BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1315
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Date of Hearing: May 4, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
AB 1315 (Furutani) - As Amended: April 26, 2011
SUBJECT : Gateway Demonstration Project
SUMMARY : Establishes Gateway Centers operated by local adult
schools and community colleges to develop programs and support
services to improve the transition of adult learners into
entry-level degree or certificate training programs that are
linked to employment. Specifically, this bill :
1)Makes declarations and findings that include the following:
a) While a college degree or industry-recognized vocational
certificate is the principal pathway to personal economic
security, many adult learners make no or minimal progress
with only an extremely small percentage attaining a
postsecondary certificate or degree or transferring to a
four-year college.
b) A range of basic skills programs are offered by the
California Department of Education (CDE) and the California
Community Colleges (CCC), but historically these programs
have not been well connected or coordinated, and current
institutional practices impede the effective transition of
students across systems from basic skills courses into
postsecondary education and training programs.
2)Establishes the Gateway Centers operated by local adult
schools and community colleges to leverage multiple education
and workforce investment funding streams and improve the
transition of adult learners into entry-level degree or
certificate training programs that are linked to employment.
3)Specifies that Gateway Centers will serve as learning
laboratories for wider reform of the delivery of adult basic
education services in California by creating innovative
service models that provide seamless transitions across adult
education, postsecondary education, and employment. Specifies
that Gateway Centers would develop and test models that
improve course alignment, accelerate student progress toward
certificate and degree attainment, leverage resources across
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basic skills providers, deliver high-quality curriculum and
instruction, provide student support services and educator
professional development, and lead to improved student
education and employment outcomes. These models will build
upon and leverage the curricula and faculty strengths of the
department's adult education programs and the CCC programs to
meet the needs of students from low-income and underserved
communities.
4)Requires the Gateway Centers to focus on developing models for
improving the transition of individuals with weak basic skills
to postsecondary education that provides opportunities for
employment in high-demand fields where there is career
advancement potential. A Gateway Center shall do all of the
following:
a) Be jointly designed by local and regional partners
including adult education and community college program
providers and other stakeholders including business and
industry.
b) Align or redesign regional assessment systems to provide
more consistent and improved diagnostic services to
identify needs of adult students and connect them to
learning strategies that prepare them for success in
academic and career technical courses.
c) Utilize instructional practices, such as contextualized
teaching, coursework, that accelerates student progress
toward skill attainment, customized and modularized
instruction, peer group support, and remediation, that is
provided while the student is concurrently enrolled in
credit-bearing college work.
d) Equip learners with the workplace competencies and
college-ready skills to prepare them for certificate and
degree programs.
e) Provide a range of student support services, such as
academic tutoring, counseling, and financial aid.
f) Offer professional development opportunities and
incentives to gateway instructors to enhance their
pedagogical skills and instruction practices.
g) Report on program outcomes for the purpose of continuous
program improvement and program evaluation.
h) Secure matching funds from local workforce investment
boards, community-based organizations, regional industry
partners, philanthropic or other sources.
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5)Establishes a Gateway Council to identify state and federal
resources, as well as potential philanthropic support, to fund
the Gateway Centers, develop a request for proposal process to
fund projects in different geographic areas of the state,
provide project oversight and report outcomes. Specifies that
the Gateway Council shall be comprised of the Superintendent
Public Instruction (SPI), the Chancellor of the CCC, and the
Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development, or their
designees. Requires the Gateway Council to do all of the
following:
a) Identify funding for Gateway Centers from sources such
as, but not limited to, the federal Workforce Investment
Act, the federal Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical
Education Act of 2006, career technical education funds,
community college and adult education funds, and other
grant or philanthropic sources.
b) Develop a request for application to participate in the
Gateway Centers no later than April 15, 2012.
c) Fund a minimum of three Gateway Center sites beginning
no later than September 1, 2012.
d) Prepare a final report or evaluation to the Legislature.
6)Requires the Gateway Council to submit a final report to the
Legislature by January 15, 2016, on the outcomes and lessons
learned from the Gateway Centers. Based on these outcomes and
an analysis of policy and institutional barriers to wider
implementation, the council shall make recommendations to the
Legislature regarding how the CDE and the CCC can align
institutions and programs more effectively, increase the
quality of instruction, and improve student outcomes,
particularly for underrepresented students of color.
7)Repeals on January 1, 2017, unless a later enacted statute
enacted on or before January 1, 2017, deletes or extends that
date.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes the establishment of adult school programs and
specifies eligibility criteria, programmatic requirements, and
the manner in which school districts' adult education revenue
limit per unit of average daily attendance (ADA) shall be
determined.
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2)Authorizes a county office of education to administer an adult
education program and authorizes each eligible school district
within its jurisdiction to participate in the program.
Authorizes a COE to report the ADA of each school district
participating in the adult education program for the purpose
of receiving revenue limit apportionments.
3)For the 2008-09 to 2012-13 fiscal years (FY), authorizes
recipients of specified categorical program funds to use those
funds for any educational purpose.
4)Establishes the CCCs, a postsecondary education system
consisting of community college districts and establishes the
Board of Governors of the CCCs. Requires the Board of
Governors and local districts to carry out the functions
specified in law.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Adult education : In California, adult education
programs are provided by both the K-12 system and CCCs. In the
K-12 system, the FY 2011-12 budget proposes $634.7 million for
adult education, provided by a number of delivery systems,
including public libraries, nonprofit and faith-based
organizations, prisons, and county offices of education, but the
largest providers are school districts. The CCC also receives
funds from K-12 adult education dollars to augment funds for
noncredit classes in the community college system. In 2007-08,
adult education programs enrolled 1.2 million adult learners in
almost 300 adult schools throughout California. By 2009-10, due
to budget cuts and local educational agencies' (LEA) authority
to use categorical program funds for any educational purpose,
adult education program enrollment decreased to 776,853. Adult
education is a categorical program and in 2009, as part of the
FY 2009-10 budget agreement, LEAs were given the flexibility to
use the funds from 39 categorical programs for any educational
purposes from FY 2007-08 through FY 2012-13 (SBX3 4 (Ducheny),
Chapter 12, Statutes of the 2009-10 Third Extraordinary
Session). The FY 2011-12 budget extended the flexibility
provision by two years.
The Legislative Analyst's Office, through a survey of school
districts, found that more districts are discontinuing
categorical programs in FY 2010-11 compared with FY 2009-10; 7%
of survey respondents reported discontinuing adult education
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programs.
Adult education schools offer the following ten programs: Adult
Basic Education, English as a Second Language (ESL), High School
Diploma or Adult Secondary Education, including General
Education Development certification, Citizenship Preparation,
Career Technical Education, Adults with Disabilities, Health and
Safety, Parent Education, Home Economics, and Older Adult.
The CCC is comprised of 72 districts, 112 colleges and enrolls
more than 2.9 million students. Community colleges provide
instruction leading to associate degrees in many disciplines,
basic skills education, English as a Second Language, remedial
education, workforce training and courses that prepare students
for transfer to four-year universities (source: California
Postsecondary Education Commission). In FY 2009-10, the CCC
allocated $257.1 million for 10 noncredit adult education
courses serving 83,171 full time equivalents. Four of the ten
courses (English as a second language, basic skills, short-term
vocational and workforce preparation) received $191 million in
additional funds from the K-12 adult education dollars, serving
59,188 full time equivalents.
According to the author, "This bill would incentivize local
workforce training and basic skills providers to develop
innovative models for improving the transition of low-skilled
individuals into postsecondary education that provides
opportunities for jobs with career advancement potential.
Furthermore, the bill requires better coordination between the
state's primary agencies charged with workforce development and
career preparation." This bill seeks to develop collaboration
between adult education programs administered by local
educational agencies (LEAs) and funded through the CDE and CCCs
to provide adult basic skill learners with opportunities to
secure higher education and training opportunities.
The bill establishes a Gateway Council comprised of the
Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Chancellor of the CCC,
and the Secretary of the Labor and Workforce Development or
their designees to identify and secure funding from state,
federal, and private sources to establish a grant program for
Gateway Centers as established by the bill. Gateway Centers are
joint ventures between local adult schools and community
colleges intended to develop strategies or programs, including
instructional courses, that link basic skills programs with
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community colleges programs for a coordinated system through
which adult learners are able to acquire basic skills while also
work towards community college credits or certification in a job
training program. For example, an adult education instructor
may be partnered with a community college career technical
education instructor so that students may acquire English skills
while learning skills for employment.
The author states that this bill is modeled after a program in
Washington State, the Integrated Basic Education and Skills
Training (I-Best) program. According to the Center for
Postsecondary and Economic Success, the I-Best program pairs an
adult basic education or English as a second language instructor
with a professional-technical faculty member who team teach to
provide both contextualized basic skills education and technical
job skills. Each of Washington State's 34 community and
technical colleges has at least one I-Best program, which has
resulted in a 55% overall increase in the number of students
enrolling in college-level coursework and basic skill courses
during the same year.
Link between education and career technical education : With the
downturn of the economy and in an effort to reduce the drop-out
rate, there have been much attention to linking education with
job training. The Legislature has seen numerous bills
integrating high school curriculum with career technical
education and middle and high schools with higher education.
The goals of this bill are similar to existing statute
established by SB 70 (Scott), Chapter 352, Statutes of 2005,
which encourages the establishment of economic and workforce
regional development centers and consortia (middle and junior
high schools or high schools and regional occupational centers
and programs) to improve linkages and career-technical education
pathways between high schools and community colleges, except
that this bill focuses on adult learners.
The concept of integrating adult education programs with
job-oriented courses has merit. However, staff notes the
following questions and issues with the drafting of the bill:
Source of funds : This bill directs the Gateway Council to
identify funding, including federal Workforce Investment Act,
federal Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of
2006, career technical education funds, community college and
adult education funds, and other grant or philanthropic sources.
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With the flexibility provisions in place until 2015, LEAs are
diverting adult education funds to fund salaries and other
operating costs and may not have adult education funds for the
pilot proposed by this bill. It is not clear whether any of the
other existing resources have funds that can be used for the
pilot program established by this bill.
Who is eligible ? This bill does not specify who is eligible to
participate in the Gateway Center programs. Presumably, the
target is adult education students taking English acquisition
and other basic skills courses. The author should specify
eligibility for participation in the Gateway Center programs.
Regional assessments : The bill requires Gateway Centers to
align or redesign regional assessment systems to diagnose the
needs of adult students in order to better identify learning
strategies. However, according to the author's office, there is
no currently no assessment system in place. As drafted, this
bill would result in each Gateway Center designing its own
diagnostic assessment. Staff recommends requiring the Gateway
Council, rather than Gateway Centers, to establish and determine
an appropriate assessment system for a statewide approach.
Required strategies : While the purpose of the bill is to
encourage development of innovative models of delivering adult
education, the bill specifies the strategies Gateway Centers
must employ, including utilizing specified instructional
practices such as contextualized teaching, customized and
modularized instruction, peer group support, and remediation
that is provided while the student is concurrently enrolled in
credit-bearing college work. Gateway Centers are also required
to provide student support services and professional development
to instructors. It is not clear whether a Gateway Council must
implement all of the identified strategies. Requiring all of
the specified strategies may be too prescriptive. The author
should consider changing the requirements to authorizations.
Gateway Council : The Gateway Council is required to develop a
request for application by April 15, 2012 and fund a minimum of
three Gateway Center sites no later than September 1, 2012.
What if funding has not been secured by then? Staff recommends
striking the dates specified in the bill and instead requiring
the Council to issue a request for application upon
identification of funds and selecting applications for funding
within five months after issuing the request for applications.
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The bill does not specify the criteria by which the Gateway
Council selects proposals. Staff recommends requiring the
Council to establish standards for selecting proposals. The
bill does not specify staffing for the Council or who will
assist the Council in developing the request for proposals and
evaluating the proposals. The author should consider making
these clarifications.
Evaluation . The bill requires the Gateway Council to submit a
report to the Legislature by January 15, 2016, but does not
specify the bases for determining success. Staff recommends
directing the evaluation to appropriate policy and fiscal
committees and requesting the author to establish criteria for
determining success.
Intent language ? Section 11901(b) of the bill appears to
articulate the goals of the Gateway Centers and should be
written as intent language. Staff recommends changing Section
11901(b) to intent language.
Transition Centers . According to the author's office, the CDE
recently funded ten transition centers that are similar to the
pilot project established by this bill. The funds for
transition centers are used for counseling, English learner
assistance, to provide assistance in transitioning an adult
school student to community college, and others. This bill
differs from this existing program in that this bill requires
participation from CCCs and the Secretary of Labor and Workforce
Development. A question can be raised on whether this can be
done currently.
Arguments in Support . The California Manufacturers & Technology
Association states, "More than 20 percent of California's adults
today lack a high school diploma or GED, and nearly 85 percent
of entering community college students and more than half of
entering CSU students do not have college-level math and/or
literacy skills. Meanwhile, a PPIC analysis tells us that in
ten years 75 percent of available jobs will require some
postsecondary education. Even as we expect baby boomers to
begin to retire in increasingly large numbers, current rates of
degree attainment in our public systems - and especially the
rates of basic skills students who move on to earn postsecondary
credentials - are far below those that will meet the need of
California's employers for skilled workers."
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Related legislation . AB 1310 (Furutani), requires the Secretary
of Labor and Workforce Development, the California Workforce
Investment Board, the CCC Office of the Chancellor, the CCC
Board of Governors, CDE, and the California Postsecondary
Education Commission to develop a strategic plan for connecting
the delivery of education and workforce development in the
state. The bill is pending in the Assembly Labor and Employment
Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Manufacturers & Technology Association
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087