BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 930|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 930
Author: Ducheny (D)
Amended: 5/11/10
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 6-2, 4/14/10
AYES: Romero, Alquist, Hancock, Liu, Price, Simitian
NOES: Huff, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Maldonado
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-3, 5/27/10
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Corbett, Leno, Price, Wolk, Yee
NOES: Denham, Walters, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Cox
SUBJECT : Pupil assessments
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill expands the number of English learners
who are required to take a primary language assessment,
requires primary language assessment data to be included in
the Academic Performance Index and Academic Yearly
Progress, and requires modification of existing California
Standards Tests to accommodate the needs of English
learners.
ANALYSIS : Existing law establishes the Standardized
Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program for the purpose of
measuring the degree to which pupils are achieving the
CONTINUED
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state's academic content and performance standards. The
STAR Program consists of four key components: the
California Standards Tests (CSTs), the California Modified
Assessment (CMA) for grades 3-8, the California Alternate
Performance Assessment, and the Standards-based Tests in
Spanish (STS). All students in grades 2-11 participate in
the STAR program, including students with disabilities and
students who are English learners.
Existing law requires the California Department of
Education (CDE) to develop and adopt primary language
assessments, in the dominant primary language of English
learners, that are aligned to the state academic content
standards for reading/language arts and mathematics. The
primary language assessments developed pursuant to this
statute are the STS.
Existing law requires Spanish-speaking English learners
enrolled in grades 2-11 who receive instruction in their
primary language or who have been enrolled in public school
in the United States for less than 12 months to take the
STS. Students who take the STS are also required to take
the CSTs and/or CMA appropriate to their grade level.
School districts have the option of administering the STS
to Spanish-speaking English learners who have been in
school in the United States for 12 or more months or who
are not receiving instruction in Spanish. English learners
whose primary language is not Spanish do not take the STS.
Existing law (SB 1 X5 [Steinberg], Chapter 2, Statutes of
2009-10, Fifth Extraordinary Session) provides for the
statewide pupil assessment program (which includes the STAR
program) to become inoperative on July 1, 2013, and
expresses the intent of the Legislature that the
reauthorization of the statewide pupil assessment system
include specified elements, including a plan for
transitioning to a system of high-quality assessments. The
bill also establishes an Academic Content Standards
Commission to develop academic content standards in
language arts and mathematics that will be internationally
benchmarked and at least 85 percent the same as the
national standards being developed by the Common Core State
Standards Initiative.
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State and federal law (Title III of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act) require that school districts
administer a state test of English language development in
order to assess each pupil's level of English language
proficiency. For California public school students, this
test is the California English Language Development Test
(CELDT). Existing law requires that all students in
kindergarten through grade 12, whose primary language is
not English take the CELDT within 30 calendar days after
they first enroll in a California public school and
annually thereafter until they are redesignated as fluent
English proficient.
This bill amends provisions of the K-12 accountability
system as they apply to limited English proficient students
(LEPs). Specifically, this bill (1) expands the number of
LEPs who are required to be tested on their knowledge of
the state standards in their primary language to those who
have been enrolled in schools in the United States for less
than three years rather than the existing 12-month period,
(2) requires these primary language tests to be used for
purposes of the Academic Performance Index (API) and to
measure Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) pursuant to the
federal No Child Left Behind program, or to any successor
systems, and (3) requires successor assessment and
accountability systems, after July 1, 2013, to include
specified accommodations for LEPs.
Prior Legislation
SB 1 X5 (Steinberg), Chapter 2, Statutes of 2009-10, Fifth
Extraordinary Session, as noted above.
SB 385 (Ducheny), 2005-06 Session, would have required the
development and administration of primary language
achievement tests for pupils literate in or receiving
instruction in their primary language and who have been
attending school in the United States for less than three
years. The bill would have also required the CDE to
eliminate unnecessary linguistic complexity in specified
instruments. The bill passed the Senate Floor with a vote
of 23-15 on September 8, 2005, but was vetoed by Governor
Schwarzenegger.
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SB 1580 (Ducheny), 2005-06 Session, would have required
English learners who are either literate in their primary
language or receive instruction in their primary language
take standards-aligned tests in the primary language as
soon as such tests are available. The bill passed the
Senate Floor with a vote of 25-15 on August 31, 2006, but
was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger. The veto message
read, in pertinent part:
"I vetoed a similar bill last year stating that the bill
ran counter to the goal of mastering English as quickly
and as comprehensively as possible. I continue to
believe that schools should remain focused on providing
English learners with the necessary resources and support
to become English proficient. As an immigrant myself, I
believe strongly that learning English as quickly as
possible is essential to success in this state and this
country, and therefore want to provide every incentive
for our system to promote that goal."
AB 252 (Coto), 2007-08 Session, would have authorized the
availability of primary language assessments to
English-speaking pupils enrolled in dual immersion
programs. The bill passed the Senate Floor with a vote of
24-13 on September 10, 2007, but was vetoed by Governor
Schwarzenegger. The veto message read, in part:
"English-speaking pupils who voluntarily enrolled in dual
language immersion programs are currently required to
take the CST in English. Therefore, another assessment
is not needed to measure their mastery of state-adopted
academic content standards in another language."
SB 305 (Ducheny), 2007-08 Session, would have required
English learners who are literate in their primary language
or receive instruction in their primary language and who
have been enrolled in a United States public school for
less than three years to take the primary language
assessments and would have required the tests to be used
for purposes of the API and AYP. The bill passed the
Senate Floor with a vote of 23-13 on June 6, 2007, but was
held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
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FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 Fund
STS extension $1,160 $960 $960
General*
Modifications $135
General**
AYP $1,000 to $2,000
General**
CELDT reporting $120 $120 $120 General
Dual immersion testing $850 General
* Counts toward meeting the Proposition 98 minimum funding
guarantee
**Some costs may potentially be funded with federal funds
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/1/10)
California Association for Bilingual Education
California Communities United Institute
California Council on Teacher Education
California Teachers of English to Speakers of Other
Languages
Californians Together Coalition
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles
Los Angeles Unified School District
Multicultural Learning Center
San Francisco Unified School District
TEEL Consulting Services
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author's office maintains that
schools with high populations of English learners may be
unfairly targeted for program improvement because the
assessment systems do not accurately assess the academic
knowledge of many of their English learners. The author's
office notes that Spanish-speaking students who take the
STS often demonstrate higher levels of achievement on these
assessments than they do on the CSTs. By requiring
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modifications to the CSTs and incorporating STS results in
to API and AYP scores, the author's office hopes this bill
will result in a more fair and valid accountability system
for English learners.
PQ:mw 6/1/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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