected; individuals
feel socially, emotionally and physically safe; and
alternative discipline programs reduce suspensions and
expulsions and foster positive relationships.
12)Sunsets on July 1, 2023, and as of that date is repealed,
unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before July 1,
2023, deletes or extends that date.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Authorizes or requires a principal or a superintendent of
schools to suspend or expel a student committing any of a
number of specified acts. (Education Code (EC) Sections
48900, 48900.2, 48900.3, 48900.4, 48900.7, 48915)
2)Specifies that suspensions shall be imposed only when other
means of correction fail to bring about proper conduct.
Specifies that other means of correction include, but are not
limited to, a conference between school personnel, the pupil's
parent or guardian, and pupil; referrals to the school
counselor, psychologist, social worker, child welfare
attendance personnel, or other school support services
personnel; study teams or other intervention-related teams;
referral for a psychosocial or psychoeducational assessment;
participation in a restorative justice program; a positive
behavior support approach with tiered interventions; after
school programs that address behavior issues; or other
alternatives involving community service. (EC Section
48900.5)
3)Requires school districts and county offices of education to
adopt and annually update LCAPs. Requires each LCAP to
address eight state priorities, including school climate.
Requires measures of school climate to include, among other
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indicators, surveys of pupils, parents, and teacher on the
sense of safety and school connectedness. (EC Section 52060)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS: According to the co-sponsor, the Alliance for
Education Solutions, positive school climate, including the use
of alternative disciplinary practices such as restorative
justice and positive behavioral interventions and supports, is
critical for improving student achievement and reducing student
suspensions and expulsions. This bill requires a high-need
school, defined by the ESSA as a school located in an area in
which the percentage of pupils from families with incomes below
the poverty line is 30 percent or more, to conduct a school
climate assessment. The assessment is an evaluation of a
school's culture and climate and shall include the use of
surveys, interviews, direct observations, and data analysis
(e.g., suspension/expulsion rate). The bill requires the
results of the assessment to be shared with pupils, teachers,
school personnel, and parents and for recommendations for
corrective action to be developed through the district's LCAP
committees. The bill requires corrective actions to be
implemented within one year after completion of the assessment.
The bill defines school climate as the quality, culture, and
character of school life, based on the life perceptions and
experiences of the school community, and reflects a school's
norms, values, expectations for behavior, interpersonal
relationships, teaching and learning practices, safety, and
organizational structures.
Alternative disciplinary practices. Over the last several
years, a number of legislation has focused on alternative
disciplinary practices that are believed to be and are based on
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positive practices and school cultures. Restorative justice
practices and Schoolwide Positive Behavior Intervention and
Support are examples of such programs. A number of districts
have implemented such models, including Los Angeles, San Diego,
San Francisco, Santa Ana, Oakland, Elk Grove, and Irvine Unified
School Districts. Restorative justice is a set of principles
and practices grounded in the values of showing respect, taking
responsibility, and strengthening relationships. Restorative
practices, applied on a schoolwide context, are used to build a
sense of school community and resolve conflict by repairing harm
and restoring positive relationships.
Types of surveys. The bill requires, as part of the assessment,
for the school to conduct a survey, but the bill does not
specify the type of surveys required to be used. California, in
coordination with WestEd, developed the California Healthy Kids
Survey (CHKS) in 1998, which was administered on a voluntary
basis until 2003, when it became a requirement for school
districts that received federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act
Title IV funds (Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities
Program). Title IV required states to establish a uniform
management information and reporting system that includes, among
others, the "incidence and prevalence, age of onset, perception
of health risk, and perception of social disapproval of drug use
and violence by youth in schools and communities". Title IV
also required compilation of statistics that included "incident
reports by school officials, anonymous student surveys, and
anonymous teacher surveys." California received $28 million
annually from Title IV funds, the majority of which were
allocated to districts to implement programs to address school
safety and alcohol and drug use. The CHKS was used to measure
progress and collect data and to comply with the NCLB
requirements. According to the Superintendent of Public
Instruction Tom Torlakson, the CHKS is an exemplary program,
recognized by President Barack Obama's administration as a model
survey for the nation.
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The CHKS is administered biennially to pupils in grades 5, 7, 9,
and 11, although some school districts conducted the survey
annually. The voluntary survey is anonymous and confidential,
with three versions available for elementary, middle, and high
school kids. The survey assesses health risks, with specific
focus on alcohol, tobacco, and drug use; school violence;
physical health; resilience and youth development; and school
climate. Schools can add questions as appropriate for the age
group; for example, the high school survey can be supplemented
with questions relating to sex education, suicide, gang
involvement and issues related to the achievement gap. Title IV
funds that triggered the survey requirement expired in 2010.
However, according to the CDE, over 900 school districts
continue to administer the survey voluntarily.
The CHKS is one component of the California School Climate,
Health, and Learning Survey System (Cal-SCHLS). The other two
surveys that make up the system are the California School Parent
Survey (CSPS), which assesses the perceptions of parents related
to school climate, parent outreach, and pupil achievement; and
the California School Climate Survey (CSCS), which is a staff
survey to guide school improvement efforts to foster positive
learning and teaching environments.
It is unclear whether a school would comply with this bill if it
already administers CHKS, CSPS, and CSCS.
According to the sponsor, other available school climate surveys
include the School Climate Assessment Instrument developed by
the Alliance for the Study of School Climate at the California
State University, Los Angeles.
Example of the process. In 2011, through federal funds, 58 high
schools in California received Safe and Supportive Schools
grants to improve school climate. Low achieving schools with
poor school climates, as determined by the CHKS, implemented an
evidence-based action process called the School Climate by
Design. With technical assistance from WestEd, a team of
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teachers, administrators, students, and parents evaluated data,
including those from the CHKS, obtained student input, and
developed action plans for each school. WestEd reports that
between 2011-and 2013, the Academic Performance Index across all
grantees increased 15 points, from 689 to 704. According to
WestEd, schools reported the following components as
contributing to their improvement in school culture and student
achievement:
A school-wide commitment to, and integration of, school
climate into school improvement plans, including leadership
by a School Climate Team of stakeholders.
Engaging in a systematic data-driven action planning
process, beginning with an in-depth needs assessment (e.g.,
the Cal-SCHLS) and incorporating student voice through the
Student Listening Circle.
Developmental supports (caring adult relationships, high
expectations, and meaningful participation) that research
has identified as mitigating against existing risk factors,
promoting resilience, and fostering positive academic,
social-emotional, and healthy outcomes, including school
connectedness.
A multi-tiered system of supports that provides
universal strategies for all students but also includes
interventions targeting high-risk populations.
Implementation of evidence-based programs that address
the needs identified by the assessment process.
Parent and community engagement.
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This bill is modeled after this process. The Committee may wish
to consider the impact that technical assistance provided by
WestEd and additional funding provided by the grant had on
effecting change. The schools required to conduct the
assessment pursuant to this bill will not receive similar
benefits.
Other factors affecting student achievement. While positive
school climate has been shown to be associated with academic
achievement, the Committee may wish to consider other factors
such as adequate resources and the role of leadership. Schools
that have turned around school climate or improved achievement
is frequently associated with great leadership.
The co-sponsor, Alliance for Education Solutions, states,
"School climate assessments are needed to provide educators and
education leaders a comprehensive understanding of the tools and
steps needed to address low student achievement levels, student
dropout rates, student suspensions and student chronic
absenteeism."
Committee amendments:
1)The bill requires high poverty schools, as defined by ESSA, to
conduct the school assessment. While poverty may be correlated
with low-achieving, staff recommends changing the trigger to
the lowest performing five percent of all schools, to be
determined by the SPI and the SBE, as required by the ESSA.
2)Staff recommends changing the use of pupil, teacher, school
administrator, school personnel, and parent individual and
group surveys to "school climate survey".
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3)Rather than requiring the district LCAP committees to develop
recommendations for corrective actions for each low-performing
school, staff recommends requiring the school to develop an
action plan to be submitted to the LCAP committees.
4)The bill requires the CDE to convene an advisory committee to
make recommendations that include collecting best practices of
existing discipline programs and disseminating best practices.
The bill also requires the LAO to compile a list of best
practices. Instead of requiring two bodies to do similar
things, staff recommends requiring the LAO to profile some of
the schools.
5)Staff recommends uncodifying the codified findings.
Related legislation and funding. The 2015-16 budget provides
$10 million to provide training and professional development
activities and for the implementation of schoolwide, data-driven
systems of learning and behavioral supports.
AB 2489 (McCarty), pending in the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, requires the CDE to evaluate school districts'
implementation of restorative justice practices, and either
develop standard models or recommendations for effective
implementation.
AB 2527 (Weber), pending in this Committee, requires the
Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI), after receiving
guidance from an advisory committee, as specified, to recommend
model school climate surveys to the State Board of Education by
July 1, 2017.
SB 463 (Hancock), pending in the Assembly Education Committee,
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establishes the Safe and Supportive Schools Train the Trainer
Program and requires a designated county office of education to
be responsible for the development or identification of
professional development activities that are available as a
statewide training resource.
AB 1025 (Thurmond), held in the Senate Appropriations Committee
suspense file in 2015, establishes a three-year pilot program in
school districts to encourage inclusive practices that integrate
mental health, special education, and school climate
interventions following a multi-tiered framework.
SB 1396 (Hancock), held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee
suspense file in 2014, would have provided funding to a
designated county office of education for the purposes of
establishing a multitiered intervention and support program that
includes, but is not limited, the Schoolwide Positive Behavior
Intervention and Support program.
AB 2167 (Muratsuchi), held in the Assembly Appropriations
Committee suspense file in 2014, would have codified the CHKS.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Alliance for Education Solutions
Restorative Schools Vision Project (co-sponsor)
Delores Huerta Foundation
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Our Family Coalition
Public Advocates
Santa Ana Boys and Men of Color
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087