BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                     SB 359  


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          Date of Hearing:  August 19, 2015


                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS


                                 Jimmy Gomez, Chair


          SB 359  
          (Mitchell) - As Amended August 17, 2015


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          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  








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          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.









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             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:










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          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  








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            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