BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 532
Author: V. Manuel Pérez (D)
Amended: 8/30/11 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 6-2, 6/29/11
AYES: Lowenthal, Alquist, Hancock, Liu, Price, Simitian
NOES: Blakeslee, Huff
NO VOTE RECORDED: Runner, Vargas, Vacancy
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 6-3, 8/25/11
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Lieu, Pavley, Price, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Emmerson, Runner
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 51-26, 6/2/11 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Pupil assessments
SOURCE : California Association for Bilingual Education
California Together Coalition
DIGEST : This bill, beginning July 1, 2012, modifies the
states assessment and accountability system as it pertains
to English learner students.
ANALYSIS : 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
CONTINUED
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California Standards Tests (CSTs), the California Modified
Assessment (CMA) for grades three through eight, the
California Alternate Performance Assessment, and the
Standards-based Tests in Spanish. All students in grades
2-11 participate in the STAR program, including students
with disabilities and students who are English learners.
Existing law requires the 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
STS.
Existing law requires Spanish-speaking English learners
enrolled in grades 2 through 11 who receive instruction in
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.
Existing law SB 1X5 (Steinberg), Chapter 2, Statutes of
2010, Fifth Extraordinary Session, 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
1X5 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 percent the same as the
national standards being developed by the Common Core State
Standards Initiative.
Existing law establishes the Public School Performance
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Accountability Program under which the Superintendent of
Public Instruction (SPI), with approval of the State Board
of Education, 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
CSTs and the California High School Exit Exam constitute at
least 60 percent of the API.
This bill:
1.Requires any successor system to the state assessment
system to include accommodations and variations for
limited English proficient pupils, as specified, and
requires the SPI, in consultation with persons with
demonstrated experience, to determine the accommodations
and variations to be used.
2.Requires any primary language assessment developed by CDE
and administered to limited English proficient pupils to
be considered for inclusion in the state's assessment
system or any successor system and in any measure or
index used for state and federal accountability purposes.
3. The primary language assessment, developed pursuant to
this bill, 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.
4.Consistent with current law requirements, authorizes
pupils identified as limited English proficient and 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.
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5.Requires any existing advisory committee, work group,
task force, or technical assistance group that is
operating on or after July 1, 2012, that is either
required by the Legislature or the Governor, or
established by the SPI or the SBE, to provide state or
federal assessment or accountability systems, to provide
recommendations to the SPI and the SBE on all of the
following:
A. Whether to include primary language assessments
and their scores in the state's systems of assessment
and in any successor state or federal systems of
assessment and accountability.
B. How to include the accommodations and variations
in the state's successor assessment system, as
specified.
C. How to 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.
D. Whether to include disaggregated scores, based on
limited-English-proficient pupils,
fluent-English-proficient pupils, and
limited-English-proficient pupils who have been
redesignated in the current state system of public
school accountability or any successor system.
Comments
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.
What kinds of accommodations/modifications ? Similar
versions of this bill have delineated specific examples of
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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.
Prior Legislation
SB 930 (Ducheny), 2009-10 Session, was similar to this
bill. Passed the Senate with a vote of 6-2. The bill was
subsequently vetoed by the Governor, whose 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."
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
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Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13
2013-14 Fund
English learner assessments----Substantial cost
pressure---- General
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/30/11)
California Association for Bilingual Education (co-source)
Californians Together Coalition (co-source)
Association of California School Administrators
California Federation of Teachers
California Immigrant Policy Center
California School Boards Association
California Teachers Association
Disability Rights California
Los Angeles Unified School District - Staff
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
California's current assessment system does not 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's
office 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's office 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.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 51-126, 6/2/11
AYES: Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Block,
Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan,
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Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter, Cedillo,
Chesbro, Davis, Dickinson, Eng, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes,
Furutani, Galgiani, Gatto, Gordon, Hayashi, Roger
Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Lara, Bonnie
Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Pan, Perea, V.
Manuel Pérez, Portantino, Skinner, Solorio, Swanson,
Torres, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez
NOES: Achadjian, Conway, Cook, Donnelly, Fletcher, Beth
Gaines, Garrick, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Harkey,
Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Logue, Mansoor, Miller, Morrell,
Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Silva, Smyth, Valadao,
Wagner
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bill Berryhill, Gorell, Hall
CPM:do 8/30/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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