BILL ANALYSIS
AB 70
Page A
Date of Hearing: March 18, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
AB 70 (Duvall) - As Introduced: December 12, 2008
SUBJECT : English learners
SUMMARY : Requires the California Department of Education (CDE),
as part of its duties in administering the English language
development test, to gather from each school district that has
at least one English learner (EL) the criteria that the district
uses for the reclassification of a pupil from EL to proficient
in English. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires CDE to summarize and report the information on its
Internet Web site in a manner that is easily accessible to the
public.
2)Specifies that for purposes of this bill "school district"
includes a county office of education and a charter school.
EXISTING LAW
1)Requires the CDE, with the approval of the State Board of
Education (SBE) to establish procedures for conducting English
language proficiency assessments and for the reclassification
of a pupil from EL to proficient in English.
2)Requires the reclassification procedures developed by CDE to
utilize multiple criteria in determining whether to reclassify
a pupil as proficient in English, and to include, but not be
limited to, the following:
a) Assessment of language proficiency;
b) Teacher evaluation, including but not limited to, a
review of the pupil's curriculum mastery;
c) Parental opinion and consultation; and
d) Comparison of the pupil's performance in basic skills
that demonstrates whether the pupil is sufficiently
proficient in English to participate effectively in a
curriculum designed for native English speaking pupils of
the same age.
FISCAL EFFECT : On an identical measure, the Senate
AB 70
Page B
Appropriations Committee estimated the total state costs would
range from $50,000 to $100,000, annually. This is assuming each
local education agency needed one to two hours of staff time to
provide the information. Additionally, CDE would incur
approximately $25,000 in annual costs to collect and post the
information.
COMMENTS : The reclassification of ELs to fluent English
proficient is a process that varies widely across districts in
the state. While the SBE has adopted minimum guidelines for
districts to use in the reclassification of English learners,
ultimately each district sets out its own cut scores and
reclassification requirements based on the following minimum
criteria as adopted by the SBE:
1)Student scores at the early advanced or advanced level on the
California English Language Development Test (CELDT).
2)Student scores between basic and midpoint of basic on the
California English Language Arts (ELA) Standards Test, but it
is up to each district to set an exact cut point.
3)Students meet the academic performance indicators set by the
school district as determined by the teacher evaluation.
4)Parent is notified of his or her right and encouraged to
participate in the reclassification process. An opportunity
for a face-to-face meeting could be provided.
All districts use the CELDT and the ELA California Standards
Test in determining reclassification, but districts vary in the
performance levels they set on these assessments and they may
also consider other local criteria.
In determining when the appropriate time is to reclassify ELs,
two issues emerge. One is the potentially premature
reclassification of ELs which could result in the loss of
instructional services and supports and this could eventually
lead to greater risk of educational failure. The second issue
is the possibility of holding ELs back from reclassification
longer than necessary.
The report, Effects of the Implementation of Proposition 227 on
the Education of English Learners, K-12 studied the
reclassification policies and practices of nine school districts
AB 70
Page C
in California to identify how local and state policies and
practices contribute to different EL reclassification outcomes.
The report identified several concerns about the current
reclassification policy and practices in California and noted
that current state guidelines on reclassification criteria and
cut-scores generate confusion and ambiguity about the meaning of
reclassification.
The report notes that there are various perceptions in the field
regarding the significance of reclassification. Some districts
view it as ELs reaching "minimum competency" to participate in
mainstream classrooms with no further specialized services. For
other districts, reclassification means that there is
comparability between ELs and native English speakers academic
performance in the district. In other instances it is viewed as
ELs having recouped the "academic deficits" that ELs incur while
developing English language skills. Lastly, some believe that
reclassification demonstrates English learners' ability to meet
grade-level standards and be academically successful.
In consideration of these issues, the report points out,
"Virtually all of our sample districts expressed support for
establishing consistent cut scores statewide on California's two
common criteria. At the same time, these educators also
expressed concern that the state may set these criteria too low,
or decide to eliminate the use of local assessments, which
districts highly value as a source of 'multiple measures' to
increase confidence in their decisions to redesignate."
This bill seeks to implement a recommendation made in the report
entitled, Resource Needs for English Learners: Getting Down to
Policy Recommendations, which requires each district to report
reclassification criteria to the state and to make this
information available online. The report notes that this
information could be helpful to educators and policy makers in
making determinations about optimal reclassification criteria
and policies<1>.
---------------------------
<1> G?ndara, Patricia, Julie Maxwell-Jolly, Russell Rumberger.
Resource Needs for English Learners: Getting Down to Policy
Recommendations. University of California, Linguistic Minority
Research Institute Education Policy Center, 2008.
AB 70
Page D
In consideration of the diversity of California's 1,553,091
English learners, there may not be one set of reclassification
criteria that is optimal for all ELs but the access and
transparency to district policies can be valuable and helpful
information for the public particularly for parents and
researchers.
According to CDE, this information is not currently collected
from districts. Moreover, this bill does not require districts
to submit the information to the CDE, hence there is essentially
no enforcement mechanism in this bill for districts to comply
and submit the reclassification information to CDE. As a
result, this may compromise the quality of information that the
CDE reports and posts on its Internet Web site.
According to information provided by the author's office, AB 70
was introduced "in an effort to ensure that funding is getting
to the children that need it the most." While this bill in its
current form does not make any changes to the funding
allocations for ELs, the bill introduced last year by the same
author and which was later amended to include the current
provisions of this bill, did propose to make reductions to ELs
based on scores on the English language development test.
Author's staff has clarified that the intent of the bill is
neither to change the way ELs are funded nor to attempt to set
statewide reclassification criteria for ELs. Author's staff
further notes that the purpose of the bill is simply to provide
transparency and access to information on the criteria districts
use to reclassify ELs.
Since the purpose of the bill is to provide transparency to
parents and educators on reclassification criteria, the author
may wish to consider whether it may be useful to have the
information available at the local level and require that this
information also be posted on school districts' Internet Web
sites and provided to parents of ELs at time of enrollment.
Prior legislation : An identical measure, AB 2822 (Duvall) of
2008, requires the California Department of Education (CDE), as
part of its duties in administering the English language
development test, to gather from each school district that has
at least one English learner (EL) the criteria that the district
uses for the reclassification of a pupil from EL to proficient
in English. AB 2822 was held in the Senate Appropriations
Committee.
AB 70
Page E
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Public Advocates (Sponsor)
California State PTA
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Marisol Avi?a / ED. / (916) 319-2087