BILL ANALYSIS
------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 930|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
------------------------------------------------------------
VETO
Bill No: SB 930
Author: Ducheny (D), et al
Amended: 8/20/10
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
SENATE FLOOR : 23-13, 6/2/10
AYES: Alquist, Calderon, Cedillo, Corbett, Correa,
DeSaulnier, Ducheny, Florez, Hancock, Kehoe, Leno, Liu,
Lowenthal, Negrete McLeod, Padilla, Pavley, Price,
Romero, Simitian, Steinberg, Wolk, Wright, Yee
NOES: Aanestad, Ashburn, Cogdill, Cox, Denham, Dutton,
Harman, Hollingsworth, Huff, Runner, Strickland, Walters,
Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Oropeza, Wiggins, Vacancy, Vacancy
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 48-26, 8/23/10 - See last page for vote
SENATE FLOOR : 23-11, 8/25/10
AYES: Alquist, Calderon, Cedillo, Corbett, Correa,
DeSaulnier, Ducheny, Florez, Hancock, Kehoe, Leno, Liu,
Lowenthal, Negrete McLeod, Padilla, Pavley, Price,
Romero, Simitian, Steinberg, Wolk, Wright, Yee
CONTINUED
SB 930
Page
2
NOES: Aanestad, Ashburn, Blakeslee, Cogdill, Dutton,
Emmerson, Huff, Runner, Strickland, Walters, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Denham, Harman, Hollingsworth, Oropeza,
Wiggins, Vacancy
SUBJECT : Pupil assessments
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill modifies Californias public school
assessment and accountability system with respect to
English learner (EL) pupils, including expanding the number
of limited-English proficient students who are tested on
the state's content standards in their primary language,
and other changes related to the testing of EL pupils and
inclusion of their test scores in accountability measures.
Assembly Amendments delete accommodations and modifications
for limited-English-proficient pupils implementation date
of July 1, 2011, delete the requirement that test
publishers provide valid and reliable aggregate scores to
school districts and county boards of education
implementation date of July 1, 2011, and make technical and
clarifying changes.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Requires a limited-English proficient (LEP) pupil, who
is enrolled in grades 2 through 11 to take a test in
his/her primary language if a test is available, and if
fewer than 12 months have elapsed after his/her initial
enrollment in any public or nonpublic school in the
state or if the pupil receives instruction in his/her
primary language; the Standards-based Tests in Spanish
are currently available for this purpose.
2. Requires each school district that has one or more EL
pupils, to assess each pupil's English language
development in order to determine the level of
proficiency within 30 calendar days after the pupil's
CONTINUED
SB 930
Page
3
initial enrollment, and annually, thereafter, until the
pupil is redesignated as English proficient; also
requires the California Department of Education (CDE)
with the approval of the State Board of Education (SBE)
to establish procedures for conducting English language
proficiency assessments and for the reclassification of
a pupil from LEP to proficient in English; the
California English Language development Test is the
assessment designated for this purpose.
This bill modifies California's public school assessment
and accountability system with respect to EL pupils,
including expanding the number of LEP students who are
tested on the state's content standards in their primary
language, and other changes related to the testing of EL
pupils and inclusion of their test scores in accountability
measures. Specifically, this bill:
1. Makes legislative findings and declarations regarding
the Standardized Testing and Reporting program, other
assessments, accountability, and the testing of EL
pupils.
2. Requires any primary language assessment developed on or
after July 1, 2013, and the results of that primary
language assessment for LEP students who receive
instruction in their primary language, are identified as
literate by the primary language assessment and have
been enrolled in United States schools for less than
three consecutive years, or are enrolled in dual
language immersion programs, be included in the state
assessment system, the federal and state accountability
system, and any successor assessment or accountability
systems.
3. Requires that any successor to the state assessment
system adopted on or after July 1, 2013, modify, based
upon research designed to maintain the rigor of the
test, the California Standards Test in order to
eliminate linguistic complexity and include test
accommodations for ELs, including repetition of test
directions, and a glossary and translations of test
directions provided by CDE.
CONTINUED
SB 930
Page
4
4. Requires that any advisory committee, work group, task
force or technical assistance group required by the
Legislature or Governor, or established by the
Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) for the
purposes of providing recommendations on future state
assessment, or state or federal accountability systems
provide recommendations to the SPI and SBE on #2 and #3
above, as well as on reporting and disaggregating
comprehensive EL data. Also specifies that any group
specified above includes persons with demonstrated
expertise in assessment of or research on EL pupils.
5. Requires that the state's primary language assessments
meet the technical requirements, with respect to
validity, reliability and comparability, in the
standards jointly developed by the American
Psychological Association, American Educational Research
Association, and National Council on Measurement in
Education; also requires the test development contractor
to report to SBE in writing as to how those technical
requirements are met.
6. Establishes an operative date of July 1, 2013 for these
provisions.
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.
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
CONTINUED
SB 930
Page
5
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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee:
CONTINUED
SB 930
Page
6
1. Annual General Fund Proposition 98 (GF/98) state
assessment apportionment costs, beginning in 2013, of
approximately $200,000 to school districts to administer
a primary language assessment. This cost may be reduced
if pupils enrolled in a dual language immersion program
take this assessment, since the measure requires school
districts implementing such programs to pay for the
assessment.
2. Beginning in 2013, annual GF/98 administrative costs,
likely less than $100,000, to CDE to provide school
districts with bilingual glossaries and translated test
directions, as specified.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/24/10)
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 : According to the author, under
current law, "Only scores of the English achievement tests
are included in the calculation of the Academic Performance
Index and in the Adequate Yearly Performance. After 12
months of enrollment, an English learner not instructed in
their primary language is required to take the academic
test only in English. Additionally, only minimal
accommodations have been made available to English learners
taking the achievement tests in English." The author's
stated intent of this bill is to "establish an
accountability system that would provide accurate
information regarding the academic performance of students
who are English learners."
CONTINUED
SB 930
Page
7
GOVERNOR'S VETO MESSAGE:
"I am returning Senate Bill 930 without my signature.
The State Board of Education recently adopted the
Common Core standards, with additions from
California's existing standards. In anticipation of
a newly realigned assessment and accountability
system, this bill is premature. This bill would
require the inclusion of additional components
involving primary language assessments, in the
current, and any future, assessment and
accountability systems. This has the potential to
conflict with any of the anticipated larger federal
or state efforts on assessments and accountability.
Ultimately, I continue to believe that schools should
remain focused on providing English Learners with the
necessary instruction 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. Therefore, I want to ensure that there are
no disincentives in our school system to achieving
that goal for our English Learner student population.
For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Ammiano, Arambula, Bass, Beall, Block, Blumenfield,
Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles
Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De
Leon, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Galgiani, Hall,
Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jones, Lieu,
Bonnie Lowenthal, Mendoza, Monning, Nava, V. Manuel
Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Skinner,
Solorio, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Yamada,
John A. Perez
NOES: Adams, Anderson, Tom Berryhill, Conway, Cook,
DeVore, Fletcher, Fuller, Gaines, Garrick, Gatto,
Gilmore, Hagman, Harkey, Jeffries, Knight, Logue, Miller,
Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, Silva, Smyth, Audra
CONTINUED
SB 930
Page
8
Strickland, Tran, Villines
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bill Berryhill, Furutani, Ma, Norby,
Vacancy, Vacancy
PQ:mw 10/5/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****
CONTINUED