BILL NUMBER: AB 532 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 30, 2011
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 15, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 27, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 26, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member V. Manuel Pérez
FEBRUARY 15, 2011
An act to add Section 52052.7 to the Education Code, relating to
pupil assessments.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 532, as amended, V. Manuel Pérez. Pupil assessments.
Existing law, the Public Schools Accountability Act of 1999,
provides a state assessment program for schools, an intervention
program for low-performing schools, and a reward system for
high-achieving schools, as specified.
This bill would require California's assessments to be valid,
reliable, and comparable for pupils who are limited English
proficient and for pupils with developmental disabilities. The bill
would require any primary language assessment developed by the State
Department of Education and administered to
limited-English-proficient pupils, as identified pursuant to existing
law, to be included considered for inclusion
in the state's assessment system, or in any successor system,
and in any measure or index developed or used for the state's federal
and state accountability system and any successor system. The bill
would also require any successor system to the state's assessment
system adopted on or after the effective date of this act to include
modifications and accommodations and
variations for limited-English-proficient pupils, as determined
by the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The bill would
require, if California joins a national testing consortium as a
governing state, that the Superintendent recommend to the consortium
that a state assessment system include modifications to achievement
tests in order to eliminate linguistic complexity.
The bill would require any existing advisory committee,
work group, task force, and or
technical assistance group in existence on or after July 1,
2012, that provides is operating on
or after July 1, 2012, and that is either required by the
Legislature or the Governor or established by the Superintendent or
the State Board of Education, to provide recommendations to the
Superintendent and the State Board of Education
state board on future state and federal
assessment and accountability systems to make specified
determinations. The bill would require the testing contractor chosen
for the purpose of developing the primary language assessments to
report to the state board in writing as to how certain requirements
regarding validity, reliability, and comparability were met.
state or federal as sessment or
accountability systems, to provide to the Superintendent and the
state board additional recommendations relating to systems of
assessment and accountability.
The bill would make these provisions operative on July 1, 2012.
This bill would also make various findings and declarations.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(1) The federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (20 U.S.C. Sec.
6301 et seq.) requires states to test all pupils in a valid and
reliable manner and requires, to the extent practicable, that pupils
with limited English proficiency be tested in the language and form
most likely to yield accurate data on their academic subject area
knowledge.
(2) Approximately one of every four pupils enrolled in California'
s public schools is identified as a pupil with limited English
proficiency.
(3) The current academic assessment system does not allow pupils
with limited English proficiency to accurately demonstrate their
abilities in academic subject areas.
(4) Exclusive reliance on academic assessments designed for native
English speakers to gauge the academic progress of pupils with
limited English proficiency violates standards for educational
testing established by recognized national educational institutions,
including the American Educational Research Association, the American
Psychological Association, and the National Council on Measurement
in Education.
(5) Valid and reliable academic assessment data is critical to the
education accountability system.
(6) An accountability system that would yield more accurate data
on the academic ability of pupils with limited English proficiency is
needed for instructional use and to meet federal requirements.
(7) Local educational agencies should not experience negative
consequences solely based on the scores of recent immigrant pupils on
tests that do not provide valid and reliable diagnostic
information about what these pupils know and can do in
academic subject areas.
(b) California's current assessment and accountability system will
sunset in 2013 and the development of a new generation of
assessments aligned to the recently approved common core academic
content standards is occurring at the federal
national level. Thus, now is the time to
comprehensively address the issue of valid and reliable assessments
for limited-English-proficient pupils.
(c) It is therefore the intent of the Legislature to bring the
system of assessing the academic progress of pupils with limited
English proficiency into alignment with the requirements of the
federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et
seq.), including the requirement that states test all pupils in a
valid and reliable manner and, to the extent practicable, in the
language and form most likely to yield accurate data on academic
ability in academic subject areas.
SEC. 2. Section 52052.7 is added to the Education Code, to read:
52052.7. (a) California's state assessments shall be valid,
reliable, and comparable for pupils who are
limited-English-proficient limited English proficient
and for pupils with developmental disabilities, and the
provision of accommodations shall enable their participation in these
state assessments pursuant to the core assurances of the federal
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
(b) If California joins a national testing consortium as a
governing state, the Superintendent shall recommend to the consortium
that a state assessment system include modifications to achievement
tests in order to eliminate linguistic complexity, to the extent
practicable. The proposed modifications shall be based upon research
and be designed to maintain the rigor of the test.
(c)
(b) Any successor system to the state assessment system
adopted on or after the effective date of this section shall include
accommodations and modifications variations
for limited-English-proficient pupils that will allow for
meaningful participation in the English language assessments and that
address the unique linguistic and sociocultural needs of the
limited-English-proficient pupil without altering the test construct.
The Superintendent, in consultation with persons with demonstrated
experience in developing academic assessments specific to English
learners, shall determine the accommodations and
modifications variations used in any successor
system.
(d)
(c) (1) Any primary language assessment developed by
the department and administered to pupils identified as
limited-English-proficient limited English proficient
, pursuant to subdivision (m) of Section 52163 and Sections
52164.1 and 60810, shall be included
considered for inclusion in the state's assessment system, or
in any successor system, and shall be included
considered for inclusion in any measure or index that is
developed or used for the purposes of the state's federal and state
accountability system or any successor system.
(2) The primary language assessment developed pursuant to this
section shall meet the requirements regarding validity, reliability,
and comparability as specified by the testing standards jointly
developed by the American Educational Research Association, the
American Psychological Association, and the National Council on
Measurement in Education.
(2) In addition to being
(3) Pupils identified as
limited-English-proficient limited English proficient
pursuant to subdivision (m) of Section 52163 and Sections
52164.1 and 60810 , limited-English-proficient pupils
and who either receive instruction in their
primary language or have been enrolled in a school in the United
States for less than 12 months, shall be authorized to take the
primary language assessment.
(e) (1) Any
(d) (1) Any
existing advisory committee, work group, task force, or
technical assistance group that is in existence
operating on or after July 1, 2012, and that is
either required by the Legislature or the Governor, or established by
the Superintendent or the state board, to provide recommendations to
the Superintendent and the state board on the future state
assessment and accountability systems and federal accountability
system shall determine all of the following: state or
federal assessment or accountability systems, shall provide
recommendations to the Superintendent and the state board on all of
the following:
(A) How Whether to include primary
language assessments and their scores in the state's
assessment system and any successor assessment system and in the
state and federal accountability system and any successor
accountability system. systems of assessment and in
any successor state or federal systems of assessment and
accountability.
(C)
(B) How to modify the state's successor assessment system as
specified in subdivision (b).
(B) How to include the accommodations and
modifications variations in the state's
successor assessment system as specified in subdivision (c)
(b) .
(D)
(C) How to provide include
data on pupils who are English learners, their program of
instruction, and their English proficiency level as determined by the
California English Language Development Test in the current
state system of public school accountability, or any successor system
.
(E) How to provide disaggregated scores, based on
(D) Whether to include disaggregated
scores, based on limited-English-proficient status, English
language proficiency levels, English-only pupils,
fluent-English-proficient pupils, and limited-English-proficient
pupils who have been redesignated as fluent-English-proficient
in the current state system of public school accountability, or any
successor system .
(2) Any group identified in paragraph (1) shall include persons
with demonstrated expertise in developing academic assessments
specific to English learners and persons with demonstrated experience
in research and data specific to English learners.
(g)
(f) The primary language assessments developed pursuant to this
section shall meet the requirements regarding validity, reliability,
and comparability as specified by the testing standards jointly
developed by the American Psychological Association, the American
Educational Research Association, and the National Council on
Measurement in Education. The testing contractor chosen for the
purpose of developing the primary language assessments shall report
to the state board in writing as to how these requirements have been
met.
(e) This section shall become operative on July 1,
2012.