BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 172|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 172
Author: Liu (D)
Amended: 4/6/15
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 6-2, 4/15/15
AYES: Liu, Block, Hancock, Leyva, Mendoza, Pan
NOES: Huff, Vidak
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 5-2, 5/28/15
AYES: Lara, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza
NOES: Bates, Nielsen
SUBJECT: Pupil testing: high school exit examination:
suspension
SOURCE: Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce
DIGEST: 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.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Required the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to
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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 for the
purpose of developing the California Common Core Standards
(CCCS) 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 SPI, by March 1, 2016, to submit to the SBE, 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))
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 SPI to convene an advisory panel to provide
recommendations to the SPI on the continuation of the high
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school exit 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 SBE, 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.
Comments
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
(CAHSEE) 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:
1)Performance on the CAHSEE continues to improve, but remains
low for English learners and students with disabilities.
2)CAHSEE passage rates for students with disabilities have been
mixed, and the availability of an exemption or waiver to the
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requirement appears to influence passing rates.
3)Graduation rates have continued to improve and dropout rates
continue to decrease. Over time, more students persisted into
grade 12 and beyond.
4)A very strong relationship was discovered between CAHSEE
achievement and college enrollment.
5)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
Alignment with curricular standards. The State Board of
Education adopted the California Common Core Standards in
English language arts and mathematics in August 2010. The
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, Chapter
489, Statutes of 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 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.
Contract issues. According to the California Department of
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Education (CDE), the contract for the CAHSEE will expire on
October 31, 2015. Pursuant to this contract, the last
administration of the CAHSEE was in May 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.
The 2015 Budget Act includes language to specifically authorize
the CDE to extend the CAHSEE contract for one year, contingent
upon the continuation of the CAHSEE requirement. This language
is necessary in the event that this bill fails passage or is
amended to keep the CAHSEE requirement in place for another
school year.
Absent any action, the CAHSEE will not be administered to
students beginning July 2015, yet the requirement to pass 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.
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.
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:
1)Participation rate - requires a 95% participation rate on the
statewide assessments in order to make AYP.
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2)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.
3)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 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
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.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
1)The suspension of the high school exit examination results in
estimated savings of up to mid tens of millions in Proposition
98 General Fund and Federal fund savings over a multi-year
period.
2)CDE estimates that this bill will result in one-time costs
between $123,000 and $200,000 to convene an advisory panel,
depending on the number of panel members. The recommendations
that derive from this panel could create a potentially
significant cost pressure to implement them.
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SUPPORT: (Verified5/28/15)
Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson (co-source)
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce (co-source)
California School Boards Association
California State PTA
California Teachers Association
EdVoice
Riverside County Superintendent of Schools
San Diego Unified School District
San Francisco Unified School District
SIATech
OPPOSITION: (Verified5/28/15)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to EdVoice, the CAHSEE has
no alignment to the current adopted state standards. In fact,
it has never had a passage performance level set at the true
level of preparedness necessary to demonstrate readiness for
college or career. Furthermore, we understand the Department
has been notified it is unable to extend the contract for the
current exit examination, and has no plan to initiate a new
competitive bidding process in a timely fashion to maintain
continuity of opportunity in exam administrations. California
cannot defend an inequitable policy of administering a
high-stakes test to hold certain students in a specific
graduating class accountable to a standards, while knowingly
preventing other students of the same graduating class from
logistically accessing the statutorily designated instrument to
demonstrate their competence to meet the same requirement.
Prepared by:Lynn Lorber / ED. / (916) 651-4105
5/31/15 13:07:33
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