BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 359|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 359
Author: Mitchell (D) et al
Amended: 8/28/15
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 8-0, 4/15/15
AYES: Liu, Huff, Block, Hancock, Leyva, Mendoza, Pan, Vidak
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 5/28/15
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza, Nielsen
SENATE FLOOR: 40-0, 6/4/15
AYES: Allen, Anderson, Bates, Beall, Berryhill, Block,
Cannella, De León, Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Glazer, Hall,
Hancock, Hernandez, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson,
Lara, Leno, Leyva, Liu, McGuire, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning,
Moorlach, Morrell, Nguyen, Nielsen, Pan, Pavley, Roth, Runner,
Stone, Vidak, Wieckowski, Wolk
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 9/3/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: California Mathematics Placement Act of 2015
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill requires each local educational agency (LEA)
that serves students entering grade 9 to develop and adopt a
fair, objective, and transparent mathematics placement policy
for students entering grade 9.
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Assembly Amendments clarify that mathematics placement policies
are to affect students entering grade 9; require mathematics
placement policies to be adopted before the beginning of the
2016-17 school year; modify what constitutes objective academic
measures of student performance; specify that the placement
checkpoint is to occur within the first month of the school
year; modify the examination of student placement data and
clarify that the examination is of aggregate data; delete the
authority for the report of aggregate results to be include as
part of the LEA's accountability report of its local control and
accountability plan; and adds the authority for governing boards
or bodies of LEAs serving students who are transitioning between
elementary and middle school or elementary and junior high
school to develop and implement a mathematics placement policy.
ANALYSIS:
Existing 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)
This bill:
1)Establishes the California Mathematics Placement Act.
2)Requires, before the beginning of the 2016-17 school year, the
governing board or body of each LEA that serve students
entering grade 9 to develop and adopt a fair, objective, and
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transparent mathematics placement policy for students entering
grade 9 that does all of the following:
a) Systematically takes into consideration multiple
objective academic measures of student performance, as
defined (see #8).
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 student placement data
annually to ensure students who are qualified to progress
in mathematics courses based on their performance on
objective academic measures are not held back in a
disproportionate manner on the basis of their race,
ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic background.
d) Requires the LEA to report the aggregate results of this
examination to the LEA's governing board and post the
examination results on the LEA's website.
e) Offers clear and timely recourse for each student and
his or her parent who questions the student's placement.
f) For non-unified school districts, addresses the
consistency of mathematics placement policies between
elementary and high school districts.
3)Authorizes governing boards or bodies of LEAs serving students
who are transitioning between elementary and middle school or
elementary and junior high school to develop and implement a
mathematics placement policy for these students.
4)Requires the governing boards of each LEA to adopt the
mathematics placement policy in a regularly scheduled public
meeting.
5)Requires each LEA to ensure that its mathematics placement
policy is posted on the LEA's website.
6)Clarifies that this bill applies only to LEAs that do not have
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a mathematics placement policy as described by this bill as of
January 1, 2016.
7)Defines "local educational agency" as a county office of
education, school district, state special school, or charter
school.
8)Defines "objective academic measures" to mean 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.
9)States legislative findings and declarations relative to
mathematics misplacement.
Background
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/aug2013apxacoursep
lace.pdf]
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, this bill
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would impose unknown Proposition 98/General Fund 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, county offices of
education, 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.
SUPPORT: (Verified9/3/15)
None received
OPPOSITION: (Verified9/3/15)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 9/03/15
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang,
Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle,
Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina
Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez,
Gordon, Gray, Grove, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin,
Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low,
Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin,
Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk,
Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth,
Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk,
Williams, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hadley, Perea, Wood
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Prepared by:Lynn Lorber / ED. / (916) 651-4105
9/3/15 17:34:56
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