BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2178
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Date of Hearing: April 7, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
AB 2178 (Torlakson) - As Introduced: February 18, 2010
SUBJECT : After School Education and Safety Program
SUMMARY : Establishes procedures for sharing and reporting data
on pupils participating in the After School Education and Safety
(ASES) program. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires the California Department of Education's (CDE)
development of standardized procedures and tools to collect
annual outcome-based data for evaluation of pupils
participating in after school programs funded by the ASES
program to be consistent with the following:
a) The California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data
System (CALPADS) reporting procedures; and,
b) Program development.
2)Requires the CDE to consult with the CALPADS advisory board in
the development of the standardized procedures and tools.
3)Authorizes local educational agency (LEA) grantees funded by
the ASES program to, to the extent consistent with federal and
state privacy laws, submit the following pupil data to each
operator of an after school program:
a) School day attendance data;
b) Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program test
scores, and scores on individual California Standards
tests;
c) High school exit examination scores;
d) English language development test placement or
reclassification scores; and,
e) California Healthy Kids Survey result data.
EXISTING LAW :
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1)Establishes the ASES program through the 2002 voter approved
initiative, Proposition 49, which funds the establishment of
local after school education and enrichment programs, which
are created through partnerships between schools and local
community resources to provide literacy, academic enrichment
and safe constructive alternatives for students in
kindergarten through ninth grade. (EC 8482-8484.6)
2)Requires the ASES program to have an educational and literacy
element in which tutoring or homework assistance is provided
in specified content areas and an educational enrichment
element that may include, but is not limited to, fine arts,
career technical education, recreation, physical fitness, and
prevention activities. (EC 8482.3)
3)Requires ASES program providers to submit annual outcome-based
data for evaluation, including research-based indicators and
measurable pupil outcomes for academic performance,
attendance, and positive behavioral changes. Provides that
the CDE may consider these outcomes when determining
eligibility for grant renewal. Requires the CDE to develop
standardized procedures and tools to collect the indicators
and to consult with the evaluation committee of the Advisory
Committee on Before and After School Programs (Advisory
Committee). (EC 8484)
4)Authorizes the CALPADS and requires the CDE to contract for
the development of a system that will provide for the
retention and analysis of longitudinal kindergarten through
grade 12 pupil achievement data on STAR assessments, high
school exit examination, and English language development
assessments. (EC 60900)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : ASES program. The ASES program, passed by voters as
Proposition 49 in 2002, provides almost $550 million for before
and after school programs for 400,000 students in kindergarten
through grade 9. In 2009-10, 371 grants were awarded
predominantly to districts and county offices of education, with
some grants going to local governments and nonprofit
organizations working in partnership with LEAs. After school
programs must commence right after school and at least until 6
p.m. for 15 hours per week. There are two program requirements
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as follows:
1)An educational and literacy component in which tutoring and
homework assistance is provided to help students meet state
standards in one or more of the following core academic
subjects: reading/language arts, math, history and social
studies, or science.
2)An educational enrichment component that reinforce and
complement the school's academic program and may include, but
is not limited to, positive youth development strategies,
recreation and prevention strategies. Such activities may
include but is not limited to visual and performing arts,
music, career technical education, recreation, physical
fitness and prevention activities, and other youth development
activities based on student needs and interests.
ASES program providers are required to submit annual outcome
data for pupil and program evaluation. Existing law authorizes
the CDE to consider the outcomes in determining whether to renew
a grant. Existing law specifies that to demonstrate program
effectiveness, grantees must submit schoolday and program
attendance. To demonstrate program effectiveness based upon
individual program focus, one or more of the following measures
must be submitted annually:
1)Positive behavioral changes, as reported by schoolday teachers
or after school staff;
2)STAR test scores;
3)Homework completion rates as reported by schoolday teachers or
after school staff;
4)Skill development as reported by schoolday teachers or after
school staff; and,
5)Any additional measures developed by the CDE, in consultation
with the Advisory Committee.
Existing law requires the CDE to develop standardized procedures
and tools for collecting the data, in consultation with the
Advisory Committee. According to the CDE, researchers at the
University of California (UC), Davis and Irvine campuses have
developed tools for measuring behavioral changes and skill
development, and are currently in the process of field testing
the tools.
This bill requires the standardized procedures and tools to be
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consistent with the CALPADS reporting procedures, and consistent
with program development. The bill also requires the CDE to
consult with the CALPADS advisory board in developing the
procedures and tools. CALPADS is intended to collect student
level data on demographics, program participation, and course
completion, and eventually replace a number of the CDE's current
aggregate collections, including the California Basic
Educational Data System (CBEDS) collections, the Language
Census, Student National Origin Report, and portions of the
Consolidated Application. The CALPADS advisory board is
comprised of representatives from the state board of education,
the Secretary for Education, the Department of Finance, the
State Privacy Ombudsman, the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO),
representatives of parent groups, school districts, and local
educational agencies, and education researchers and is charged
with establishing privacy and access protocols, provide general
guidance and make recommendations. According to the author, CDE
may decide to collect information from after school providers;
this bill will ensure that after school providers have data
collection practices that are compatible with CALPADS if CDE
chooses to collect the information in the future. A key
component of CALPADS is the use of statewide student
identifiers, which LEAs are already required to use in its ASES
annual report to the CDE. The CDE indicates that this bill may
ensure that the tools being developed by the UC Davis and Irvine
researchers are consistent with CALPADS procedures.
This bill also authorizes, to the extent consistent with federal
and state privacy laws, LEAs that receive ASES program funds to
submit specified pupil data to each operator of an after school
program, including schoolday attendance data, STAR test scores,
scores on individual California Standards tests, high school
exit examination scores, California English language development
test (CELDT) placement or reclassification scores, and
California Healthy Kids Survey result data. According to the
author, some after school providers have difficulty obtaining
student academic performance data. Access to pupil-specific
information would better align schoolday instruction with
afterschool programs and enable providers to better identify
needs of students. Data sharing would, for example, enable after
school providers to better serve English Learner (EL) students.
The author further states, "If an after school provider is
serving an EL student and the provider had access to the student
CELDT score, the provider could give the student targeted
academic assistance."
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The California Association for Health, Physical Education,
Recreation and Dance states in its letter of support, "Program
data is critically important for after school providers to
validate the outcomes they achieve with participants in their
programs. Providers also need this data for program improvement
purposes. It is currently extremely difficult and often costly
for after school providers to acquire the necessary data to
fulfill funding requirements and guide decisions regarding
improving program quality."
According to information provided by the author's office, a
survey conducted by the Alliance for a Better Community shows
that larger after school program providers that have existing
collaborative relationships with LEAs are more likely to receive
information from LEAs. LEAs may be reluctant to share
information due to student and family privacy concerns and/or
lack of resources and capacity to provide the data. According
to the LAO, federal regulations authorize disclosure of
education records without the consent of the student or
guardians to contractors, consultants, volunteers and other
outside parties to whom an educational agency has outsourced
institutional services or functions.
Committee amendments. Staff recommends the following
amendments:
1)Clarify that pupil data to be provided by a LEA authorized in
Section 2 of the bill is shared only with operators that have
contracts with the LEA.
2)Correct a drafting error by striking the requirement that the
standardized procedures and tools must be developed consistent
with "program development" on page 3, line 35.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
After School All-Stars Los Angeles
California Association for Health, Physical Education,
Recreation and Dance
Children Now
Lake County Office of Education
LA's BEST
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League of California Afterschool Providers
Partnership for Children and Youth
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087