BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 359 Page 1 Date of Hearing: August 19, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Jimmy Gomez, Chair SB 359 (Mitchell) - As Amended August 17, 2015 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Education |Vote:|7 - 0 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable: Yes SUMMARY: This bill creates the California Mathematics Placement Act of 2015 to require school boards or governing bodies of local education agencies (LEAs) serving pupils entering grade 9, and SB 359 Page 2 that have not adopted a fair, objective, and transparent mathematics placement policy as of January 1, 2016, to develop and adopt a math placement policy. Specifically, this bill: 1)Requires new math placement policies for pupils entering 9th grade to be adopted in a regularly scheduled public meeting and requires the policy to be a fair, objective, and transparent. 2)Requires placement policies adopted pursuant to this bill to do the following: a) Systematically take multiple objective academic measures of pupil performance into consideration. For purposes of this paragraph, "objective academic measures" means measures, such as statewide mathematics assessments, including interim and summative assessments, placement tests that are aligned to state-adopted content standards in mathematics, classroom assignment and grades, and report cards. b) Include at least one placement checkpoint within the first month of the school year to ensure accurate placement and permit reevaluation of individual pupil progress. c) Require examination of aggregate pupil placement data annually to ensure that pupils who are qualified to progress in mathematics courses based on their performance on objective academic are not held back in a disproportionate manner on the basis of their race, ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic background. The LEA's required to report the aggregate results of this examination to the governing board or body of the LEA. SB 359 Page 3 d) Offer clear and timely recourse for each pupil and his or her parent or legal guardian who questions the pupil's placement. e) For nonunified school districts, addresses the consistency of mathematics placement policies between elementary and high school districts. 3)Authorizes governing boards serving pupils who are transitioning between elementary and middle school or elementary and junior high school to develop and implement a mathematics placement policy. 4)Requires each governing board to ensure the LEAs mathematics placement policy is posted on its Internet Web site. FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown Proposition 98/GF state mandated costs, likely in the low millions, for LEAs without a mathematics placement policy to develop and implement one in accordance with the requirements of this bill. Costs to the state would depend on the number of LEAs that would be required to develop a placement policy. For illustration, assuming roughly half of all school districts, COEs, and charter schools serving students entering 9th grade were required to implement a policy, statewide costs would range from $2.8 million to $5.8 million. This assumes average LEA administrative costs in the range of $4,000 to $8,000 per LEA. COMMENTS: SB 359 Page 4 1)Purpose. This bill is in part a response to a 2010 study by the Noyce Foundation which examined the math placement practices of nine school districts and their effect on 1,700 students. The study found: Nearly 65% of students who were placed in Algebra in 8th grade were placed in Algebra again in 9th grade. 46% of 8th grade Algebra students who earned a grade of B- or better were placed in Algebra again in 9th grade, or dropped to a less advanced course. 45% of 8th grade Algebra students who met or exceeded standards on standardized assessments (California Standards Test or the formative Mathematics Assessment Resource Service assessments) were placed in Algebra again in 9th grade. Nearly half of the students who were successful in Algebra in the eighth grade and who were placed again in Algebra in ninth grade were no more successful in their second experience. Current law is silent with regard to mathematics placement policies and practices. The state's Mathematics Framework states: "Most districts typically rely on teacher recommendations and course grades to determine course placement, with standardized mathematics test scores, student/parent preferences, and counselor recommendations also SB 359 Page 5 factoring into the decision. Teacher and counselor placement recommendations include subjective judgments about students' personalities, behavior and motivation in addition to test score performance." This bill seeks to ensure LEAs have fair, objective, and transparent mathematics placement policy so that students are promoted to the next mathematics class based on an unbiased decision process. 1)Timing of policy adoption. This bill requires governing boards serving pupils entering grade 9 that have not adopted a fair, objective, and transparent mathematics placement policy as of January 1, 2016, to develop and adopt a policy. The bill does not, however, state when the policy shall be adopted. The committee may wish to consider amending the bill to require policies to be adopted within a certain timeline. Analysis Prepared by:Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916) 319-2081