BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1521
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1521 (Brownley)
As Amended April 19, 2012
Majority vote
EDUCATION 7-2 APPROPRIATIONS 16-0
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|Ayes:|Brownley, Ammiano, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, |
| |Buchanan, Butler, Carter, | |Blumenfield, Bradford, |
| |Eng, Williams | |Charles Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Davis, Gatto, Hall, Hill, |
| | | |Lara, Mitchell, Nielsen, |
| | | |Norby, Solorio, Wagner |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Halderman, Wagner | | |
| | | | |
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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 and charter schools 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 or charter school 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 charter schools and prohibits the cost
from exceeding the marginal cost of the assessment.
4)Eliminates the following end-of-course high school level
assessments: Integrated Math 1-3, and Integrated/Coordinated
Science 1-4.
AB 1521
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FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)General Fund/Proposition 98 (GF/98) savings of approximately
$660,000 to CDE by eliminating the integrated assessments, as
specified. This savings is attributed to reduced Standardized
Testing and Reporting (STAR) program contracts costs.
According to CDE, 77,774 pupils took integrated assessments in
math and science in 2011. Likewise, there will likely be
minimal STAR apportionment costs savings, likely less than
$75,000.
2)Minor GF/98 cost pressure, likely less than $75,000, to
authorize school districts and charter schools to assess their
non-English learner pupils who are enrolled in dual immersion
programs, as specified. This bill requires school districts
and charter schools to pay for the administration of this
assessment at their own expense. According to CDE, it
allocated approximately $101,000 GF/98 to school districts for
the administration of the primary language assessment to
English learner (EL) pupils in 2010.
3)The 2011 Budget Act allocated a total of $53.6 million for the
STAR program, which includes the standards-aligned primary
language assessment. Of this amount, $42.2 million are GF/98
funds and $11.4 are federal Title VI funds, which can be used
for purpose related to implementing standards and assessments.
COMMENTS : This bill eliminates the non-federally required
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 and charter schools for
administration to their non-English learners enrolled in dual
immersion programs.
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. The
end-of-course integrated assessments in math and science
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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
has experienced a significant two-thirds decrease over the last
four years, according to CDE.
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
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 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."
Standards-based Tests in Spanish (STS): SB 1448 (Alpert),
Chapter 233, Statutes of 2004, required the development of
standards-aligned primary language assessments for EL pupils.
The STS is the adopted primary language assessment and is
available in reading/language arts and mathematics for grades
2-11, inclusive. Additionally, algebra 1 and geometry
end-of-course exams are also available in Spanish.
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The STS is currently administered to 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 may also 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.
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.
Allowing English speaking pupils enrolled in a 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.
Previous legislation: 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.
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AB 252 (Coto) of 2007, a substantially similar measure,
authorizes the CDE, subject to approval by the State Board of
Education and the Department of Finance, to make a primary
language assessment available to public schools for use in
assessing 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."
Analysis Prepared by : Marisol Avi�a / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN: 0003371