BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Gloria Romero, Chair
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 688
AUTHOR: Romero
AMENDED: April 23, 2009
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: April 29, 2009
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: James Wilson
SUBJECT : Student Surveys
SUMMARY
This bill establishes a process by which school district
governing boards may survey pupils to provide confidential
feedback to high school teachers.
BACKGROUND
Current law (Education Code sections 44660 et seq) requires
a uniform system of evaluation of all certificated
personnel within each school district, requiring each
district to adopt objective evaluation guidelines,
including standards of expected pupil achievement at each
grade level in each area of study. Current law requires the
governing board of each school district to evaluate
certificated employee performance as it reasonably relates
to the progress of pupils toward the established standards.
Employee performance, instructional techniques, adherence
to curricular objectives, and maintenance of a suitable
learning environment are all among the items evaluated
under current law.
ANALYSIS
This bill:
1) Provides that the governing board of every school
district maintaining any of the grades 9 to 12, may
establish a committee of high school pupils and
teachers to do all of the following:
a) Develop and monitor a process for pupils to
provide feedback to teachers of classes in grades
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9 through 12.
b) Develop and administer a pupil survey that
solicits information on aspects of a class and
the effectiveness of the teacher in teaching the
class, and allows for data to be compared among
all of a teacher's classes.
c) Provide for teachers to receive information
from the surveys of pupils in their current
classes every three years.
2) Requires that information regarding individual
teachers that is obtained from pupil surveys shall be
confidential and released only to that teacher and
shall not become part of a teacher's personal record.
3) Provides that no administrator may view any completed
pupil survey, or data derived from surveys, of an
individual teacher without the express written consent
of that teacher.
4) Prohibits pupil surveys and any information they
contain from being used for collective bargaining
purposes or used in any existing teacher evaluation
process.
5) Calls for pupil surveys to be used to foster improved
communication between pupils and teachers, augment
professional development activities, and improve
classes and teaching methods.
6) Requires the Department of Education, in consultation
with the California Association of Student Councils,
to develop model guidelines for the teacher evaluation
process, to be posted on the department's Web site by
January 1, 2011.
STAFF COMMENTS
The California Association of Student Councils (CASC) are
sponsoring this measure. At an informational hearing of
the Senate Education Committee on February 25, 2009, the
CASC Student Advisory Board on Legislation in Education
called for "creating opportunities for students to provide
feedback to their teachers" using forms that "provide
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teachers with valuable information regarding what can be
done in order to help better cater their teaching styles to
student needs (and) allow teachers to focus on the
specific, relevant subject matters that students need more
help with."
SUPPORT
California Association of Student Councils
California School Boards Association
OPPOSITION
Association of California School Administrators
California Federation of Teachers
California Teachers Association
United Teachers Los Angeles