BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1357
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 1357 (Steinberg and Alquist)
As Amended August 16, 2010
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :35-0
EDUCATION 8-0 APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|Ayes:|Brownley, Nestande, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Conway, |
| |Ammiano, Arambula, | |Bradford, |
| |Carter, Eng, Miller, | |Huffman, Coto, Davis, De |
| |Torlakson | |Leon, Gatto, Hall, |
| | | |Harkey, Miller, Nielsen, |
| | | |Norby, Skinner, Solorio, |
| | | |Torlakson, Torrico |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires the California Department of Education (CDE)
to include pupil attendance data and data on chronic absentees
in the Annual Report on Dropouts in California and in the
California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS),
and to provide related reports to local educational agencies
(LEAs) on demand. Specifically, this bill :
1)Makes legislative findings and declarations about the
relationship between, and the causes and prevention of
dropping out of school and low pupil attendance; also states
legislative intent regarding efforts to improve pupil
attendance and prevent dropouts.
2)Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to
include "chronic absentee rates" in the Annual Report on
Dropouts in California, and defines "chronic absentee" to mean
a pupil who is absent for 10% or more of the schooldays in a
school year.
3)Requires the CDE, contingent upon the receipt of federal funds
for this purpose, to prepare CALPADS to include data on the
quarterly rate of pupil attendance, to support LEAs in efforts
to identify and support pupils at risk of dropping out, and to
be capable of issuing periodic reports to LEAs that include
district, school, class, and individual pupil reports on rates
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of absence and on chronic absences. Requires the CDE to
consult with organizations representing school, district, and
county education administrators, classified and certified
staff, and parents in this process.
4)Requires early warning systems, that may be developed, to
utilize highly predictive indicators, including attendance,
course grades or completion, pupil achievement on assessments,
suspensions and expulsions, have predictive reliability of the
systems ensured through thorough validation, and provide
periodic early warning reports that inform principals,
teachers, and parents in a manner that enables timely
identification and support of individual pupils who are at
risk of academic failure or dropping out.
5)Authorizes a LEA to submit data on pupil attendance and other
indicators as identified by the CDE, when CALPADS is prepared
to accept data on pupil attendance, and to request early
warning reports, which CDE would be required to provide up to
four times each school year.
6)Requires the CDE to notify LEAs that reporting pupil
attendance and chronic absentee data pursuant to this section
is voluntary; also requires the notification to include the
benefits of reporting pupil attendance and chronic absentee
data, and of developing effective supports and interventions
for at-risk pupils.
7)Prohibits the provisions of this bill from becoming operative
unless federal funds are appropriated specifically for this
purpose.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, General Fund administrative costs, of approximately
$300,000, to the CDE to complete the requirements of this
measure including modifying CALPADS to collect pupil attendance
data. This measure requires CDE to modify CALPADS, contingent
upon the receipt of federal funding for this purpose, and
prohibits the CALPADS provisions from taking effect unless
federal funds are appropriated for these purposes. Also Federal
fund cost pressure, of at least $3.1 million, to LEAs to submit
pupil attendance data to CDE via CALPADS.
COMMENTS : According to the author, this bill will support
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California schools in identifying "students who are most at risk
of academic failure or dropping out, before it's too late. The
bill enables the collection of new data on student absenteeism
and combines that data with other predictive indicators already
collected by our education data system. These combined
indicators will become the foundation of an "early warning
system," so that critical education, health, and community
supports can be strategically targeted before students abandon
school."
The author also states that, "Chronic absence from school, even
in the primary grades, is one of the most accurate predictors of
later high school dropout. Our education data system, however,
is not equipped to collect data on absenteeism. California must
do more to support districts and make sure that individual
students, and schools, are identified when they show clear signs
of distress. Once identified, districts, parents, schools and
communities can do a better job of providing the supports needed
to address the problem."
The broad vision of this bill is conceptually sound and
attractive. Research clearly links in the aggregate, though not
necessarily in every individual pupil, both attendance and
achievement, and lack of attendance and the probability of
dropping out of school. Any policy change that leads to more
and earlier information about pupil attendance being made
available to parents and educators is good policy in terms of
leading to increases in pupil achievement and decreases in the
number of drop outs. It is not completely clear, however,
whether the complete vision of this bill and its benefits will
be realized by the bill's enactment, since most of those
benefits depend on actions or occurrences that are beyond the
requirements of the bill or outside of the control of the state.
However, this bill does establish a long-term vision and take
steps toward that vision, and the bill generates a number of
clear policy benefits in doing so. Those benefits include that
the bill will make it easier for some LEAs to focus on the
attendance problem and react to the early warning that they may
get from state reports, move the attention that some LEAs pay to
attendance issues beyond a focus on truancy only, provide a
foundation upon which the complete vision of a comprehensive
data system and pupil attendance early warning systems could be
fleshed out once sufficient federal or state funds are
available, provide benefits in terms of moving the state's
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educational data system to be more comprehensive in nature, and
provide a summary of attendance data to receiving LEAs when
pupils transfer from one LEA to another.
Analysis Prepared by : Gerald Shelton / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN: 0005976