BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    






                          SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
                               Gloria Romero, Chair
                            2009-2010 Regular Session
                                         

          BILL NO:       AB 2178
          AUTHOR:        Torlakson
          AMENDED:       May 28, 2010
          FISCAL COMM:   Yes            HEARING DATE:  June 30, 2010
          URGENCY:       No             CONSULTANT:Lynn Lorber

           SUBJECT  :   After School Data

           KEY POLICY ISSUES   

          Should schools be authorized to share certain pupil data with  
          an after school program with which that school contracts?  

          Should the California Department of Education be required to  
          keep data in a format that is compatible with CalPADS in the  
          event that after school data will be included in CalPADS in  
          the future?

           SUMMARY   

          This bill authorizes the sharing of pupil data between  
          schools and After School Education and Safety programs with  
          which that school contracts, and requires the California  
          Department of Education to collect and maintain after school  
          program data that readily links to the California  
          Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CalPADS).

           BACKGROUND  

          Current law:

          1)   Requires the After School Education and Safety (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 fine arts, career technical  
               education, recreation, physical fitness, and prevention  
               activities. (Education Code  8482.3) 

          2)   Requires ASES program providers to submit annual  
               outcome-based data for evaluation, including  




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               research-based indicators and measurable pupil outcomes  
               for academic performance, attendance, and positive  
               behavioral changes.  The California Department of  
               Education (CDE) may consider these outcomes when  
               determining eligibility for grant renewal.  The CDE is  
               required 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.  (EC  8484)



          The federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)  
          protects the privacy of pupil records.  The FERPA  
          specifically allows schools to disclose pupil records,  
          without parental consent, to contractors, consultants,  
          volunteers, and other outside parties to whom an educational  
          agency or institution has outsourced institutional services  
          or functions.  (Code of Federal Regulations, Title 34,   
          99.31)

           ANALYSIS  

           This bill  authorizes the sharing of pupil data between  
          schools and After School Education and Safety programs with  
          which that school contracts, and requires the California  
          Department of Education to collect and maintain after school  
          program data that readily links to the California  
          Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System.  Specifically,  
          this bill:

          1)   Authorizes ASES grantees that are local education  
               agencies (schools that contract with CDE to administer  
               after school programs) to submit the following pupil  
               data, to the extent consistent with federal and state  
               privacy laws, to an operator of an after school program  
               with which the school has a contract.  

               a)        Schoolday attendance data.

               b)        Standardized Testing and Reporting test  
                    scores, and scores on individual California  
                    Standards Tests.

               c)        High school exit exam scores.





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               d)        English language development test placement or  
                    reclassification scores.

               e)        California Healthy Kids Survey result data.  

          2)   Requires:

               a)        The California Department of Education (CDE)  
                    to collect and maintain existing after school  
                    program data in a way that allows for the analysis  
                    of all After School Education and Safety (ASES)  
                    programs and the aggregation of state reports.

               b)        This data to readily link to the California  
                    Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System  
                    (CalPADS).  

               c)        The CDE to consult with the evaluation  
                    committee of the Advisory Committee on Before and  
                    After School Programs and the CalPADS advisory  
                    board.


           STAFF COMMENTS  

           1)   Need for the bill  .  According to the author, "Some after  
               school providers have difficulty obtaining student  
               academic performance data.  California After School  
               Network polled after school providers in February 2010  
               regarding their data sharing experience with school  
               districts.  The survey concluded that an overwhelmingly  
               high number of districts do not share data with after  
               school providers.  One of the primary concerns cited in  
               the report was student privacy.  AB 2178 addresses the  
               student privacy concerns by conforming to FERPA."

           2)   What will CDE have to do differently with data  ?   
               California has assigned a unique student identifier to  
               each pupil and therefore, collecting and maintaining  
               after school data in a format that readily links to  
               CalPADS should not be burdensome for CDE.

           3)   Fiscal impact  .  According to the Assembly Appropriations  
               Committee, this bill would impose minor, absorbable  
               General Fund administrative costs to the CDE.





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           SUPPORT
           
          Aspiranet
          California Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs
          California Association for Health, Physical Education,  
          Recreation and Dance 
          Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
          League of California Afterschool Providers

           OPPOSITION
           
          None received.