BILL ANALYSIS
------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1435|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1435
Author: V. Manuel Perez (D), et al
Amended: 4/29/09 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 8-0, 07/15/09
AYES: Romero, Huff, Alquist, Hancock, Liu, Padilla,
Simitian, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Maldonado
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 13-0, 8/27/09
AYES: Kehoe, Cox, Corbett, Denham, Hancock, Leno, Oropeza,
Price, Runner, Walters, Wolk, Wyland, Yee
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 79-0, 6/1/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Public school accountability
SOURCE : Association of California School Administrators
DIGEST : This bill requires the advisory committee,
advising the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) on
matters related to the Academic Performance Index (API), to
make recommendations to the SPI by July 1, 2010, regarding
the inclusion of English language development test results
and English learner (EL) proficiency as part of the API;
also requires the SPI, with the approval of the State Board
of Education, to include these test results and EL
proficiency levels and growth in the API.
CONTINUED
AB 1435
Page
2
ANALYSIS :
Existing law
1. Requires the SPI, with the approval of the State Board
of Education (SBE), to develop and implement the API to
measure the performance of schools, and to include a
variety of indicators, including achievement test
results, attendance rates, and graduation rates in that
measure.
2. Requires the SPI to establish an advisory committee to
provide advice on all appropriate matters relative to
the creation of the API, and directs the advisory
committee by July 1, 2005, to make recommendations to
the SPI on the appropriateness and feasibility of a
methodology for generating a measurement of academic
performance by using unique pupil identifiers and annual
academic achievement growth to provide a more accurate
measure of a school's growth over time.
3. Establishes the Standardized Testing and Reporting
(STAR) Program to test academic skills in grades 2-11,
and to report individual and aggregate results.
4. Requires, under both state and federal law, that school
districts administer a test of English language
proficiency, adopted for the state, to each newly
enrolled student in the state's public schools, if the
primary language of those students is other than
English; also requires an annual re-administration of
that test to all EL students; also establishes the
English language development test to assess English
language proficiency by testing listening and speaking
for EL students in grades K-1, and listening, speaking,
reading and writing for EL students in grades 2-12; the
California English Language Development Test (CELDT) is
the test adopted to meet the state and federal
requirements specified above.
Background
The SPI established, pursuant to SB 1 X1 (Alpert), Chapter
3, Statutes of 1999-2000 First Extraordinary Session, an
AB 1435
Page
3
advisory committee to advise the SPI and the SBE on all
appropriate matters relative to the creation of the API.
SB 1 X1 also requires the SPI, with the approval of the
SBE, 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. Currently
only achievement test results are incorporated into the
API, and the API is configured to produce scores measuring
a school's static performance at each grade level, in each
content area, in each year, at one point in time. In
addition, the SPI produces a comparison of static (API)
performance from one year to the next.
According to the author, "AB 1435 would create a process
and mechanism by which to include the CELDT result in the
API; providing English learners and their parents,
teachers, schools and school districts a real opportunity
to demonstrate achievements in English language acquisition
and proficiency." The CDE reports that nearly 25 percent
or 1.6 million of the state's public school pupils in
grades K-12 are EL students.
Current law requires schools to assess the English
proficiency of all pupils whose primary language is not
English. The CELDT is the required state test for English
language proficiency; the CELDT must be administered to
pupils whose primary language is not English. The CELDT is
used for three purposes: (1) to identify new students who
are English learners in kindergarten through grade twelve;
(2) to determine the level of English-language proficiency;
and (3) to annually assess EL students' progress in
learning English until they are reclassified. English
learners in grades 2-12 are administered the CELDT in the
four domains of speaking, listening, reading and writing.
English learners in grades K - 1 are currently assessed in
English listening and speaking; there are plans to also
assess early literacy skills in the near future.
SB 1 X1 (Alpert), Chapter 3, Statutes of 1999-2000 First
Extraordinary Session, established the states
accountability system by mandating that the SPI, with the
approval of the SBE "develop an Academic Performance Index,
to be used to measure performance of schools?" According
AB 1435
Page
4
to the author, "our public schools are working hard to
ensure that our 1.5 million English learners statewide
receive the appropriate assessments, tools, resources and
services to achieve English language proficiency; thereby
allowing them to participate fully in the American Dream of
economic and social advancement." To the extent that
public schools are working to provide English language
skills to EL students and this work fits into the purpose
of a public school in California, then the performance of
those schools, as reflected in the API, should in part be
measured by how well those English skills are acquired.
English language acquisition in California is measured by
the CELDT.
Related and previous legislation: This bill is one of four
bills that propose changes to the state's accountability
system, specifically to the API measure, and that have been
introduced in the Assembly in 2009. Those four bills are
AB 173 (Price), AB 429 (Brownley), AB 1130 (Solorio), and
AB 1435 (V. Manuel Perez). AB 2776 (Mullin), held in the
Senate Appropriations Committee in 2008, will have required
examination of the collection of individual student data,
the state's emerging data systems, the possibility of
making real comparisons of student performance over time,
and the long-term availability of assessment data related
to the acquisition of English language by English learners
with respect to making potential improvements in the API.
SB 219 (Steinberg), Chapter 731, Statutes of 2007, made
changes in the calculation of and in the process for
revising the API. AB 2167 (Arambula), Chapter 743,
Statutes of 2006, established a specific methodology for
including graduation rates, as previously required, in the
API; also required the SPI to report annually to the
Legislature on graduation and dropout rates in the state.
SB 1 X1 (Alpert), Chapter 3, Statutes of 1999-2000 First
Extraordinary Session, known as the Public Schools
Accountability Act (PSAA), authorized the state's current
accountability program, including establishment of the PSAA
Advisory Committee and development of the API. AB 748
(Escutia), Chapter 936, Statutes of 1997, required the SPI
to develop an English language development test by January
1, 1999.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
AB 1435
Page
5
Local: No
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, General
Fund Proposition 98 costs of approximately $200,000 to the
California Department of Education (CDE) to include the
CELDT results in the API.
SUPPORT : (Verified 9/1/09) (per Senate Education
Committee analysis)
Association of California School Administrators (source)
Californians Together
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Blumenfield,
Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon,
DeVore, Duvall, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher,
Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani,
Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi,
Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight,
Krekorian, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza,
Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, John A.
Perez, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas,
Saldana, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra
Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran,
Villines, Yamada, Bass
NO VOTE RECORDED: Block
DLW:do 9/1/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****