BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 172
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|Author: |Liu |
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|Version: |April 6, 2015 Hearing |
| |Date: April 15, 2015 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Lynn Lorber |
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Subject: Pupil testing: high school exit examination:
suspension
SUMMARY
This bill suspends the administration of the high school exit
examination, and the requirement that students pass this exam
as a condition of graduation from high school, during the
2016-17 through 2018-19 school years, or when the high school
exit exam is no longer available.
BACKGROUND
Current law:
1) Required the Superintendent of Public Instruction to
develop, and the State Board of Education (SBE) to adopt,
a high school exit examination in English language arts
and mathematics in accordance with the academic content
standards adopted by the SBE. (Education Code § 60850)
2) Requires pupils to successfully pass the high school
exit exam as a condition of receiving a diploma of
graduation, in addition to completing state and local
graduation requirements. (Education Code § 60851,
51225.3 and 51224.5)
3) Established the Academic Content Standards Commission
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for the purpose of developing the California Common Core
Standards in English language arts and mathematics, and
required the State Board of Education to reject or adopt
those standards by August 2, 2010. (EC § 60605.8)
4) Revamped the State's assessment system by eliminating
several assessments that were aligned to prior academic
content standards, transitioning to assessments that are
aligned to the common core standards in English language
arts and mathematics, and requiring existing assessments
for English language development and primary language to
be revised for alignment with the common core standards.
(EC § 60640)
5) Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction
(SPI), by March 1, 2016, to submit to the State Board of
Education, the appropriate legislative policy and fiscal
committee and the Director of Finance, recommendations on
expanding the California Assessment of Student
Performance and Progress to include additional
assessments. The SPI is required to consult with
specified stakeholders, and make recommendations
regarding assessments including the grade level, content,
and type of assessment. (EC § 60640(c))
ANALYSIS
This bill suspends the administration of the high school exit
exam, and the requirement that students pass this exam as a
condition of graduation from high school, during the 2016-17
through 2018-19 school years, or when the high school exit
exam is no longer available. Specifically, this bill:
1. Notwithstands the requirement that students pass the high
school exit exam (exit exam) as a condition of receiving
a diploma of graduation or a condition of graduation from
high school, and suspends the administration of and
requirement to pass the exit exam for the 2016-17,
2017-18, and 2018-19 school years, or when the exit exam
is no longer available.
2. Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI)
to convene an advisory panel to provide recommendations
to the SPI on the continuation of the high school exit
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exam, and on alternative pathways to satisfy the high
school graduation requirements.
3. Requires the recommendations of this advisory panel to be
included in the currently-required report by the SPI on
the expansion of the State's assessment system, which is
due to the State Board of Education, appropriate
legislative policy and fiscal committees, and the
Director of Finance by March 1, 2016.
4. Requires the advisory panel to consist of, but not be
limited to:
A. Secondary teachers.
B. School administrators.
C. School board members.
D. Parents.
E. The student member of the State Board
of Education.
F. Measurement experts.
G. Individuals with expertise in
assessing English learners and students with
disabilities.
STAFF COMMENTS
1. Need for the bill. According to the author, "Passing the
California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE) was
added as a requirement for high school graduation
beginning with the Class of 2006. California has
revamped the State's assessment system by transitioning
to assessments that are aligned to the common core
standards and eliminating outdated assessments. The
California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE) has not been
updated for alignment to the common core standards and is
therefore outdated as the exam is aligned to standards
that are no longer in place."
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2. Purpose of the high school exit exam. According to
independent evaluations conducted by the Human Resources
Research Organization (HumRRO), California's high school
exit exam has served a valuable purpose by ensuring
students demonstrate competency on standards, providing
remediation opportunities prior to grade 12, and helping
to overall narrow the achievement gap between subgroups.
The findings of HumRRO's 2014 Biennial Report include:
A. Performance on the CAHSEE continues to improve,
but remains low for English learners and students
with disabilities.
B. CAHSEE passage rates for students with
disabilities have been mixed, and the availability
of an exemption or waiver to the requirement appears
to influence passing rates.
C. Graduation rates have continued to improve and
dropout rates continue to decrease. Over time, more
students persisted into grade 12 and beyond.
D. A very strong relationship was discovered
between CAHSEE achievement and college enrollment.
E. Preliminary screening of the CAHSEE item bank
indicated limited alignment to the Common Core
Standards (CCSS) and, for mathematics, alignment of
some items to CCSS at a lower grade level.
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/hs/documents/cahsee14biennlrpt
.pdf#search=cahsee%20contract&view=FitH&pagemode=none
Current law requires students, as a condition of
graduating from high school, to successfully complete
specified coursework, any locally-imposed graduation
requirements, and pass the high school exit exam. This
bill suspends the requirement to pass the exit exam; the
high school graduation requirements would therefore be
the coursework required by the State and any
locally-imposed requirements.
3. Alignment with curricular standards. The State Board of
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Education adopted the California Common Core Standards in
English language arts and mathematics in August 2010.
The California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE) is
aligned to English language arts and mathematics
standards that were adopted by the State Board of
Education in 1997. The CAHSEE has not been updated for
alignment with current academic content standards. AB
484 (Bonilla, Ch. 489, 2013) revamped the State's
assessment system to, among other things, transition to
assessments that are aligned to the common core
standards, including subject-matter exams, the English
language development test and the primary language
assessment.
The 2014 Biennial Report provided by Human Resources Research
Organization (HumRRO) states that the evaluators observed
review meetings held by the exit exam contractor to
evaluate the 16,000 items the contractor considered to be
associated with the common core standards. According to
HumRRO, approximately half of those items were judged not
aligned when evaluated directly to common core standards,
and an additional number of mathematics items were judged
to align to common core standards at an earlier grade
than the California content standard did. HumRRO reports
that these results indicate that the exit exam item bank
would need to be substantially revised (e.g., replacing
or modifying a significant number of items) to align to
the common core standards.
4. Contract issues. According to the California Department
of Education (CDE), the contract for the California High
School Exit Examination (CAHSEE) will expire on October
31, 2015. Pursuant to this contract, the last
administration of the CAHSEE will be in July 2015. The
CDE maintains that the Department of General Services is
prohibiting the CDE from extending the contract for the
CAHSEE, and instead is requiring the CDE to issue a
Request for Proposal. This process can be time
consuming; even if initiated immediately, a new contract
will not be in place to ensure administration of the
CAHSEE in July and possibly October and later in 2015.
Absent any action, the CAHSEE will not be administered to
students beginning July 2015, yet the requirement to pass
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the exit exam remains. This bill suspends the
requirement to pass the exit exam during specified school
years, or when the exit exam is no longer available.
5. Why suspend? This bill suspends the administration of
the high school exit exam, and the requirement that
students pass this exam as a condition of graduation from
high school. According to the author, this bill does not
eliminate the high school exit exam, specifically
requires the exit exam to be updated or replaced, or
provide for a replacement or alternative during the term
of suspension because the decisions of whether the exit
exam should be updated, replaced with other measurements,
or eliminated should be carefully considered by the
workgroup established by this bill.
6. Used for federal accountability. The federal Elementary
and Secondary Education Act requires States that
participate in Title I (provides funding to schools to
educate low-income students) to meet Adequate Yearly
Progress (AYP) criteria. The required AYP indicators (at
the school, local educational agency and State levels)
for California's 2014 AYP reports are all of the
following:
A. Participation rate - requires a 95%
participation rate on the statewide assessments in
order to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).
B. Annual Measurable Objectives, also known as
percent proficient - requires that 100% of students
perform at the proficient or above level on
statewide assessments in English language arts and
mathematics by 2014.
C. Graduation rate - requires the State to use the
graduation rate as an additional indicator for all
schools and local educational agencies with grade 12
students.
California currently reports California High School Exit
Examination (CAHSEE) data as part of AYP for purposes of
calculating participation rates and percent proficient.
Four years of enrollment and exit data are used to
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calculate the graduation rate for schools and local
educational agencies. Absent the availability of CAHSEE
data, the State may report data from the State
Board-adopted assessments that are aligned to the common
core. The absence of CAHSEE data will not compromise the
State's ability to meet federal accountability
requirements.
7. Related and Prior legislation.
RELATED LEGISLATION
AB 812 (Weber, 2015) requires the California Department of
Education, by September 1, 2017, to develop an assessment
tool to determine the proficiency level of pupils of
limited English proficiency identified through a survey
process. AB 812 requires, beginning with the 2018-19
school year, the assessment to be conducted upon initial
enrollment, in order to provide information to determine
if the pupil is a pupil of limited English proficiency,
and annually thereafter. AB 812 is pending in the
Assembly Education Committee.
PRIOR LEGISLATION
AB 484 (Bonilla, Ch. 489, 2013) among other things, eliminated
the Standardized Testing and Reporting Program, and
instead established the California Assessment of Student
Performance and Progress, which includes assessments that
are aligned to the common core standards. AB 484 did not
affect the high school exit exam statutes.
SB 267 (Pavley, Ch. 479, 2014) extended the implementation
date on the use of alternative means for an eligible
pupil with a disability to demonstrate academic
achievement rather than passing the high school exit
exam, thereby extending the exemption from the
requirement to pass the exit exam.
SUPPORT
EdVoice
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Riverside County Superintendent of Schools
San Diego Unified School District
San Francisco Unified School District
SIATech
State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Torlakson
OPPOSITION
None received.
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