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 July 16, 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 serving pupils in grades 8 or 9, or both, SB 359 Page 2 that do not have a mathematics placement policy in place as of January 1, 2016, to develop a math placement policy. Specifically, this bill: 1)Requires new math placement policies to be adopted in a regularly scheduled public meeting and to be a fair, objective and transparent mathematics placement policy for pupils in grade 9. 2)Requires placement policies adopted pursuant to this bill to do the following: a) Systematically takes 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) Includes 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) Requires 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 measures selected for inclusion in the policy pursuant to paragraph (1) are not held back in a disproportionate manner on the basis of their race, ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic background. The local educational agency shall report the aggregate results of this examination to the governing board or body of the SB 359 Page 3 local educational agency and prominently post the examination results on its Internet Web site. d) Offers clear and timely recourse for each pupil and his or her parent or legal guardian who questions the pupil's placement. (5) For nonunified school districts, addresses the consistency of mathematics placement policies between elementary and high school districts. (c) Governing boards or bodies of local educational agencies serving pupils who are transitioning between elementary and middle school or elementary and junior high school may develop and implement a mathematics placement policy for these pupils, as applicable, that satisfies paragraphs (1) to (5), inclusive, of subdivision (b). (d) Each governing board or body of a local educational agency shall ensure that its mathematics placement policy is posted prominently on its Internet Web site. (e) For purposes of this section, "local educational agency" means county office of education, school district, state special school, or charter school. FISCAL EFFECT: > COMMENTS: SB 359 Page 4 1)Purpose. 2)Mandate for some. The bill requires only governing boards of school districts that do not have a mathematics placement policy as of January 1, 2016 to develop a policy that meets specified requirements of the bill, including implementing a fair, objective and transparent policy. School districts that have already developed policies are not required to modify their policies to meet the criteria of the bill. This could result in the continuance of poor placement policies. The committee may wish to consider whether there is a minimum standard that all math placement policies should meet regardless of when they were developed. SB 359 Page 5 Analysis Prepared by:Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916) 319-2081