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 July 16, 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 serving pupils in grades 8 or 9, or both,
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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
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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:
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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
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Analysis Prepared by:Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)
319-2081