BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Gloria Romero, Chair
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 332
AUTHOR: Fuentes
INTRODUCED: February 18, 2009
FISCAL COMM: No HEARING DATE: June 17, 2009
URGENCY: Yes CONSULTANT:Beth Graybill
SUBJECT : Work-Based Learning
SUMMARY
This bill, an urgency measure, authorizes school districts to
provide work-based learning opportunities to pupils through
existing programs such as partnership academies and regional
occupational centers and programs.
BACKGROUND
Existing law provides for various career technical education
(CTE) programs including Regional Occupational Centers and
Programs (ROC/Ps) and California Partnership Academies, for
the purpose of integrating academic and vocational education
and motivating students to stay in school and graduate with
the skills necessary to advance to postsecondary education,
advanced training, or the workforce.
Existing law authorizes the governing board of any school
district maintaining a high school to establish work
experience programs for the purpose of providing students
with instruction in skills, attitudes, and understandings
necessary for employment success, including providing
guidance and supervision, arranging credit for work
experience education courses and authorizing for the district
to purchase liability insurance for students enrolled in
programs of study involving work experience or vocational
education at locations off school grounds.
Existing law provides for school districts that establish
work experience programs to receive apportionments based on
the average daily attendance in those programs and provides
procedures for calculating those apportionments.
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ANALYSIS
This bill , an urgency measure:
1) Authorizes the governing board of any school district
maintaining a high school to provide for the instruction
of pupils in the skills, attitudes and understandings
necessary to succeed in employment by means of courses
of work-based learning.
2) Authorizes the delivery of work-based learning
opportunities by partnership academies and regional
occupational centers/programs.
3) Requires school districts opting to offer work-based
learning opportunities to ensure that when applicable,
pupils are afforded the same statutory and regulatory
safeguards as pupils in work experience programs.
4) Defines work-based learning as an educational approach
or instructional methodology that uses the workplace or
real work to provide students with knowledge and skills
that help them connect school experiences to real life,
and specifies various characteristics of work-based
learning.
5) States findings of the Legislature regarding work-based
learning.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Work experience . Work experience provides paid or
unpaid on-the-job training for high school students
through local employers. Students who participate in
work experience programs may earn credit for working by
completing assignments and submitting timesheets to the
work experience coordinator at their school. A local
education agency that elects to conduct a work
experience program must submit a plan to the California
Department of Education (CDE) for approval that outlines
how work experience will be monitored to "maximize" the
value of the on-the job experience. Work experience may
or may not be tied to a student's career interest or
relate to a student's high school coursework. According
to the CDE, work experience includes:
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a) Vocational work experience that
reinforces and extends vocational learning
opportunities for students through a combination of
related classroom instruction and supervised paid
employment.
b) General work experience that
provides students with opportunities for applying
basic skills through a combination of supervised
employment in any occupational field and related
classroom instruction.
c) Exploratory work experience, to
provide career guidance to students and ascertain
interests and aptitudes for specific careers
through opportunities to observe and sample a
variety of conditions of work.
2) Work-based learning . According to the CDE, work-based
learning may include job shadowing, paid and unpaid
internships and externships, as well as
pre-apprenticeship programs. Training is tied to a
specific career sector and is highly structured and
monitored by teachers credentialed in the career sector
to ensure that a student's training achieves specified
learning objectives. Work-based learning is an integral
component of partnership academies and regional
occupational centers and programs.
3) Work-related programs . AB 332 adds work-based learning
to the
work-related educational programs that local governing
boards may adopt. However under current law, school
districts may already provide work-based learning
opportunities and there are many districts that are
successfully offering pathway programs that integrate
academic courses with career technical education and
work experience. While it does not appear that it is
necessary to authorize partnership academies and
regional occupational centers and programs to provide
work-based learning opportunities, the clarification AB
332 provides may make it easier for districts to use
such experiences as a service delivery model for
educational programs that include work-related
experiences. By defining and specifying the
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characteristics of work-based learning, AB 332 provides
a framework for ensuring that participating students
have meaningful work-related experiences that enhance
and complement their academic coursework.
4) Previous legislation . Except for the urgency clause,
this bill is identical to AB 2078 (Fuentes, 2008), which
was passed by this Committee on a 9-0 vote and vetoed by
Governor Schwarzenegger. The veto message read:
The historic delay in passing the 2008-2009 State Budget has
forced me to prioritize the bills sent to my desk at the
end of the year's legislative session. Given the delay,
I am only signing bills that are the highest priority
for California. This bill does not meet that standard
and I cannot sign it at this time.
5) What's the rush ? According to the author's office, many
school districts would welcome the guidance for
work-based learning clarification provided in AB 332 for
the 2009-10 academic year. If the bill is enacted by
August 2009, districts will be able to incorporate
work-based learning into the Fall 2009 school calendar.
SUPPORT
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce
Los Angeles Unified School District
San Francisco Unified School District
Silicon Valley Leadership Group
Tech America
OPPOSITION
None received.