BILL ANALYSIS
AB 400
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 18, 2007
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Gene Mullin, Chair
AB 400 (Nunez) - As Amended: April 12, 2007
SUBJECT : Public school accountability
SUMMARY : Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to
incorporate previously specified and additional measures of
performance into the Academic Performance Index (API), using the
best available data and commencing with the 2008-09 fiscal year.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Makes the current requirement that the Superintendent add high
school graduation rates time certain, such that these measures
must be added by the 2008-09 fiscal year.
2)Deletes the requirement that attendance rates be incorporated
into the API.
3)Requires the Superintendent to incorporate the rate at which
pupils are offered and complete a course of study that
fulfills University of California and California State
University admission requirements into the API by the 2008-09
fiscal year.
4)Requires the Superintendent to incorporate the rate at which
pupils are offered and complete a course of study that
provides the skills and knowledge necessary to attain
entry-level employment upon graduation from high school into
the API by the 2008-09 fiscal year; this bill also defines a
measure of this rate.
5)Specifies the weighting of components of the API to be 50
percent on achievement tests and 50 percent on the elements
listed in 1), 3) and 4) above. Elements 3) and 4) above, shall
receive equal weight, and the rate at which pupils meet both
3) and 4) shall be given additional weight.
EXISTING LAW requires the Superintendent to develop the API to
measure the performance of schools, and to include a variety of
indicators in that measure, including, but not limited to,
achievement test results, attendance rates, and graduation
rates; this statute was enacted in 1999. Existing law also
AB 400
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requires school districts to offer to all otherwise qualified
pupils in grades 7-12 a course of study fulfilling the
requirements and prerequisites for admission to California's
public institutions of postsecondary education, and to offer to
those same pupils a course of study that provides an opportunity
to attain entry-level employment skills in business or industry
upon graduation from high school.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Only achievement test results are currently
incorporated into the API.
Arguments in support would suggest that having an API that
focuses solely on achievement test results is too narrow and
does not reflect information about student outcomes (e.g.,
dropout and graduation rates, college readiness, preparation for
the workplace) that is important in measuring the performance of
districts, schools and subgroups. Perversely, increases in
dropouts could easily lead to an increase in test scores and the
API for a given school or district, yet this may not be
reflective of an increase in performance within that school or
district.
Opponents argue that including data on dropouts and availability
of course offerings that fulfill admission requirements to
California's public universities will skew the emphasis of the
API toward high schools, resulting in the focusing of more
resources at that level to the detriment of elementary and
middle schools. Since the legislature can target the use of
resources by grade span as well as by API ranking, this effect,
to the extent that it does exist, could be easily moderated.
Though inclusion of graduation rates in the API is current law,
opponents argue that data on graduation rates are not well
grounded and that it is unclear how the state would collect data
on courses of study fulfilling university admission requirements
or preparing students for the workplace. In fact, this bill only
makes the currently required inclusion of graduation rates time
certain; also information on student course-taking that fulfills
university admission requirements is already measured and
reported annually on every School Accountability Report Card
(SARC). In addition, the bill provides detailed direction on the
measurement of the extent to which schools offer a course of
study that provides the skills and knowledge necessary to attain
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entry-level employment.
With the exception of attendance rates the data elements
currently included in the API, as well as those proposed by this
bill, focus on student, school and district outcomes. Deletion
of attendance rates, as proposed, would eliminate this
exception.
Related legislation : AB 519 (Mendoza) requires the
incorporation into the API of data regarding the availability in
high schools of a course of study that fulfills University of
California and California State University admission
requirements, and the submission of a plan for incorporating
dropout data into the API.
Previous legislation: AB 2167 (Arambula), Chapter 743, Statutes
of 2006, establishes a specific methodology for including
graduation rates, as previously required, in the API; also
requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to
report annually to the Legislature on graduation and dropout
rates in the state.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Alliance for Arts Education
California Business Education Association
California Manufacturers and Technology Association
Opposition
California Federation of Teachers
Analysis Prepared by : Gerald Shelton / ED. / (916) 319-2087