BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Alan Lowenthal, Chair
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 532
AUTHOR: V. Manuel Perez
AMENDED: May 27, 2011
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: June 29, 2011
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Kathleen
Chavira
SUBJECT : Pupil Assessments.
SUMMARY
This bill, beginning July 1, 2012, modifies the state's
assessment and accountability system as it pertains to
English learner students.
BACKGROUND
Existing law establishes the Standardized Testing and
Reporting (STAR) Program for the purpose of measuring the
degree to which pupils are achieving the state's academic
content and performance standards. The STAR Program
consists of four key components: the California Standards
Tests (CSTs); the California Modified Assessment (CMA) for
grades three through eight; the California Alternate
Performance Assessment (CAPA); and the Standards-based
Tests in Spanish (STS). All students in grades 2-11
participate in the STAR program, including students with
disabilities and students who are English learners. (EC §
60640 et. seq.)
Existing law requires the California Department of
Education (CDE) to develop and adopt primary language
assessments, in the dominant primary language of English
learners, that are aligned to the state academic content
standards for reading/language arts and mathematics. The
primary language assessments developed pursuant to this
statute are the Standards-Based Tests in Spanish (STS).
(EC § 60640)
Existing law requires Spanish-speaking English learners
enrolled in grades 2 through 11 who receive instruction in
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their primary language or who have been enrolled in public
school in the United States for less than 12 months to take
the STS. Students who take the STS are also required to
take the CSTs and/or CMA appropriate to their grade level.
School districts have the option of administering the STS
to Spanish-speaking English learners who have been in
school in the United States 12 or more months or who are
not receiving instruction in Spanish. English learners
whose primary language is not Spanish do not take the STS.
(EC § 60640(f) and § 60640(g))
Existing law (SB 1, Chapter 2, Fifth Extraordinary Session,
Statutes of 2010) provides for the statewide pupil
assessment program (which includes the STAR program) to
become inoperative on July 1, 2013, and expresses the
intent of the Legislature that the reauthorization of the
statewide pupil assessment system include specified
elements, including a plan for transitioning to a system of
high-quality assessments. SB 1 also establishes an
Academic Content Standards Commission to develop academic
content standards in language arts and mathematics that
will be internationally benchmarked and at least 85% the
same as the national standards being developed by the
Common Core State Standards Initiative. (EC § 60605.8)
Current law establishes the Public School Performance
Accountability Program under which the Superintendent of
Public Instruction (SPI), with approval of the State Board
of Education (SBE), is required to develop an Academic
Performance Index (API) to measure the performance of
schools. The API was proposed as a means of combining
multiple indicators of school performance into one
easy-to-compare index. The API is required to consist of a
variety of indicators including, but not limited to, the
results of the achievement test, attendance rates for
pupils in elementary schools, middle schools, and secondary
schools, and the graduation rates for pupils in secondary
schools. Current law also requires that the results of the
California Standards Tests and the California High School
Exit Exam constitute at least 60 percent of the API.
(Education Code § 52052)
ANALYSIS
This bill :
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1) Requires, if California joins a national testing
consortium as a governing state, that the SPI
recommend that a state assessment system include
modifications to achievement tests to eliminate
linguistic complexity, as specified.
2) Requires any successor system to the state assessment
system to include accommodations and modifications for
English learner students, as specified, and requires
the SPI, in consultation with persons with specified
experience, to determine the accommodations and
modifications to be used.
3) Requires any primary language assessment developed by
the CDE and administered to English learners to be
included in the state's assessment system or any
successor system and in any measure or index used for
state and federal accountability purposes.
4) Consistent with current law requirements, authorizes
English learner students who either receive
instruction in their primary language or have been
enrolled in a U.S. school for less than 12 months to
take the primary language assessment.
5) Requires any advisory committee, work group, task
force, or technical assistance group that provides
recommendations to the SPI and CDE on a future state
assessment system to determine specific issues related
to assessing English learner students and requires
that this group include persons with specified
demonstrated experience.
6) Requires primary language assessments developed
pursuant to the bill's provisions to meet requirements
regarding validity, reliability, and comparability as
specified by testing standards developed by specified
testing and research organizations and requires the
contractor chosen to develop the assessment to report
to the state board in writing as to how these
requirements were met.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author,
California's current assessment system does not
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provide valid, reliable or accurate data as to the
academic performance of students who are English
learners. Additionally, California's accountability
system does not include in the Academic Performance
Index calculation, the scores of the primary language
students enrolled in a public school for less than a
year or of English learner students enrolled in a
bilingual program. The author believes that this has
led to the misidentification of schools with
significant English learner enrollment as "low
performing" and has also led to the misidentification
of these students as academically "low-performing."
With the development of new assessments based upon the
common core standards and as the federal
accountability system is reauthorized, the author
believes it is an opportune time to address how
English learners will be included and accommodated in
any new accountability and assessment systems in
California and to ensure that the assessment system is
fair and provides valid, accurate, and reliable data
on English learners.
2) Significant population . English learners constitute
approximately 24 percent of the total enrollment in
California public schools. A majority of English
learners (68 percent) are enrolled in the elementary
grades, K-6, with 31 percent enrolled in the secondary
grades, 7-12. In 2009-10, over 1.6 million students
had indicated that a language other than English was
spoken at home and were administered a test of English
language proficiency.
3) What kinds of accommodations/modifications ? Similar
versions of this bill have delineated specific
examples of accommodations/modifications. These have
included bilingual glossaries, the ability to explain
and repeat test questions at the request of a student,
and translation of test directions. This bill leaves
it to the SPI, in consultation with persons experience
in developing academic assessments for English
learners, to determine what accommodations are
appropriate.
4) Prior legislation . SB 930 (Ducheny) was similar to
this bill and passed this committee by a vote of 6-2.
SB 930 was ultimately vetoed by the Governor, whose
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message read, in pertinent part:
The State Board of Education recently adopted the
Common Core standards, with additions from
California's existing standards. In anticipation
of a newly realigned assessment and
accountability system, this bill is premature.
This bill would require the inclusion of
additional components involving primary language
assessments, in the current, and any future,
assessment and accountability systems. This has
the potential to conflict with any of the
anticipated larger federal or state efforts on
assessments and accountability.
Ultimately, I continue to believe that schools
should remain focused on providing English
Learners with the necessary instruction and
support to become English proficient. As an
immigrant myself, I believe strongly that
learning English as quickly as possible is
essential to success in this state and this
country. Therefore, I want to ensure that there
are no disincentives in our school system to
achieving that goal for our English Learner
student population.
SUPPORT
Association of California School Administrators
California Association for Bilingual Education
California Federation of Teachers
California Immigrant Policy Center
California Teachers Association
Californians Together Coalition
Los Angeles Unified School District - Staff
OPPOSITION
None received.