BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 210|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 210
Author: Galgiani (D)
Amended: 8/28/15
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 7-0, 4/29/15
AYES: Liu, Block, Hancock, Leyva, Mendoza, Monning, Pan
NO VOTE RECORDED: Runner, Vidak
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 5/28/15
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza, Nielsen
SENATE FLOOR: 40-0, 6/3/15
AYES: Allen, Anderson, Bates, Beall, Berryhill, Block,
Cannella, De León, Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Glazer, Hall,
Hancock, Hernandez, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson,
Lara, Leno, Leyva, Liu, McGuire, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning,
Moorlach, Morrell, Nguyen, Nielsen, Pan, Pavley, Roth, Runner,
Stone, Vidak, Wieckowski, Wolk
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 80-0, 9/3/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Special education: deaf and hard-of-hearing
children: language developmental milestones
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill requires the California Department of
Education (CDE) to select language developmental milestones for
use by parents to monitor and track the language acquisition and
development of children age birth to five years who are deaf and
hard-of-hearing.
Assembly Amendments require the CDE to select language
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developmental milestones, rather than select language
benchmarks; clarify that the language developmental milestones
are for use by parents; delete the requirement that the
developmental milestones be used by a child's individualized
family service plan (IFSP) or individualized education program
(IEP) team; require the parent resource to include specified
information and meet specified criteria; require the CDE to
select existing tools or assessment that can be used to assess
the language and literacy development of deaf and
hard-of-hearing children; require the tools or assessments to
meet specified criteria; require the CDE to disseminate the
tools and assessments as specified; delete the requirement that
the CDE disseminate the developmental milestones to the IFSP or
IEP team; delete the requirement that the CDE track development
stages; modify the membership of the advisory committee; push
deadlines back one year; delete the requirement that the CDE
develop action plans and regulations as specified; require the
CDE to submit a report, as specified, by July 31, 2017, and
annually thereafter; and make conforming changes.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law requires each student's IEP team to:
1) Consider, among other things, the communication needs of the
student, and in the case of a student who is deaf or hard of
hearing, consider the student's language and communication
needs, opportunities for direct communications with peers and
professional personnel in the student's language and
communication mode, academic level, and full range of needs,
including opportunities for direct instruction in the
student's language and communication mode. (Education Code §
56341.1)
2) Specifically discuss the communication needs of the student,
consistent with "Deaf Students Education Services Policy
Guidance" as specified. (EC § 56345)
This bill:
1) Requires the CDE's Deaf and Hard of Hearing unit, and the
California School for the Deaf, to jointly select language
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developmental milestones from existing standardized norms for
purposes of developing a resource for use by parents to
monitor and track deaf and hard-of-hearing children's
expressive and receptive language acquisition and
developmental stages toward English literacy.
2) Limits the scope of the language benchmarks to children age
birth to five years.
3) Requires the parent resource to meet specified criteria.
4) Requires the CDE to select existing tools or assessments for
educators that can be used to assess the language and
literacy development of deaf and hard-of-hearing children.
Requires these educator tools or assessments to meet
specified criteria.
5) Requires the CDE to disseminate the parent resource to
parents and guardians of deaf and hard-of-hearing children,
and to disseminate the educator tools and assessments to
local educational agencies for use in the development and
modification of IFSP and IEP plans, and to provide materials
and training on its use to assist deaf and hard-of-hearing
children in becoming linguistically ready for kindergarten
using both or one of the languages of American Sign Language
and English.
6) Requires the child's IFSP or IEP team, if the child who is
deaf or hard-of-hearing does not demonstrate progress in
expressive and receptive language skills, as measured by one
of the educator tools or assessments or by the existing
instrument used to assess the development of children with
disabilities pursuant to federal law, to explain in detail
the reasons why the child is not meeting the language
developmental milestones or progressing towards them, and
recommend specific strategies, services, and programs that
must be provided to assist the child's success toward English
literacy.
7) Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to
establish an ad hoc advisory committee for purposes of
soliciting input from experts on the selection of language
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developmental milestones for children who are deaf or
hard-of-hearing that are equivalent to those for children who
are not deaf or hard-of-hearing, for inclusion in the parent
resource. Authorizes the advisory committee to also make
recommendations on the selection and administration of the
educator tools or assessments.
8) Authorizes the advisory committee to also advise the CDE or
its contractor on the content and administration of the
existing instrument used to assess the development of
children with disabilities, as used to assess the language
and literacy development of children who are deaf and
hard-of-hearing to ensure the appropriate use of that
instrument with those children. Authorizes the advisory
committee to make recommendations regarding future research
to improve the measurement of progress of children who are
deaf and hard-of-hearing in language and literacy.
9) Requires the advisory committee to consist of 13 volunteers,
the majority of whom must be deaf or hard-of hearing, and all
of whom must be within the field of education for the deaf
and hard-of-hearing. Requires the advisory committee to
include specified membership.
10)Requires the CDE, by March 1, 2017, to provide the advisory
committee with a list of existing language developmental
milestones from existing standardized norms, along with any
relevant information held by the CDE regarding those language
developmental milestones for possible inclusion in the parent
resource.
11)Requires the advisory committee to recommend language
developmental milestones for selection by June 1, 2017.
12)Requires the CDE to inform the advisory committee of which
language developmental milestones were selected, by June 30,
2017.
13)Requires the CDE to produce a report, by July 31, 2017, and
by July 31annually thereafter, using existing data reported
in compliance with the federally required state performance
plan on students with disabilities, that is specific to
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language and literacy development of children from birth to
five years of age who are deaf and hard-of-hearing, including
those who are deaf or hard of hearing and have other
disabilities, relative to their peers who are not deaf or
hard of hearing. Requires the CDE to make this report
available on its Internet Web site.
14)Requires all activities of the CDE in implementing this bill
to be consistent with federal law regarding the education of
children with disabilities and federal law regarding the
privacy of pupil information.
15)Provides that implementation of this bill is subject to an
appropriation in the Budget Act or another measure.
16)Defines "English" to include spoken English, written
English, or English with the use of visual supplements.
17)Defines the term "language developmental milestones" to mean
milestones of development aligned with the existing state
instrument used to meet the requirements of federal law for
the assessment of children from birth to five years of age.
Background
The California Infant/Toddler Learning & Development Foundations
were developed by the CDE, in collaboration with many
researchers and stakeholders. The Infant/Toddler foundations
were released in 2009.
[http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/re/documents/itfoundations2009.pdf]
The California Preschool Learning Foundations were developed by
the CDE, in collaboration with many researchers and
stakeholders. These foundations include three volumes. Volume
1, released on January 22, 2008, includes language and literacy,
and English language development:
[http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/re/documents/preschoollf.pdf]
Children with disabilities age birth to three years are provided
with an IFSP. Students with disabilities age three to 22 years
are provided with an IEP.
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Comments
Existing infant/toddler and preschool foundations. The CDE
developed the California Infant/Toddler Learning & Development
Foundations and the California Preschool Learning Foundations to
provide guidance to providers of early education and care. Both
the infant/toddler and preschool foundations are non-binding
(voluntary) on providers, programs, and local educational
agencies.
The California Infant/Toddler Learning & Development Foundations
do not include any reference to the development of children who
are deaf or hard of hearing. (Specific to language and
literacy, and English language development:
[http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/re/itf09langdev.asp]
The California Preschool Learning Foundations include only a
footnote reference to students who are deaf or hard of hearing:
specifically, that phonological awareness is an important skill
for students who are deaf, and that teachers of the deaf should
be consulted for strategies for facilitating phonological
awareness. Phonological awareness is defined as sensitivity to
the sound (or phonological) structure of spoken language.
Resources for parents. Various resources exist for parents
regarding the development of children who are deaf or hard of
hearing; none are specific to benchmarks for language
development. In 2011, a panel of parents convened with the CDE
to create a guide for parents that contains information to help
parents understand the services that may be provided through an
IFSP and IEP, including a focus on language development. The
purpose of the Resource Guide for Parents of Infants and
Toddlers Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, released by the CDE in
2013, is to provide parents with an introduction to the benefits
of both signed and spoken language, as well as to the various
communication tools and educational approaches.
[http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/ss/dh/documents/prgsummary.pdf]
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee:
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General Fund administrative costs to the CDE of approximately
$250,000. Administrative costs include development of the
parent resource, implementation of the educator tool
requirement, and annual reporting. Administrative costs are
contingent upon an appropriation for this purpose in the
annual Budget Act or another statute.
Unknown Proposition 98/General Fund cost pressure to local
education agencies, potentially in the hundreds of thousands,
for IFSP or IEP teams to recommend strategies, services and
programs to assist the child towards English literacy. This
requirement is contingent upon an appropriation in the annual
budget act or another statute. This requirement may
constitute a state reimbursable mandate to the extent these
requirements are found to be in excess of federal law.
SUPPORT: (Verified9/3/15)
None received
OPPOSITION: (Verified9/3/15)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 80-0, 9/03/15
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, 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, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden,
Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder,
Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina,
Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen,
Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,
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Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting,
Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins
Prepared by:Lynn Lorber / ED. / (916) 651-4105
9/3/15 18:47:29
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