BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2592
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 21, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
AB 2592 (Buchanan) - As Amended: April 8, 2010
SUBJECT : Early Learning Quality Improvement System
SUMMARY : Requires the California Department of Education (CDE)
to develop and implement an early learning quality rating scale.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Makes declarations and findings that includes the following:
a) High-quality early learning programs significantly
narrow the achievement gap for low-income children, reduce
the high school dropout rate, and produce savings from
lower costs in special education, welfare, recidivism or
prisons, or both, and crime; and,
b) Actions on the state and federal levels to promote and
improve quality of early learning settings include the
establishment of the Early Learning Quality Improvement
System (ELQIS) Advisory Committee and President Barack
Obama's proposal to provide $9 billion for the Early
Learning Challenge Fund.
2)Expresses the intent of the Legislature that the development
of the ELQIS provide a quality rating scale with program
indicators that promote high-quality early care and education
and future academic success.
3)Specifies that for purposes of this bill, "early care and
education providers" and "early care and education facilities"
mean early care and education providers or facilities that are
regulated pursuant to Title 5 or Title 22 of the California
Code of Regulations.
4)Requires the CDE to develop and implement a quality rating
scale based on the recommendations submitted by the ELQIS
Advisory Committee. Requires the quality rating scale to do
the following:
a) Measure the quality of services of an early care and
education provider;
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b) Measure elements of quality of an early care and
education facility that include, but are not limited to,
the following:
i) Quality of the learning environment;
ii) Quality of adult-child interactions;
iii) Adult-to-child ratios;
iv) Provider's education and professional
qualifications, including those recognized by the
Commission on Teacher Credentialing; and,
v) Parent and family involvement.
c) Inform parents and other consumers of early care and
education services about the quality of a facility in a
simple and easy to understand manner.
5)Requires the State Advisory Council on Early Childhood
Education and Care (State Advisory Council) to conduct an
annual review of the program and provide ongoing
recommendations for the improvement of the quality rating
scale.
6)Requires the CDE to develop and implement any rules and
regulations necessary for the implementation of the provisions
of this bill.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the ELQIS Advisory Committee comprised of 13
members, including the Superintendent of Public Instruction or
his or her designee, the Secretary for Education or his or her
designee, the Speaker of the Assembly or his or her designee,
the Director of Finance or his or her designee, the Director
of Social Services or his or her designee, two representatives
appointed by the Governor, the chairperson of the California
Children and Families Commission or his or her designee, two
representatives from the early care and education community
appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules, and a kindergarten
teacher and a representative from the early care and education
community who has experience with English learners appointed
by the Speaker of the Assembly. (Education Code (EC) 8300)
2)Requires the ELQIS Advisory Committee to develop the policy
and implementation plan for an ELQIS for the state and to
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submit an interim report by December 31, 2009 and a final
report by December 31, 2010 to the Governor and the
Legislature. Requires the report to address, but need not be
limited to, four specified elements of a quality improvement
system. (EC 8301)
3)Establishes a system of child care and development services
for children up to 13 years of age, specifies certain
requirements for the payment by the state for these child care
and development services, and establishes reimbursement rates,
including requirements for their adjustment and application.
(EC 8200 - 8244)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : This bill requires the CDE to develop and implement a
quality rating scale based on the recommendations of the ELQIS
Advisory Committee, established by SB 1629 (Steinberg), Chapter
307, Statutes of 2008. The ELQIS Advisory Committee was
established to focus attention on how to identify and improve
the quality of early learning programs serving kids from birth
to five years of age in an effort to improve student outcomes in
kindergarten and beyond. The ELQIS Advisory Committee is
charged with developing an implementation plan for an ELQIS and
is required to present an interim report to the Governor and
Legislature by December 31, 2009 and a final report by December
31, 2010. SB 1629 requires the report to address four elements
of a quality improvement system as follows:
1)An assessment and analysis of existing early care and
education infrastructures, including other state and local
systems and the identification of effective features of those
systems;
2)The development of an early learning quality rating scale for
child care and development programs, including preschool;
3)The development of a funding model aligned with the quality
rating scale; and,
4)Recommendations on how local, state, federal and private
resources can best be utilized to complement a statewide
funding model as part of a comprehensive effort to improve the
child care and development system of the state.
The 13 member ELQIS Advisory Committee held a number of meetings
in different locations throughout the state in 2009 and issued a
preliminary report in January. The Advisory Committee focused
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its work mainly on the first two required elements and learned
about existing local systems as well as features of systems from
19 other states. According to the report, some of the common
elements found in the quality rating and improvement systems
(QRIS) from other states include standards, accountability
measures, program and practitioner outreach and support,
financing incentives, and parent/consumer education. Some of
the lessons that can be learned from other states' experiences
include:
1)Conduct a pilot and have the training for the rating
infrastructure in place before implementing the quality rating
system statewide;
2)Set clear standards from the outset for the rating system;
3)Use environment rating scales as a core element of QRIS,
although they can be expensive to administer;
4)Determine who should conduct the quality ratings, recognizing
that this is a key decision; and,
5)Accompany ratings with financial incentives and technical
assistance, given that participation in most QRIS systems is
voluntary, and that providers are taking some risk to be
rated.
The ELQIS Advisory Committee has approved a preliminary general
design of a quality rating structure featuring a non-weighted
block system. Six quality elements - family involvement, ratios
and group size, environment rating scales, staff education and
training, teaching and learning, and program leadership - makeup
the evaluation components. According to the report, all the
quality criteria in each tier need to be accomplished to obtain
that rating, and the criteria included in each tier build on
those in previous blocks. For example, if a program meets Tier
1 criteria in the "Family Involvement" scale, it would be scored
in the Tier 1 box. If it meets criteria for Tiers 1 through 5,
it would be scored in the Tier 5 box for that scale.
------------------------------------------------------------
| |
| Matrix of Standards |
------------------------------------------------------------
|------------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----|
| Quality Elements |Tier |Tier |Tier |Tier |Tier |
| |1 |2 |3 |4 |5 |
|------------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----|
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|Family Involvement | | | | | |
|------------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----|
|Ratios and Group Size | | | | | |
| n Infant: | | | | | |
| n Toddler: | | | | | |
|n Preschool: | | | | | |
|------------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----|
|Environment Rating Scale(s) | | | | | |
|That focus on Structural | | | | | |
|Quality and | | | | | |
|Teacher/Provider-Child | | | | | |
|Interaction | | | | | |
|------------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----|
|Staff Education and Training | | | | | |
|------------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----|
|Teaching and Learning | | | | | |
|------------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----|
|Program Leadership | | | | | |
------------------------------------------------------------
The report stresses that what has been developed is not final.
During 2010, the ELQIS Advisory Committee will complete the
design structure of the QRIS and complete the last two
requirements of SB 1629.
This bill directs the CDE to develop and implement a quality
rating scale. It is unclear why the CDE is directed to develop
a quality rating scale when the ELQIS Advisory Committee is
already charged with developing the scale and will have
completed its work by the end of this year. Staff recommends
striking the requirement that the CDE develop a quality rating
scale. The bill requires the quality rating scale to measure
specified elements of an early care and education facility that
are mostly consistent with the draft scales developed by the
ELQIS Advisory Committee. Staff also recommends changing the
reference to "facility" to "program". The term facility
connotates a physical space, but the elements are programmatic
in nature.
This bill further requires the State Advisory Council, comprised
of the ELQIS Advisory Committee plus five additional
representatives specified in Executive Order S-23-09, to
annually review and provide ongoing recommendations for the
improvement of the quality rating scale. The State Advisory
Council was established by the Governor in November 2009 as
specified in the federal Head Start School Readiness Act of 2007
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as the entity to apply for Head Start collaboration grants.
The author states that this bill is necessary for California to
compete for $9 billion from the federal Early Learning Challenge
Fund (ELCF) proposed by President Obama as part of the 2011
budget. According to the author, the ELCF is "a competitive
grant proposal that challenges states to develop effective,
innovative models to raise quality through high standards,
incentivizing excellence, and focusing on outcomes. Draft
legislation in Congress (HR 3221, Miller) has identified the
Quality Rating Scale (QRS) as the primary vehicle for early
learning systems change, and it is likely to be a requirement
for states to compete for the ELCF, which could mean from $100
million to $200 million a year for California to implement its
QRS." The ELCF was initially incorporated in a student loan
measure but has since been removed from the bill. ELCF
supporters are advocating for its inclusion in the
reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
Previous related legislation . SB 1629 (Steinberg), Chapter 307,
Statutes of 2008, established the ELQIS Advisory Committee to
develop a quality rating scale that parents can use to identify
high quality programs. The Advisory Committee is required to
complete its report and recommendations by December 31, 2010.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Advancement Project
Bay Area Council
Business-Education Alliance of Merced County
California Child Development Administrators Association
California Federation of Teachers
California Head Start Association
California Kindergarten Association
Children Now
Delhi Unified School District
Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
Livingston Union School District
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce
Memorial Hospital Los Banos
Options - A Child Care and Human Services Agency
San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation
Santa Clara County Office of Education
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Silicon Valley Leadership Group
University of California, Merced
Worldcolor
Two individuals
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087