BILL NUMBER: AB 250 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Brownley
FEBRUARY 3, 2011
An act to amend Sections 60204 and 60601 of, to add Sections
60200.8, 60207, 60208, and 60640.1 to, and to repeal Section 60200.1
of, the Education Code, relating to instructional materials.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 250, as introduced, Brownley. Instructional materials.
(1) Existing law requires the State Board of Education to adopt
basic instructional materials for use in kindergarten and grades 1 to
8, inclusive, for governing boards and authorizes the board to
establish criteria for that purpose. Existing law sets forth a
schedule for the submission of instructional materials to the state
board for adoption. Notwithstanding this schedule, existing law
prohibits the state board from adopting instructional materials or
following the procedures related to that adoption until the 2013-14
school year.
This bill would delete the schedule for submission of
instructional materials for foreign languages and health and the
exception to the requirement that criteria for the evaluation of
instruction be approved when curriculum frameworks are approved or at
least 30 months before the date that the materials are to be
approved for adoption. The bill would require that materials for
mathematics be submitted for adoption in 2014, and for English
language arts in 2016.
(2) Existing law establishes the Academic Content Standards
Commission and requires the commission to develop internationally
benchmarked academic content standards, at least 85% of which are
required to be the common core academic standards developed by the
Common Core State Standards Initiative Consortium or another
specified interstate collaboration. Existing law requires the state
board by August 2, 2010, to either adopt the standards proposed by
the commission or reject them.
This bill would require the state board to adopt revised
curriculum frameworks and evaluation criteria that are aligned to the
common core academic content standards developed by the consortium
and adopted by the board for mathematics and language arts no later
than December 31, 2012, and March 1, 2013, respectively. The bill
would require state board policies to ensure that curriculum
frameworks for kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, and
instructional materials for kindergarten and grades 1 to 8,
inclusive, include the English language development standards as
adopted by the state board in 1997 and revised thereafter, and
English language development strategies in the four core subjects of
mathematics, science, history-social science, and English language
arts. The bill also would require state board policies to ensure that
curriculum frameworks for kindergarten and grades 1 to 12,
inclusive, and instructional materials for kindergarten and grades 1
to 8, inclusive, include strategies to address the needs of pupils
with disabilities in the four core subjects of mathematics, science,
history-social science, and English language arts.
(3) Existing law requires the Curriculum Development and
Supplemental Materials Commission to recommend curriculum frameworks
for adoption by the state board, develop criteria for evaluating
instructional materials, study and evaluate instructional materials
submitted for adoption, recommend to the state board instructional
materials that it approves for adoption, and review specified
educational films or video recordings.
This bill would delete the requirement that the commission study
and evaluate instructional materials, recommend instructional
materials, and review specified educational films or video
recordings. The bill would require the criteria developed for
evaluating instructional materials to include directions to
publishers to align the materials with English language development
standards and incorporate strategies to address the needs of English
learners and pupils with disabilities.
The bill would state the intent of the Legislature to provide to
local educational agencies a process by which they may identify,
evaluate, and recommend instructional materials for adoption to the
state board, ensure that school districts are provided with as many
standards-aligned instructional material options as possible, and
offer opportunities for professional development training to teachers
to support the transition to and implementation of the common core
academic content standards adopted by the state board.
(4) Existing law, the Leroy Greene California Assessment of
Academic Achievement Act (hereafter the Greene Act), requires the
Superintendent to design and implement a statewide pupil assessment
program, and requires school districts, charter schools, and county
offices of education to administer to each of its pupils in grades 2
to 11, inclusive, certain achievement tests, including a
standards-based achievement test pursuant to the Standardized Testing
and Reporting (STAR) Program.
Existing law authorizes a school district, at its option to
administer to pupils with limited English proficiency who are
enrolled in any of grades 2 to 11, inclusive, a second achievement
test in their primary language. Existing law requires the department
to use funds made available pursuant to Title VI of the federal No
Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.) and
appropriated by the annual Budget Act for the purpose of developing
and adopting primary language assessments that are aligned to the
state academic content standards.
This bill would authorize the department, subject to approval by
the state board, to make these primary language assessments available
to school districts to assess their nonlimited-English-proficient
pupils who are enrolled in a dual language immersion program and
their redesignated fluent-English-proficient pupils. The bill would
require a school district that chooses to administer a primary
language assessment pursuant to this authority to do so at its own
expense.
(5) Existing law makes the Greene Act inoperative on July 1, 2013,
and repeals it on January 1, 2014.
This bill would make the act inoperative on July 1, 2014, and
would repeal the act as of January 1, 2015. By extending the time
period during which school districts are required to perform various
duties relating to the administration of achievement tests, the bill
would impose a state-mandated local program.
(6) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the
Curriculum Support and Reform Act of 2011.
SEC. 2. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(1) California's pupils need and deserve access to instructional
programs that reflect the knowledge and skills that will prepare them
to be successful in college, careers, citizenship, and the global
economy.
(2) To ensure that all pupils are provided with resources and
learning expectations necessary to succeed and be competitive in the
21st century, it is imperative that the state's curriculum and
assessment system be based on high-quality, research- and
evidence-based academic content standards and promote creativity,
innovation, critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, and
communication skills in all content areas.
(3) The state's current testing system includes grade level and
course specific tests, alternative and modified assessments for
pupils with special needs, primary language content tests in Spanish,
an English language development test, a high school exit
examination, and physical fitness tests.
(4) Extending much of the state assessment system by an additional
year will allow the Legislature to examine current federal
initiatives and the call for the development of common assessment,
and to position the state's assessments in a manner that will allow
the state to adapt to changes in federal law, including the
reauthorization of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education
Act, before considering proposals for the reauthorization of the
state assessment system.
(5) The recent adoption of California's new common core content
standards will only have an impact on the academic achievement of the
state's pupils if the state works to support teachers and improve
instruction by developing and adopting curriculum frameworks,
instructional materials, professional development, and assessments
that are aligned to the standards and appropriate for all pupils.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature, in enacting this act, to
do all of the following:
(1) Start a process for the development and adoption of curriculum
frameworks and instructional materials that are aligned to the state'
s common core academic content standards.
(2) Extend the operative date of the state's assessment system by
one year and position the state's assessments in a manner that will
give the state flexibility to adapt to changes in federal law and
transition to high-quality assessments that are aligned to the common
core standards.
(3) Create professional development training opportunities that
support teachers in delivering to all pupils curriculum and
instruction that are aligned to the state's common core academic
standards.
SEC. 3. Section 60200.1 of the Education Code is repealed.
60200.1. (a) (1) The instructional materials described in
paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 60200 shall be submitted
to the state board for adoption in 2008.
(2) The instructional materials for foreign languages shall be
submitted to the state board for adoption in 2012.
(3) The instructional materials for health shall be submitted to
the state board for adoption in 2013.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the requirement in
paragraph (6) of subdivision (c) of Section 60200 that other
criteria be approved at least 30 months before the date that the
materials are to be approved for adoption shall not apply if all of
the following conditions are met:
(1) The criteria adopted are consistent with the content standards
adopted by the state board in each of the four core content areas
for which standards are adopted.
(2) The schedule for the adoption of instructional materials
requires instructional materials for history-social science to be
adopted in November 2011, and instructional materials for science to
be adopted by November 2012.
(3) The state board approves criteria for the adoption of
instructional materials in history-social science at least 18 months
before the state board adopts instructional materials in
history-social science.
(4) The state board approves the criteria for the adoption of
instructional materials for science at least 24 months before the
state board adopts instructional materials in science.
SEC. 4. Section 60200.8 is added to the Education Code, to read:
60200.8. Notwithstanding Section 60200.7, instructional materials
aligned to the content standards adopted pursuant to Section 60605.8
shall be submitted for adoption as follows:
(a) Mathematics in 2014.
(b) English language arts in 2016.
SEC. 5. Section 60204 of the Education Code is amended to read:
60204. The commission shall do all of the following :
(a) Recommend curriculum frameworks to the state board.
(b) Develop criteria for evaluating instructional materials
submitted for adoption so that the materials adopted shall adequately
cover the subjects in the indicated grade or grades and comply with
the provisions of Article 3 (commencing with Section 60040) of
Chapter 1. The criteria developed by the commission shall be
consistent with the duties of the state board pursuant to Section
60200. The criteria shall be public information and shall be provided
in written or printed form to any person requesting such
that information.
(c) Study and evaluate instructional materials submitted for
adoption.
(d) Recommend to the state board instructional materials that it
approves for adoption.
(e) Review and have the authority to adopt the educational films
or video recordings produced in accordance with Article 3 (commencing
with Section 52740) of Chapter 11 of Part 28.
(1) The criteria shall include directions to publishers to align
both lessons and teacher's editions, as appropriate, with English
language development standards and incorporate strategies to address,
at every grade level and subject, the needs of English learners,
including, but not limited to, speakers of Spanish, Vietnamese,
Filipino, Cantonese, Hmong, and Korean.
(2) The criteria also shall include directions to publishers to
incorporate instructional strategies to address the needs of pupils
with disabilities in both lessons and teacher's editions, as
appropriate, at every grade level and subject.
(f)
(c) Recommend to the state board policies and
activities to assist the department and school districts in the use
of the curriculum framework and other available model curriculum
materials for the purpose of guiding and strengthening the quality of
instruction in the public schools.
SEC. 6. Section 60207 is added to the Education Code, to read:
60207. (a) Notwithstanding Section 60200.7, the state board shall
adopt revised curriculum frameworks and evaluation criteria that are
aligned to the content standards adopted pursuant to Section 60605.8
for mathematics and English language arts no later than December 31,
2012, and March 1, 2013, respectively.
(b) State board policies shall ensure that curriculum frameworks
for kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, and instructional
materials for kindergarten and grades 1 to 8, inclusive, include the
English language development standards as adopted by the state board
in 1997 and revised thereafter, and English language development
strategies in the four core subjects of mathematics, science,
history-social science, and English language arts.
(c) State board policies shall ensure that curriculum frameworks
for kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, and instructional
materials for kindergarten and grades 1 to 8, inclusive, include
strategies to address the needs of pupils with disabilities in the
four core subjects of mathematics, science, history-social science,
and English language arts.
SEC. 7. Section 60208 is added to the Education Code, to read:
60208. It is the intent of the Legislature to do all of the
following:
(a) Provide to local educational agencies a process that is
consistent with the implementation of standards-based curricula and
the principle of local control and by which they may identify,
evaluate, and recommend instructional materials for adoption to the
state board.
(b) Ensure that school districts are provided with as many
standards-aligned instructional material options as possible, so that
educators may have many rigorous options in choosing the best
materials that meet the needs of all pupils, including English
learners and pupils with disabilities, and that ensure that their
pupils are able to master the academic content standards adopted by
the state board pursuant to Section 60605.8.
(c) Offer opportunities for professional development training to
teachers to support the transition to and implementation of the state'
s common core academic content standards adopted by the state board
pursuant to Section 60605.8.
SEC. 8. Section 60601 of the Education Code is amended to read:
60601. This chapter shall become inoperative on July 1,
2013 2014 , and as of January 1, 2014
2015 , is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute that is enacted before January 1, 2014
2015 , deletes or extends the dates on which it becomes
inoperative and is repealed.
SEC. 9. Section 60640.1 is added to the Education Code, to read:
60640.1. Subject to approval by the state board, the department
may make a primary language assessment developed pursuant to
subparagraph (A) of paragraph (3) of subdivision (f) of Section 60640
available to school districts to assess their
nonlimited-English-proficient pupils, as defined in Section 60643,
who are enrolled in a dual language immersion program that includes
the primary language of the assessment, and their redesignated
fluent-English-proficient pupils. A school district that chooses to
administer a primary language assessment pursuant to this subdivision
shall do so at its own expense and shall enter into an agreement for
that purpose with the state testing contractor, as described in
subparagraph (C) of paragraph (3) of subdivision (f) of Section
60640, subject to the approval of the department. The cost for the
assessment shall be the same for all school districts and shall not
exceed the marginal cost of the assessment.
SEC. 10. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this
act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local
agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant
to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of
the Government Code.