BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1422
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 30, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
SB 1422 (Romero) - As Amended: April 19, 2010
SENATE VOTE : 22-4
SUBJECT : Teachers: pupil survey.
SUMMARY : Authorizes the student government of a high school to
establish a committee to develop a survey to solicit student
opinions of different class aspects and teacher effectiveness,
and establishes requirements for the administration and results
of the survey. Specifically, this bill :
1)Authorizes the student government of a school that maintains
any of grades 9-12 to establish a committee of high school
students and teachers to develop a survey by which students
may provide feedback to teachers for the purpose of fostering
improved communication between students and teachers and
improving individual classes and teaching methods for future
generations of students; specifies that the survey developed
by the committee shall solicit student opinion on different
aspects of a class and the effectiveness of the teacher; and,
authorizes the committee to annually revise the survey.
2)Specifies the administration of the survey and the survey
results shall conform to all of the following requirements:
a) Teachers annually shall be provided the survey and may
survey the pupils in the classes they teach.
b) Survey responses shall be confidential and shall be made
known only to the teacher whose class is surveyed.
c) No administrator or any other school or district
official shall view or have access to any survey responses
without the express written consent of the teacher to whom
the survey relates.
d) Survey responses shall not become part of a teacher's
personnel record.
e) The survey and any responses shall not be used for
SB 1422
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collective bargaining purposes.
f) The survey responses shall not be included in, nor shall
they be used to influence the existing teacher evaluation
process, if any, in a school or district in which the
survey is conducted.
EXISTING LAW requires:
1)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. (Education Code 44660 et. seq.)
2)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; and,
specifies that employee performance, instructional techniques,
adherence to curricular objectives, and maintenance of a
suitable learning environment are all among the items
evaluated. (Education Code 44660 et. seq.)
3)The evaluation and assessment of the performance of each
certificated employee shall be made on a continuing basis as
follows:
a) At least once each school year for probationary
personnel.
b) At least every other year for personnel with permanent
status.
c) At least every five years for personnel with permanent
status who have been employed at least 10 years with the
school district, as specified. (Education Code 44664)
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill is keyed non-fiscal.
COMMENTS : According to the author, currently there is no
organized system in public schools for students to provide
feedback to teachers on their instruction methods. The goal is
to provide a secure mechanism for teachers to incorporate, even
on a voluntary basis, student feedback into their own efforts at
professional development and curriculum improvement. Surely
this is a reasonable request of California students, and no one
knows what students need in regards to their personal learning
styles better than they do. This measure will enable teachers
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to tap into valuable instructional insight while empowering and
engaging students.
The California Association of Student Councils (CASC) is the
sponsor of 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 teachers with valuable
information regarding what can be done in order to adjust their
teaching styles to student needs [and] allow teachers to focus
on the specific, relevant subject matters that students need
more help with."
Prior Legislation : SB 688 (Romero) from 2009, which was held on
the Senate Appropriations Committee Suspense file, would have
established a process by which school district governing boards
could survey pupils to provide confidential feedback to high
school teachers and required the California Department of
Education (CDE), in consultation with the CASC, to develop model
guidelines for the teacher evaluation process, to be posted on
CDE's Web site by January 1, 2011.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file.
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Chelsea Kelley / ED. / (916) 319-2087