BILL NUMBER: SB 405 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Steinberg
FEBRUARY 21, 2007
An act relating to school curriculum.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 405, as introduced, Steinberg. Schools: curriculum:
opportunities for pupils.
Existing law requires school district maintaining any of grades 7
to 12, inclusive, to offer to all otherwise qualified pupils in those
grades a course of study fulfilling the requirements and
prerequisites for admission to the California public institutions of
postsecondary education and to provide a timely opportunity to each
of those pupils to enroll within a 4-year period in each course
necessary to fulfill those requirements and prerequisites prior to
graduation from high school. Each school district maintaining any of
grades 7 to 12, inclusive, also is required to offer to all otherwise
qualified pupils in those grades a course of study that provides an
opportunity for those pupils to attain entry-level employment skills
in business or industry upon graduation from high school, and is
encouraged to provide all pupils with a rigorous academic curriculum
that integrates academic and career skills, incorporates applied
learning in all disciplines, and prepares all pupils for high school
graduation and career entry.
This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation to close the opportunity gap for the pupils of
California, in part, by enabling pupils to have the opportunity to
complete all the courses required for admission to the California
State University or the University of California at their own
schools; ensuring that the career technical education coursework is
sufficiently rigorous to allow meaningful entry into the workforce;
increasing the opportunities for pupils to participate in
comprehensive, multiyear programs that integrate college preparatory
academics and technical study; and ensuring that schools have the
capacity to provide sufficient counseling for pupils and sufficient
numbers of teachers prepared to teach the subjects to which they are
assigned.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of
the following:
(1) The goal of public education for kindergarten and grades 1 to
12, inclusive, is to prepare pupils for productive civic
participation, including sustaining employment, bettering their
communities, and meeting their personal and family needs.
(2) In California today, too many public school pupils are denied
future opportunities because their schools do not offer them
rigorous, relevant coursework--with teachers trained in, and
supported to succeed at, imparting the subjects they teach--that
prepares the pupils for the full range of postsecondary educational
options, including two- and four-year college programs and entering
the workforce.
(3) In addition to higher wages and salaries, data shows that
increased levels of educational attainment and academic achievement
improve the future abilities of pupils to earn a good living and
sustain a career in other ways. They correlate strongly with improved
worker productivity, less unemployment; greater benefits; the
ability to learn new skills and workplace operations more rapidly;
exposure to, and engagement with, computers; and a better ability to
negotiate the labor market.
(4) California public high school graduates, in the aggregate, are
unprepared to meet the demands either of the workforce or of college
entrance. Changes in the labor market suggest that nearly all of the
rapidly growing, well paying jobs and occupations require
postsecondary or continuing education. Moreover, the average worker
in the United States will change his or her occupation four to six
times during his or her lifetime. Therefore, schools must provide
pupils with a broad range of academic and technical skills that
require higher order thinking to ensure their long-term success in
the workplace.
(5) According to the Career Technical Education Initiative of
Governor Schwarzenegger, many high-tech industries, such as
biotechnology, computer manufacturing, and health care, complain
about a shortage of skilled employees in the workforce. That shortage
persists despite the 42 percent of high school pupils who enroll in
career technical education (CTE) courses beyond the introductory
level.
(6) According to State Department of Education data, 55 percent of
California public high schools--serving approximately 900,000
pupils--do not provide a sufficiently rigorous curriculum for pupils
to complete the courses that are minimally required for admission
eligibility to the California State University and the University of
California. In more than one-quarter of the public high schools of
California, more than 20 percent of college preparatory courses are
taught by teachers who are not trained in the subject matter they
teach.
(7) Although most California communities feel the effect of the
educational crisis of the state, all communities do not suffer
equally. According to a recent study entitled "Removing the
Roadblocks: Fair College Opportunities For All California Students,"
published by the University of California All Campus Consortium for
Research Diversity and the UCLA Institute for Democracy, Education
and Access, schools with high concentrations of low-income pupils,
pupils of color, and English language learners report the highest
shortages of college preparatory courses in the state and are more
likely to offer college preparatory courses taught by teachers who
are not properly qualified to teach in the course subject matter.
Seventy percent of schools the enrollment of which is 90 to 100
percent African American and Latino pupils do not offer enough
college preparatory courses for all pupils to be able to take the
courses. These high schools are almost three times as likely as
schools enrolling a majority of caucasian pupils to misassign
significant percentages of teachers teaching college preparatory
courses.
(8) According to a March 2006 poll conducted on behalf of the
James Irvine Foundation by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Inc.,
89 percent of the grade 9 and 10 pupils in California believe that a
school where they could take courses that they need for college, but
also have more opportunity to acquire skills and knowledge relevant
to future careers, would be more interesting to them. In addition, 91
percent of those pupils say they would be more motivated to work
hard and do well if they attended that kind of a school. California
can and should provide that type of schooling to its pupils. Yet,
according to State Department of Education data, in the 2005-06
school year, only 16.5 percent of the total number of CTE courses
taught in California public high schools met the minimum eligibility
requirements for admission to the California State University and the
University of California.
(9) As the Superintendent of Public Instruction explained in a
March 2004 editorial published in the Sacramento Bee, "The job of
K-12 education in California must be to ensure that all our students
graduate with the ability to fulfill their potential--whether that
takes them to higher education or directly to their career.
Unfortunately ... too many of our students are not adequately
prepared for either. By raising our expectations for our students, we
can and will begin to change that."
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to
accomplish all of the following:
(1) Close the opportunity gap for the public school pupils of
California, assuring that immediately and over time pupils have full,
meaningful opportunities to realize their dreams for their futures,
in the workforce as well as in higher education; encourage the high
schools of California to offer pupils multiple pathways to lasting
success in both their future education and their careers.
(2) Provide incentives and sanctions to ensure that every high
school offers a sufficient number of college preparatory courses to
enable every pupil to satisfy college eligibility requirements, in
sequence, at their own school, with adequate counseling to ensure
pupils are advised of the sequence requirements, including before
their grade 9 course schedules are determined.
(3) Increase opportunities for the high school pupils of
California to participate in comprehensive, multiyear programs that
integrate college preparatory academics and technical study,
organized around a major industry or career focus, that prepares them
for further, postsecondary education and a career.
(4) Promote development of curricula including both academic and
CTE courses that integrates the academic and CTE content standards of
the state to produce clusters and sequences of courses that engage
more high school pupils and, through industry related applications,
help them understand the necessity of mastering higher levels of
academic and technical knowledge.
(5) Set a standard according to which CTE coursework is
sufficiently rigorous to allow meaningful entry into the workforce
and, at the same time, allowing every pupil an opportunity to satisfy
the minimum coursework requirements, in sequence and in the school
of each pupil, for admission eligibility to the California State
University and the University of California.
(6) Modify the Middle and High School Supplemental Counseling
Program (Article 4.5 (commencing with Section 52378) of Chapter 9 of
Part 28 of the Education Code) to ensure that districts participating
in the two hundred million dollar ($200,000,000) program provide
counselors who advise pupils regarding course taking options that
integrate career preparation with college eligibility requirements.
(7) Ensure the provision of appropriately trained teachers for all
coursework, including career technical and college eligibility
coursework, and build the capacity of CTE teachers to reinforce and
supplement academic knowledge and skills related to their industry
and the capacity of academic teachers to connect their particular
discipline to industry related applications and problems.
(8) Build the capacity of districts and schools in the state to
achieve the standards for course rigor and offerings, including, but
not limited to, shifting school schedules to more flexible schedules
that allow for greater course taking options and utilizing new and
existing professional development programs.
(9) Provide for external oversight, including public
accountability and school- and pupil-level data, to ensure that
school districts offer rigorous coursework sufficient for workforce
entrance and four-year college eligibility.
(10) Shore up existing data systems to fully provide an
integrated, transparent data system that allows parents and legal
guardians, the community, and policymakers to access useful
information about the provision by schools of courses that prepare
pupils for both career and college, as well as the success of schools
in increasing rates of high school completion and the transition of
pupils to postsecondary education and work.
(11) Provide incentives, and no disincentives, for school
districts to come into greater compliance with the standards of
providing counselors who advise pupils regarding course taking
options that integrate career preparation with college eligibility
requirements, as the districts build capacity to do so.
(12) Build academic relevance by increasing the number of CTE
courses that satisfy requirements for classes that prospective
California State University and University of California pupils are
required to complete while in high school, and by encouraging more
attention to authentic, industry-related applications of the academic
knowledge and skills taught in college-preparatory academic subjects
that pupils are required to complete for high school graduation and
to be eligible for admission to the California State University and
the University of California.
(13) Codify the intent of the framework for educational offerings
in CTE adopted by the State Board of Education in January 2007. This
framework expressly acknowledges that:
"(T)he building blocks for CTE are, in part, the academic knowledge
gained in core courses such as English and mathematics, and success
in CTE is dependent on students' increasing skills and knowledge in
multiple arenas within the academic core. For example, veterinary
medical courses are of little use without a detailed understanding of
biology, accounting courses are founded on mathematical knowledge,
and the family and human services pathway professions all require
high-level communication skills initially fostered in
English-language arts courses. It is essential that CTE courses
integrate, support, and reinforce core academics to ensure that
students have these skills for the CTE foundation."