BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2434
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 21, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
AB 2434 (Hernandez) - As Amended: March 25, 2010
SUBJECT : Advanced placement program
SUMMARY : Requires, commencing with the 2012-2013 school year,
school districts maintaining any of grades 9 to 12, inclusive,
to offer advanced placement (AP) courses in science and
mathematics at each high school that did not offer any AP
courses during the 2011-12 school year and expresses legislative
intent that specified districts consider alternative means of
providing AP courses which may include high quality online
courses. Specifically, this bill :
1)States legislative intent that if an AP teacher is not
available or if fewer than 10 pupils would be enrolled in any
given AP course that school districts consider alternative
means of providing advanced placement courses, which may
include, but are not limited to, high-quality online advanced
placement courses.
2)Defines a high-quality online AP course as a course that meets
all of the following:
a) Is approved by the governing board of the school
district, and is certified through board resolution, to
meet the requirements of this bill;
b) Contains identical subject matter to, and has the same
test schedule as, the classroom-based course;
c) Is offered by a high school, but states that a school
district offering an online course may contract with
another school district to provide the online course also
to pupils of the other school district and states that
contract terms shall be determined by mutual agreement of
the school districts. Prohibits a school district that
provides online advanced placement courses pursuant to a
contract from entering into direct contracts with the
pupils of the other school district; and,
d) Is taught by an instructor who holds the appropriate
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subject matter credential, is accessible to the pupil on a
daily basis to respond to pupil queries, and meets other
specified requirements.
3)Specifies that for purposes of online AP courses the following
requirements shall apply:
a) For each participating school, the ratio of full-time
equivalent certificated teachers to pupils shall be
substantially equivalent for online AP courses and
classroom-based AP courses;
b) Statewide testing results for online AP pupils shall be
reported to the school district in which the pupil is
enrolled for classroom-based courses;
c) The school district shall verify that pupils take
examinations by proctor or that other reliable methods are
used to ensure test integrity;
d) Ensure that the same methods of documentation and
assessment used to record pupil work for classroom-based
courses are used for online courses; and,
e) The school district shall maintain records to verify the
time that pupils and instructors spend online and involved
in course-related activities.
4)Prohibits assigning a pupil to an online AP course unless the
pupil voluntarily elects to participate and requires that
prior to participation, the pupil's parent or guardian
provides written consent.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Encourages, but does not require, students to undertake
challenging coursework in the form of AP courses and other
honors courses.
2)Establishes a program whereby an economically disadvantaged
student enrolled in an AP course may apply to their school
district for a grant to pay a portion of their AP exam fee.
3)Allows any school district to offer high school online
classes, while claiming attendance credit, in a classroom
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setting, through independent study, in a charter school, or to
any pupil who is otherwise attending for the minimum day.
4)Allows any school district to offer online classes to any
pupil, if the district is not claiming attendance credit for
that class time.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : The AP program, sponsored by the College Board, a
private non-profit education agency, is a cooperative
educational effort between secondary schools and colleges and
universities that allows high school pupils to enroll in
college-level courses and take national tests developed by the
College Board in a high school setting. Because AP courses are
introductory college-level courses, most colleges and
universities provide college credit or advanced placement status
to students who score a 3 or better (out of 5) on an AP exam
taken at the end of the course. A pupil may take an exam
without completing the corresponding AP course. Enrolling in an
AP course also adds points to a pupil's grade point average
(GPA) for each AP course taken. According to the College Board
over 90 percent of four-year institutions in the United States
provide college credit, advanced placement or both on the basis
of successful AP exam scores. Access to AP courses is important
if a student wants access to the most competitive schools and
the college credit received may assist students in graduating
early and saving on costly tuition.
This bill requires, commencing with the 2012-13 school year,
school districts to offer AP courses in math and science at each
high school in the district that did not offer any AP courses
during the 2011-12 school year. This bill creates a statewide
mandate for districts to offer AP courses at schools that did
not offer AP courses the year before the provisions of this bill
take effect, but does not allow for any exceptions for districts
that may not have an AP teacher available or for districts that
do not have the demand for a certain course, as suggested in the
bill's legislative intent. The language in the bill is vague as
it merely expresses the Legislature's intent that districts
unable to meet these requirements consider alternatives such as
online courses but does not provide a clear exception for such
districts. Staff recommends an amendment to provide for an
exception for districts that do not have an AP teacher available
or if fewer than 10 pupils would be enrolled in an AP class.
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The author contends, "Access to these programs/courses continues
to be limited because there are no standards or requirements for
schools to satisfy. AB 2434 guarantees all students at least
one AP course in two core subject areas. This standard will
ensure education equality and college opportunity for all
California students."
Equal Access : According to data collected by the College Board,
32.0% of California's graduating class of 2009 took at least one
AP exam during high school as compared to 26.5% for the nation.
Furthermore, 20.8% of California's graduating class of 2009
earned a 3 or higher on one or more AP Exams during high school
as compared to 15.9% for the nation. Additionally, while 40.1%
of California's graduating class of 2009 is comprised of
Hispanic/Latino students, only 31.7% of the successful test
takers were Hispanic/Latino. Similarly, the graduating class of
2009 is comprised of 7.3% African American, yet of the
successful AP test takers, only 2% are African American.
Some progress has been made in providing access to AP courses to
traditionally underserved students but as is clear from the
data, more work needs to be done to expand access to AP courses
and adequate preparation for college-level course work. Data
also shows that there are still many school districts in
California, primarily in rural areas, where student AP
participation rates are very low.
In 1999, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit
arguing that the State's failure to assure "equal and adequate
access" to AP courses further perpetuates educational
inequalities, particularly for students enrolled in lower
income, predominantly African-American and Latino schools. The
ACLU noted that in 1998, for example, the University of
California, Berkeley rejected 8,000 applicants whose grade point
averages (GPAs) were 4.0 or higher, presumably choosing to
accept students with higher GPAs due to their enrollment in AP
courses.
Online Advanced Placement: Some school districts that are
unable to offer AP courses directly in the classroom have been
able to utilize online AP course programs to serve their
students. Universities offer online teaching programs that
include AP courses and there are private companies that
specialize in teaching online AP courses as well. Students
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enrolled in online classes will then take a traditionally
administered AP exam at a physical test site the same way as all
other AP students.
This bill expresses legislative intent that school districts
consider alternative means to offer AP courses if the district
does not have an AP teacher available or if less than 10 pupils
are interested in enrolling in a particular course. The bill
states that alternative means may include high quality online AP
courses and defines "high quality online AP courses" for this
purpose. The definition includes language relative to school
districts offering online AP courses through contract with
another school district. It appears that this language does not
necessarily define "high quality online AP courses" but rather
suggests intent for this to be an option that is considered by
school districts in its efforts to expand access to AP courses.
Staff recommends an amendment to remove the language relative to
districts contracting with other districts from the definition
of high quality online courses and instead express legislative
intent that districts may consider this as an alternative if it
is unable to offer a traditional class at the school, as
provided by this bill.
The definition of high-quality online AP course, includes the
requirement that the instructor be accessible on a daily basis
to respond to pupil queries and specifies that the interaction
with the pupil may be asynchronous in nature. Although the bill
does not require the interaction to be asynchronous, the
language may appear to imply that asynchronous interaction is
preferable to synchronous interaction, when in fact synchronous
interaction may be more appropriate. Staff recommends the bill
be amended to delete language stating that the interaction may
be asynchronous in nature and delete lines 39-40, inclusive on
page 3.
This bill is limited to courses in math and science even though
the top three most popular exams do not include science or math,
and only three of the top ten most popular exams include math or
science.
In 2009, the most popular exams in California included:
1) U.S. History
2) English Language
3) English Literature
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4) Government and Politics
5) Calculus
6) Spanish Language
7) Biology
8) Statistics
9) European History
10) Psychology
The author states that the reason for limiting it to science and
math is to encourage more students to enter math and science
fields in college and the workforce.
Advanced Placement Challenge Grant Program : The Budget Act of
2000-2001 appropriated $16.5 million to support AP expansion at
550 qualifying high schools, prioritized as follows:
1) Schools offering three or fewer AP courses;
2) Schools not offering AP courses in either math or science;
3) Schools with low college participation rates; and,
4) Schools with a majority of pupils who qualify for free or
reduced price meals.
Participating high schools were to provide students with access
to a minimum of four AP courses in core curriculum areas,
including one mathematics, one science, and at least two of the
following subject areas: English, Social Science, Foreign
Language, or Fine Arts. Schools were also to commit to
increasing the number of pupils in each AP course who took the
AP test.
According to data gathered by the College Board, the program was
relatively successful. AP Challenge Grant Schools saw 51.6%
growth in the number of African-American AP exam takers and
60.2% growth in the number of Hispanic AP exam test takers
between the years 2000-2003. Overall, the number of AP exams
taken in those schools increased 50.4% between the years
2000-2003. Expanding such an incentive program, rather than
creating an unfunded mandate- as proposed by this bill- on
schools to offer AP courses, could be an alternative way to
increase access to AP courses.
Additionally, the AP test fee reimbursement program provides
funding for paying AP test fees for eligible students, and thus
removing the financial barrier that often prevents disadvantaged
students from taking the AP test. An eligible student that
qualifies for the reimbursement only pays $5.00 in fees for each
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test taken. The 2009-10 fees for AP tests were $86.00.
Arguments in support: The College Board writes, "The College
Board strongly supports AB 2434 in its intent to expand academic
rigor in California high schools by bringing equity to
California public high school course offerings. This bill
targets high schools with little or no AP (Advanced Placement)
courses and proposes creative solutions for districts without AP
teachers."
Related legislation : AB 2027 (Blumenfield) relaxes the
requirements placed on school districts and county offices of
education (COE) for calculating and funding average daily
attendance (ADA) for pupils enrolled for at least the minimum
day in classes that include both in-classroom and online
classes. AB 2027 is pending in this Committee and is scheduled
to be heard today.
Previous legislation : AB 1238 (Hernandez) of 2009 requires
school districts to offer AP courses in English, history,
foreign language, math and science at each school in a district
maintaining grades 9-12, inclusive. AB 1238 was held in the
Assembly Appropriations Committee suspense file.
AB 837 (Torlakson) of 2009, beginning with the 2010-11 fiscal
year (FY), establishes that a school district or county office
of education (COE) may claim average daily attendance (ADA) on
the basis of a pupil's attendance at a class or classes in the
classroom-based setting on that day, for the purpose of learning
online, if specified provisions apply. AB 837 was held in the
Assembly Appropriations Committee suspense file.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
College Board
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Marisol Avi?a / ED. / (916) 319-2087