BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Gloria Romero, Chair
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 651
AUTHOR: Romero
INTRODUCED: February 27, 2009
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: April 29, 2009
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Kathleen Chavira
SUBJECT : Annual Report on Dropouts
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction
to submit an Annual Dropout Report, as specified, to the
Governor, Legislature, and State Board of Education
beginning on or before August 1, 2010.
BACKGROUND
Current law requires the assignment of a Statewide Student
Identifier (SSID) as an individual, yet non-personally
identifiable number to each K-12 student enrolled in a
California public school, and requires the establishment of
the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System
(CALPADS) that includes statewide assessment data,
enrollment data, teacher assignment data, and other
elements required to meet federal No Child Left Behind
reporting requirements.
CALPADS includes student demographic, program
participation, grade level enrollment, course enrollment
and completion, discipline, and statewide assessment data.
According to the CDE, the student-level, longitudinal data
in CALPADS will facilitate program evaluation, assessment
of student achievement over time, the calculation of more
accurate dropout and graduation rates, the efficient
creation of reports to meet state and federal reporting
requirements, and the ability to create ad hoc reports and
respond to questions.
ANALYSIS
This bill requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction
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(SPI) to submit an Annual Dropout Report, to the Governor,
Legislature, and State Board of Education beginning on or
before August 1, 2010. Specifically it:
1) Requires that the report include but not be limited
to:
a) Specified drop out rates for
grades 7-12, 9-12, and middle schools and
promotion rates from grade 9 to grade 10.
b) The percentage of high schools
students at each grade level on track to graduate
and the average number of non-promotional school
moves made by pupils between grades 6 and 12.
c) "Full year" dropout rates for
alternative schools.
d) Relevant data on school climate
and pupil engagement from the California Healthy
Kids Survey.
e) California High School Exit Exam
passage rates.
f) Cohort dropout rates, to replace
middle and high school dropout rates, once
longitudinal data is available and the rates can
be calculated accurately.
g) If data is available, 4, 5, and 6
year graduation rates, course enrollment patterns
by school and district, as specified, behavioral
data including suspension and expulsions.
h) Requires, if possible, that
dropout data be reported and organized by state,
county, district and school.
2) Requires the report to include data from alternative
middle and high schools, as specified.
3) Requires, if possible the data to be presented for
subgroups grade level, ethnicity, gender,
socioeconomic status, limited English proficiency and
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disability if the subgroups meet specified criteria
(at least 50 pupils with a valid test score, and a
subgroup that constitutes 15 percent of the total
population of students with valid test scores at a
school).
4) Requires the report to include most recent year data
and at minimum, two prior years' data for easy
comparison.
5) Requires the SPI to comply with additional reporting
requirements. Specifically it requires the SPI to:
a) Make an oral presentation of the
report to the State Board of Education at a
regularly scheduled meeting (authorizes a
designee).
b) Make the contents of the report
available on the California Department of
Education website as specified.
c) Authorizes inclusion of the
school-level data on the CDE website and its
omission from the written report, if this data
renders the written report unwieldy.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Intent of the author . According to the author,
California is facing a high school dropout crisis.
Fewer than 80% of 9th graders statewide, and fewer
than 60% in some districts, go on to graduate from
high school. More than 120,000 students abandon
school each year without a diploma. The California
Dropout Research Project at UC Santa Barbara reports
that each cohort of California dropouts costs the
state $46.4 billion over their lifetimes. The Public
Policy Institute of California predicts that in 2025,
there will be twice as many high school dropouts as
there will be jobs to support them. The California
Dropout Research Project recommends a more
comprehensive, annual public accounting for dropouts.
According to the author, California needs more than
statistics. It needs timely information so that the
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state, districts, and schools can be more strategic in
their focus on dropout prevention. This bill would
make smarter use of existing student data to inform
this goal.
2) What's possible under California Longitudinal Pupil
Achievement Data System (CALPADS) ? According to the
California Department of Education (CDE) most of the
data required for the annual report is available
through CALPADS or will be within the next year.
However, in order to ensure the full collection of
four years of information as well as to allow
sufficient time for districts to review and correct
data, staff recommends the bill be amended to require
the report be submitted on or before August 1, 2011.
Staff notes that the bill requires the inclusion of
data on school climate and pupil engagement as well as
behavioral information. While CALPADS will provide
data on suspensions and expulsions it is not designed
to provide the contextual information that appears to
be the goal of these provisions of the bill. Should
the bill be amended to delete these provisions? Or,
alternatively, should it be amended to provide a means
for the CDE to collect or receive such information
through more intensive focus group study or other data
gathering activities?
3) Need for greater clarity . While this bill is very
prescriptive in terms of the data to be reported and
the means by which the contents of the report are to
be made available, the purpose and intended audience
for the report are less clear. Greater clarity in
this regard would provide the guidance to the CDE to
ensure that the report is developed and presented in a
manner which meets the goals of the author. Staff
recommends the bill be amended to insert the following
language: It is the intent of the Legislature that the
report prepared by the Superintendent of Public
Instruction be usable by schools, districts,
policymakers, researchers, parents and the public, for
purposes of identifying and understanding trends,
causal relationships, early warning indicators and
potential points of intervention to address the high
rate of dropouts in California.
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