BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1278
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Date of Hearing: June 30, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
SB 1278 (Wyland) - As Amended: June 1, 2010
SENATE VOTE : 36-0
SUBJECT : Instructional materials: adoption
SUMMARY : Requires, as an urgency measure, the State Board of
Education (SBE) to adopt a revised curriculum framework and
evaluation criteria for instructional materials in
history-social science (H/SS) in 2011.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires the SBE to adopt basic instructional materials for
use in kindergarten and grades one to eight, inclusive, (K-8)
and requires the SBE to ensure that the instructional
materials it adopts meet specified criteria, and requires
those criteria to be approved by resolution at the time the
resolution adopting the framework for the current adoption is
approved, or at least 30 months before the date that the
materials are to be approved for adoption.
2)Prohibits the SBE from adopting instructional materials or
follow the procedures for the adoption of instructional
materials until the 2013-14 school year.
3)Requires local governing boards to provide standards-aligned
textbooks or basic instructional materials no later than 24
months after those materials are adopted by the SBE, except
that for the 2008-09 to the 2012-13 fiscal years, inclusive, a
governing board of a school district is not required to
provide pupils with instructional materials by the specified
period of time following adoption of those materials by the
SBE.
4)Establishes a timeline for submitting the specified
instructional materials to the SBE for adoption as follows:
a) English language arts in 2008;
b) Foreign languages in 2012; and,
c) Health in 2013.
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5)Provides that the requirement for evaluation criteria to be
approved at least 30 months before the date that the materials
are to be adopted shall not apply if all of the specified
conditions are met relative to the H/SS and science curriculum
frameworks.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, this bill has minor costs.
COMMENTS : This bill is in response to enacted legislation
during the state Legislature's Fourth Extraordinary Session in
July 2009, AB 2 X4, Chapter 2, Statutes of 2009-2010, which
prohibits the SBE from adopting instructional materials until
the 2013-2014 fiscal year. The Governor also further cut
$705,000 from the California Department of Education's (CDE)
budget in order to end support for the Curriculum Development
and Supplemental Materials Commission (Curriculum Commission)
and its activities, including framework development. In
conjunction with this suspension, school districts in California
are not required to purchase textbooks within 24 months
following an adoption and have, thus, gained greater flexibility
in how they spend funds intended for instructional materials.
Educational stakeholders have expressed concern that AB 2 X4
will weaken the connection between content standards and
teaching in many teacher education programs if frameworks are
not revised. The Senate and Assembly budget committees approved
$144,130 in one-time General Fund costs for the Curriculum
Commission to resume activities on the H/SS and science
frameworks.
This bill requires the SBE to adopt a revised H/SS framework
notwithstanding any other law . The intent of the bill is to
authorize the adoption of the H/SS despite the suspension of
instructional materials and framework adoptions, nevertheless,
as currently drafted this bill could potentially waive any other
law including requirements on social content and accurate
portrayal of cultural and racial diversity, among others. Staff
recommends an amendment to limit the bill to the specific
section of the Education Code that this bill seeks to
"notwithstand," which is the section suspending the process for
developing and adopting instructional materials, frameworks, and
criteria until the 2013-14 school year. On page 2, line 3,
strike out "any other law" and insert "Section 60200.7."
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California's framework adoption process: Publishers must base
their instructional materials on frameworks and other evaluation
criteria that specify instructional approaches, among a number
of other factors. Instructional materials in California are
evaluated based on four sets of criteria including alignment
with academic content standards; consistency with subject
specific curriculum framework; satisfaction of instructional
material evaluation criteria; and portrayal of social content.
The framework development and instructional materials adoption
process takes approximately four years and involves two expert
panels, two committees, the Curriculum Commission, CDE, SBE, and
various stakeholders. California is among 20 states that
utilize a state-level process to select instructional materials
and must formally adopt a list of approved instructional
materials for use in K-8. While districts must purchase
materials from this list, high schools are not required to do so
and, rather, utilize a local-level adoption process.
This bill, as introduced, intended to restore the adoption of
instructional materials for mathematics, English language arts,
H/SS, health, science, world languages and visual and performing
arts by specified dates. The restoration of the adoption of
instructional materials in these subjects would have required
both framework and instructional materials adoption processes to
take place for each subject in the years 2012 through 2018.
Currently, this bill only requires the SBE to adopt, in 2011, a
revised curriculum framework and evaluation criteria for
instructional materials in H/SS, which includes the disciplines
of history, geography, economics, political science,
anthropology, psychology, sociology, and the humanities. The
CDE notes that the Curriculum Commission approved the draft
History-Social Science Framework for California Public Schools
for field review on July 17, 2009, prior to the implementation
of AB 2 X4. Further work on the framework, including the field
review and survey, has been suspended. According to the author,
the Curriculum Commission was nearing completion (approximately
80%) of its revision of the H/SS framework and was due to be
approved by the SBE in 2010.
The introduction to the draft H/SS framework states that "the
object of the H/SS curriculum is to set forth, in an organized
way, the knowledge and understanding that our students need to
function intelligently now and in the future?Without the
knowledge and skills that these disciplines convey, our students
will be buffeted by changes that are beyond their comprehension.
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But with a firm grounding in history and the related
disciplines, they should have the capacity to make wise choices
in their own lives and to understand the swift-moving changes in
state, national, and world affairs." Likewise, proponents of
this bill note that it is critical that California students
receive up-to-date materials pertaining to socio-historical
events.
Framework adoption schedule: California statute establishes a
schedule for framework and instructional materials adoption for
specified subjects. Prior to its suspension, the statutory
schedule for the submission of instructional materials to the
SBE for adoption was as follows:
Language arts in 2008;
Foreign languages in 2012; and,
Health in 2013.
The schedule for framework review and instructional materials
adoptions previously available on the CDE's website is as
follows:
History-Social Science: framework review in 2010, adoption
in 2011;
Foreign Language: framework review in 2009, adoption in
2012;
Science: framework review in 2010, adoption in 2012;
Mathematics: framework review in 2011, adoption in 2013;
Health: framework review in 2011, adoption in 2013;
Visual and Performing Arts: framework review in 2012,
adoption in 2014; and,
Reading/Language Arts/English Language Development:
framework review in 2013, adoption in 2015.
This bill ensures that the review and adoption of the H/SS
curriculum framework continues, but does not address other
subject areas which have also been affected by the suspension.
Additionally, this bill does not require that the adoption of
instructional materials process for H/SS occurs by a specified
date. Some would argue the appropriateness of going forward
with adopting frameworks given that instructional materials will
not be adopted in the near future and that districts are not
required to purchase textbooks for the next four years.
Proponents, on the other hand, would argue that frameworks
provide the pedagogical strategies needed for teaching the H/SS
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subjects in the absence of updated materials, and can also be
used for professional development purposes.
Author's statement: The author states, "SB 1278 will reinstate
the Curriculum Commission adoption process just for the
History-Social Sciences framework, so our students can be taught
with the highest quality and most up to date resources on this
subject."
Related Legislation: AB 2069 (Carter) repeals an existing
schedule for the submission of specified instructional materials
to the SBE for adoption, and instead, requires that
instructional materials pursuant to the timeline in the bill be
submitted for adoption, commencing with the 2013-14 school year,
and requires the SBE to adopt a revised curriculum and
evaluation criteria for instructional materials in H/SS no later
than July 1, 2011. AB 2069 was held in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
SB 1451 (Yee) requires the SBE to ensure that the next update of
the H/SS framework, and all instructional materials, accurately
portrays women and ethnic minorities, as specified. SB 1451 is
pending hearing in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Association of California School Administrators
California Council for the Social Studies
California State PTA
City of San Joaquin
Institute for Curriculum Services: National Resource Center for
Accurate Jewish Content in Schools
Jewish Public Affairs Council
Korea Academy for Educators
Korean American Federation of Los Angeles
Korean Studies Institute, University of Southern California
Sikh Coalition
Sikh Council of Central California
Sikh Temple Sacramento
Stanford Program on International and Cross Cultural Education
Numerous individuals
Opposition
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None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Pilar Whitaker and Marisol Avi?a / ED.
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