BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2086
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 20, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Marty Block, Chair
AB 2086 (Coto) - As Amended: April 7, 2010
SUBJECT : Public postsecondary education: federal assistance:
publication of professional licensure examination passage rates.
SUMMARY : Would require each institution of higher education
that participates in the Cal-Grant Program to annually publish
license examination passage rates from graduates of programs
leading to employment for which passage of a licensing
examination is required, if the data is available from the
licensing agency; and establishes that "publish" may exclusively
include placement of an internet address linking to the data on
applications for enrollment or other program information
distributed to students.
EXISTING LAW provides that, for qualification in the Cal-Grant
Program, an institution must be one of the following:
1)A California private or independent postsecondary educational
institution that participates in the Pell Grant program and at
least two of the following:
a) Federal Work-Study.
b) Perkins Loan Program.
c) Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant Program.
2)A nonprofit institution headquartered and operating in
California that:
a) Certifies to the California Student Aid Commission
(CSAC) that 10% of the institution's operating budget is
expended for institutionally funded student financial aid;
b) Is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and
Colleges or is regionally accredited and was deemed
qualified by CSAC for the 2000-01 academic year; and
c) Meets any other state-required criteria adopted by
regulation by CSAC in consultation with the Department of
AB 2086
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Finance.
3)A California public postsecondary educational institution.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Purpose of this bill : According to the author,
students, parents, taxpayers, policymakers, and employers should
know if the higher education institutions and programs they
attend, support, and/or finance are effective in terms of
student learning and imparting the skills necessary to be
successful in the workplace. This bill ensures that one measure
of the effectiveness of postsecondary programs, the passage
rates for professional licensure examinations, is made publicly
available by the institutions.
Current reporting requirements and data collection :
1)Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) : The
Federal Higher Education Act requires institutions that
participate in Federal Title IV student aid programs to report
to IPEDS data on enrollments, program completions, graduation
rates, faculty and staff, finances, institutional prices, and
student financial aid. The data is made available to students
and parents through the College Navigator college search Web
site and to researchers and others through the IPEDS Data
Center.
2)California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC) : CPEC
collects a variety of data about higher education in
California. CPEC receives data from the California Department
of Education, which provides K-12 student data; IPEDS, which
provides comparative data for public and private postsecondary
institutions that participate in federal financial aid
programs; the state's public higher education systems, which
provide unitary enrollment and completion data; and other
sources. The data are then made available to the public on
CPEC's Web site.
3)Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education (BPPE) : Pursuant
to AB 48 (Portantino), Chapter 310, Statutes of 2009, all
private postsecondary institutions covered by the Private
Postsecondary Education Act of 2009 are required to provide
prospective students, on a School Performance Fact Sheet and
to the BPPE in an annual report, completion rates, placement
AB 2086
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rates, license examination passage rates, and salary and wage
information. BPPE is required to make the information
publicly available on its web site by June 30, 2010.
Licensing entities that publish data : This bill provides that
the data disclosure requirement is contingent upon the licensing
entity publishing that data. It is unclear the degree to which
this requirement would ensure data is made available to students
and the public, as it does not appear that many licensing
entities currently disclose licensure examination passage rates
based on school of graduation. Committee staff is aware,
however, that the Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) publishes a
table, categorizes by academic year and school of graduation, of
the results of graduates who have taken the NCLEX examination.
Oversight and enforcement : Under existing law, CSAC verifies
institutional eligibility for the Cal Grant Program.
Institutions that participate in Federal Title IV financial aid
programs are required to provide evidence of participation.
Institutions that do not participate in Title IV but meet the
outlined requirements for Cal Grant Program participation are
required to complete various questionnaires designed to verify
eligibility. Implicit in this bill is that CSAC would verify
schools are making the required data disclosure. The author and
committee should consider if CSAC currently has the resources
and expertise to identify programs that lead to licensure,
identify the licensing entities that collect and report
examination passage data, and verify that institutions are
making the required data disclosure. Committee staff recommends
the bill be amended to provide that institutions self-certify
compliance with the data disclosure requirement to CSAC.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Ed Voice (sponsor)
Opposition
None on File
Analysis Prepared by : Laura Metune / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960