BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1521
Page 1
Date of Hearing: March 21, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
AB 1521 (Brownley) - As Amended: March 14, 2012
SUBJECT : Pupil assessment
SUMMARY : Makes revisions to the state's assessment system by
making the standards-aligned primary language assessment
available for administration to non-English learners enrolled in
dual immersion programs and eliminating various non-federally
required assessments, as specified. Specifically, this bill :
1)Authorizes the California Department of Education (CDE) to
make the standards- aligned primary language assessment
available to school districts to assess non-English learners
and redesignated fluent-English proficient (RFEP) pupils
enrolled in dual immersion programs that include the primary
language of the assessment.
2)Requires a school district that chooses to administer a
primary language assessment to do so at its own expense and to
enter into an agreement with the state testing contractor for
this purpose.
3)Requires the cost for the assessment to be the same for all
school districts and prohibits the cost from exceeding the
marginal cost of the assessment.
4)Eliminates testing under the Standardized Testing and
Reporting (STAR) Program in grade 9 for English language arts
(ELA) and the following end-of-course assessments: Integrated
Math 1-3, and Integrated/Coordinated Science 1-4.
EXISTING LAW requires:
1)The Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI), with approval
of the State Board of Education (SBE), to provide for the
development of an assessment instrument, to be called the
California Standards Test (CST) that measures the degree to
which pupils are achieving the academically rigorous content
standards and performance standards, to the extent standards
have been adopted by the SBE.
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2)The standards-based achievement tests to include certain
subject areas, as specified, and requires, at a minimum, a
direct writing assessment once in elementary school and once
in middle or junior high school and other items of applied
academic skills if deemed valid and reliable, and if resources
are made available for their use.
3)A pupil of limited English proficiency, who is enrolled in
grades 2 to 11, inclusive, to take a test in his or her
primary language if a test is available, and if fewer than 12
months have elapsed after his or her initial enrollment in any
public or nonpublic school in the state or if the pupil
receives instruction in his or her primary language.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : This bill eliminates the non -federally required
testing under the STAR Program in grade 9 for English language
arts, as well as end-of-course assessments in Integrated Math
1-3 and Integrated/Coordinated Science 1-4. Additionally, this
bill makes the standards-aligned primary language assessment
available to school districts for administration to their
non-English learners enrolled in dual immersion programs.
California's state assessment system is comprised of three major
testing components:
1) The Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program,
including the California Standards Test (CST), the
California Modified Assessment (CMA), the California
Alternate Performance Assessment (CAPA), the
Standards-based Test in Spanish (STS), and the Early
Assessment Program (EAP). Below is a summary of the
various requirements for pupils under the STAR program:
------------------------------------------------
| Assessment | Grade Level Tested |
|--------------------+---------------------------|
|English Language | 2-11 |
|Arts | |
|--------------------+---------------------------|
|English Language | 2-11 |
|Arts CAPA | |
|--------------------+---------------------------|
|English Language | 3-11 |
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|Arts CMA | |
|--------------------+---------------------------|
|Mathematics | 2-8 and EOC* in grades |
| | 9-11 |
|--------------------+---------------------------|
|Mathematics CAPA | 2-11 |
|--------------------+---------------------------|
|Mathematics CMA | 3-11 |
|--------------------+---------------------------|
|Science | 5, 8, and EOC* in grades |
| | 9-11 |
|--------------------+---------------------------|
|History-Social | 8-11 |
|Science | |
|--------------------+---------------------------|
|Primary Language |2 -11 |
|Assessment | |
|(Spanish) | |
------------------------------------------------
*EOC= End-of-course exam
2)The high school exit exam for which the California High School
Exit Exam (CAHSEE) is the designated exam. Pupils take the
CAHSEE in grade 10 for the first time and can take it up to an
additional 2 times in grade 11 and 5 times in grade 12, if the
student does not satisfy the requirement for passage.
3)The California English Language Development Test (CELDT),
which is administered to pupils whose primary language is not
English and are identified as English learners (ELs). The
test is administered until ELs are reclassified as fluent
English proficient (RFEP).
Many elements of the STAR Program are used by California to meet
the assessment and accountability requirements of the federal No
Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). NCLB requires each state
to administer a standards-aligned achievement test in reading
and mathematics to all students in grades 3-8 and grade 10; it
also requires science testing in grades 5, 8, and 10. Testing
of grade 9 students is not necessary to meet any of these
federal requirements. This bill proposes to eliminate testing
pupils in English language arts in grade 9 thus the ELA CST, CMA
and CAPA would be eliminated, thereby restoring instructional
time for pupils.
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The end-of-course integrated assessments in math and science
proposed to be eliminated through this bill are not required by
federal law nor are they used for federal accountability
purposes. Furthermore, the administration of these assessments
have experienced a significant 2/3 decrease over the last four
years, according to CDE. Below is a chart that shows the number
of pupils that took these various end-of-course exams in 2011:
-----------------------------------------------
| Assessment | Number of pupils |
| | tested in 2011 |
|-------------------------+---------------------|
|CST Integrated Math 1 |12,018 |
|-------------------------+---------------------|
|CST Integrated Math 2 |4,506 |
|-------------------------+---------------------|
|CST Integrated Math 3 |732 |
|-------------------------+---------------------|
|CST |54,950 |
|Integrated/Coordinated | |
|Science 1 | |
|-------------------------+---------------------|
|CST |4,119 |
|Integrated/Coordinated | |
|Science 2 | |
|-------------------------+---------------------|
|CST |1,292 |
|Integrated/Coordinated | |
|Science 3 | |
|-------------------------+---------------------|
|CST |157 |
|Integrated/Coordinated | |
|Science 4 | |
-----------------------------------------------
Integrated assessments are administered to pupils enrolled in
integrated math and/or science courses. These courses
incorporate the different disciplines within each subject area.
For example, integrated science covers biology, chemistry,
physics, and earth science in one course. It should be noted
that nothing in this bill would preclude school districts from
continuing to offer integrated math and/or science courses.
Given the integrated nature of the common core state standards,
there is a possibility that integrated assessments will continue
to be part of California's assessment system in the future, and
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nothing in this bill prohibits the inclusion of such assessments
in a future assessment system. As the state moves to a new set
of standards in math and potentially science, there may be
opportunities to design high-quality integrated assessments.
The author states, "AB 1521 takes a modest step towards
streamlining the State's assessment system by eliminating a
number of end-of-course exams that are not required by federal
law and have in recent years had low student demand. The
elimination of various non-essential assessments will streamline
the assessment system, generate cost savings, and restore
valuable instructional time."
Governor Brown has very publicly called for a reduction in the
number of assessments that pupils are required to take so as to
restore instructional time. In his State of the State address,
the Governor stated. "I believe it is time to reduce the number
of tests and get the results to teachers, principals and
superintendents in weeks, not months."
The Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) is currently
conducting a review and developing recommendations and a plan
for the reauthorization of California's assessment system, as
required by AB 250, Chapter 608, Statutes of 2011. The
recommendations will guide future work and decisions about
California's future assessment system, which will require
subsequent legislation. Some could argue that the elimination
of any assessment should wait until the SPI issues
recommendations on the assessment system. However, others may
argue that the elimination of few assessments, as proposed by
this bill, does not disrupt the work of the SPI nor does it
disrupt the existing assessment and accountability system.
Standards-based Tests in Spanish (STS) : SB 1448 (Alpert),
Chapter 233, Statutes of 2004, required the development of
standards-aligned primary language assessments for English
learner pupils. The CDE began the development of the
Standards-based Tests in Spanish (STS) in reading/language arts
and mathematics in 2006 and started administering the test in
2007 in grades 2-4, inclusive. In 2008 the STS was administered
in grades 2-7, inclusive and beginning in 2009, the STS was
administered in grades 2-11, inclusive. Additionally, algebra 1
and geometry end-of-course exams are also available in Spanish.
According to CDE's Standardized Testing and Reporting Program:
Annual Report to the Legislature, Spanish is the only language
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for which a primary language test has been designated because no
tests for languages other than Spanish have been submitted by
bidders to the SBE for consideration in response to requests for
submission.
The STS is currently administered to English learners (ELs) who
either receive instruction in their primary language or have
been enrolled in a school in the United States (U.S.) for less
than 12 months and these tests are administered in addition to
the English California Standards Test (CST) in reading/language
arts and mathematics. The STS results are not used for state or
federal accountability purposes. At the option of a school
district, the STS can be administered to an EL pupil who has
been enrolled in the U.S. for 12 months or more and who is not
receiving instruction in his or her primary language.
Currently, school districts that operate Spanish/English dual
immersion programs are not authorized to administer the STS to
native English speakers or to redesignated
fluent-English-proficient (RFEP) pupils enrolled in these
programs. The reason behind this is that the intent of
developing these tests was to provide English learners a means
of demonstrating mastery of the standards in their primary
language. However an argument can be made that these
assessments can be a valuable tool to provide information to
teachers relative to how native English speakers enrolled in
dual immersion programs are doing in acquiring academic content
in the Spanish language. Pupils enrolled in Spanish/English
dual immersion programs that start with a 90/10 model in
kindergarten and continuing in the program year after year, can
find themselves in a situation in which by the time they are
required to take the state assessments in grade 2, their
dominant academic language is Spanish, yet they have to take the
CST in English. This creates a potential scenario in which
these pupils may feel disadvantaged if given an assessment in a
language other than the language they are predominantly
instructed in.
Dual language education programs integrate native English
speakers and native speakers of the target language to provide
instruction presented through two languages. Dual language
education programs, also known as bilingual immersion, dual
language immersion, two-way immersion, or two-way bilingual
programs, have the goal of developing bilingualism and
biliteracy in English and another language.
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Allowing English speaking pupils enrolled in dual immersion
program to take the primary language assessment does not
eliminate the requirement for these pupils to take the CST in
English and does not replace it for state accountability
purposes, but it rather offers school districts an additional
tool to measure progress of these pupils.
Arguments in support: The Superintendent of Public Instruction,
the sponsor of this bill, writes, "AB 1521 proposes to
streamline the state's assessment system by eliminating several
high school level assessments that are not federally mandated.
California students spend countless hours of their classroom
experience taking numerous assessments. Living in a globally
competitive market place, California students need to have as
much time as possible to receive instruction and thereby learn
the skills that will best equip them for college and careers
upon completion of high school. The elimination of some of the
non-federally required assessments will free up some of the
hours that students spend taking assessments and allow for more
instruction and hands-on learning. Additionally, the
elimination of various non-federally mandated assessments will
streamline the assessment system and generate cost savings to
the state."
Previous legislation : AB 250 (Brownley), Chapter 608, Statutes
of 2011, establishes a process for the implementation of the
common core academic content standards by developing and
adopting curriculum frameworks, instructional materials, and
professional development opportunities that are aligned to the
common core academic content standards and are appropriate for
all pupils. AB 250 also extends the operative date of the
Standardized Testing and Reporting program by one year, to July
2014 and requires the SPI to develop recommendations and a plan
for the reauthorization of the state's assessment system.
AB 409 (Alejo) authorizes the administration of a primary
language assessment to nonlimited-English-proficient and
redesignated fluent-English-proficient (RFEP) pupils enrolled in
dual immersion programs. AB 409 was held in the Senate
Appropriations Committee.
AB 252 (Coto) of 2007, a substantially similar measure,
authorizes the CDE, subject to approval by the SBE and the
Department of Finance, to make a primary language assessment
available to public schools for use in assessing
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nonlimited-English-proficient pupils enrolled in a dual language
immersion program that includes the primary language of the
assessment. AB 252 was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger with
the following veto message:
"English-speaking pupils who have voluntarily enrolled in dual
language immersion programs are currently required to take the
California Standards Test in English. Therefore, another
assessment is not needed to measure their mastery of
state-adopted academic content standards in another language.
Furthermore, I am concerned that this bill creates significant
General Fund cost pressures for the state to develop
standards-aligned primary language tests in other languages.
Given the state's current fiscal climate it is not prudent for
me to enact this measure."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
State Superintendent of Public Instruction (Sponsor)
California Association for Bilingual Education
Californians Together Coalition
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Marisol Avi�a / ED. / (916) 319-2087