BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 359
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|Author: |Mitchell |
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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: California Mathematics Placement Act of 2015
SUMMARY
This bill requires each local educational agency serving grades
8 or 9 to develop and implement a fair, objective, and
transparent mathematics placement policy.
BACKGROUND
Current law:
1. Requires students to successfully complete two courses
in mathematics as a condition of graduation from high
school. (Education Code § 51225.3)
2. Requires that one of those courses, or "a combination of
the two courses" required for graduation meet or exceed the
rigor of the 1997 content standards for Algebra 1. (EC §
51224.5)
3. Established the Academic Content Standards Commission
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)
ANALYSIS
This bill requires each local educational agency serving grades
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8 or 9 to develop and implement a fair, objective, and
transparent mathematics placement policy. Specifically, this
bill:
1. Establishes the California Mathematics Placement Act.
2. Requires each local educational agency (LEA) serving grade
8 or grade 9, or both, to develop and implement a fair,
objective, and transparent statewide mathematics placement
policy that does all of the following:
A. Systematically takes current academic
objective measures into consideration, such as
statewide assessments, student grades, and diagnostic
placement tests.
B. Includes multiple progress checkpoints
throughout the academic year to permit reevaluation of
individual student progress, including at least one
checkpoint within the first three months of the
academic year.
C. Requires examination of student
placement data, at least annually, to ensure that
there is no disproportionate impact in the course
placement of students by race, ethnicity, or
socioeconomic background.
D. Requires the local educational agency
(LEA) to report the aggregate results of this
examination to the LEA's governing board and
prominently post the examination results on the LEA's
website. This report may be included as part of the
LEA's accountability report of its local control and
accountability plan.
E. Offers clear and immediate recourse for
each student and his or her parent who questions the
student's placement.
3. Requires each LEA to ensure that its mathematics placement
policy is available to each student and parent, and is
posted prominently on the LEA's website.
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4. Defines "local educational agency" as a county office of
education, school district, state special school, or
direct-funded charter school.
5. States legislative findings and declarations relative to
mathematics misplacement.
STAFF COMMENTS
1. Need for the bill. According to the author, "Math
misplacement occurs when 9th grade students are held back
to repeat their 8th grade math course despite achieving a
"B" grade or better, or testing at proficient or advanced
on state assessments instead of being placed in the next
course in the recommended math sequence as a freshman in
high school. Most universities, including the California
State University and the University of California, require
at least three years of math for college eligibility and
prefer students who have taken high-level math courses such
as Calculus or Advanced Placement Statistics. Failing to
take high level math classes in high school can have
significant ramifications on the student's future economic
success."
2. How do schools currently determine math placement? Current
law is silent with regard to mathematics placement policies
or practices. According to Appendix A of the 2013
Mathematics Framework, which was adopted by the State Board
of Education on November 6, 2013:
Most districts typically rely on teacher
recommendations and course grades to determine
course placement (Bitter and O'Day 2010, p. 6),
with standardized mathematics test scores,
student/parent preferences, and counselor
recommendations also factoring into the decision
(Hallinan 2003). Teacher and counselor placement
recommendations include subjective judgments
about "students' personalities, behavior and
motivation" in addition to test score
performance.
http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/ma/cf/documents/aug2013apxacou
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rseplace.pdf
3. Why include grade 8? This bill requires each local
educational agency (LEA) serving grades 8 or 9 to develop
and implement a mathematics placement policy. This bill
includes grade 8 because many students take Algebra I in
grade 7, or earlier, and are affected by placement
decisions in grade 8. This bill sunshines math placement
practices by requiring LEAs to have a policy with specific
elements, ensuring schools consistently use objective
measurements, apply the practice uniformly, and make
students and parents aware of the placement policies. This
bill does not require the policies of LEAs to accept
completion of Algebra I in middle school as satisfying high
school graduation requirements. Students who successfully
complete Algebra I in grade 8 and are not required to take
Algebra I in high school would still be required to
complete two mathematics courses while in high school.
4. Clarifying and technical amendments.
A. Specifically require the governing board of an
LEA to adopt the policy in a regularly scheduled
public meeting.
B. On page 3, line 23, strike "statewide."
C. On page 3, at the end of line 36, insert
"gender."
5. Related and prior legislation.
RELATED LEGISLATION
AB 220 (Holden, 2015) allows the course Mathematics 1 to satisfy
a mathematics graduation requirement. States that a
student who completes a course in Algebra 1 or Mathematics
1 before 9th grade is exempt from the above requirement but
not from the requirement to take two math courses in grades
9 to 12. AB 220 is pending in the Assembly Appropriations
Committee.
AB 770 (Irwin, 2015) establishes a grant program, and as a
condition of receiving a grant, requires the governing
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board of a community college district to demonstrate in its
application that the community colleges will among other
things:
A. Adopt placement tests and related policies that
include multiple measures of student performance,
including grades in high school courses and input from
counselors.
B. Increase the placement of students directly in
gateway English and mathematics courses and career
pathways supplemented by remediation.
AB 770 is scheduled to be heard by the Assembly Higher
Education Committee on April 21.
PRIOR LEGISLATION
SR 60 (Mitchell, 2014) asks local school boards to develop,
adopt, and monitor a fair, objective, and transparent
mathematics placement policy.
SUPPORT
Bayer
California School Boards Association
California State Conference of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored
People
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay
Area
Public Advocates
Silicon Valley Community Foundation
OPPOSITION
None received.
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