BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Alan Lowenthal, Chair
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 1521
AUTHOR: Brownley
AMENDED: June 6, 2012
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: June 13, 2012
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Kathleen Chavira
SUBJECT : Standardized Testing and Reporting Program.
SUMMARY
This bill authorizes the administration of a primary language
assessment to pupils enrolled in dual immersion programs who
are not limited English proficient or who have been
redesignated as fluent English-proficient, and eliminates
several high school level tests.
BACKGROUND
Current law requires each school district, charter school, and
county office of education to administer designated
achievement tests to each pupil in grades 2 through 11 as part
of the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program.
Current law authorizes the STAR program until July 1, 2014.
(Education Code � 60640 and � 60601)
The STAR Program requires pupils to be tested in English
language arts, mathematics, science and history-social science
at specific grade levels. The STAR Program includes the
California Standards Tests (CSTs), the California Alternate
Performance Assessment (CAPA) and the California Modified
Assessment (CMA) administered to certain pupils with
disabilities, and a primary language assessment.
Current law:
1) Requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to
develop and adopt primary language assessments 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 �
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60640 (f)(3))
2) Requires a pupil who is limited English proficient and
receives instruction in his or her primary language or
has been enrolled in a school in the United States for
less than 12 months to take the primary language
assessment. These pupils must also take the CSTs or the
CMA appropriate to the pupil's grade level. (EC � 60640
(g))
3) Authorizes school districts to administer the primary
language assessment to pupils with limited English
proficiency (not restricted to pupils who have been in
the United States for less than a year or who receive
instruction in their primary language). (EC � 60640 (f))
ANALYSIS
This bill:
1) Authorizes the California Department of Education (CDE)
to make a primary language assessment available to school
districts and charter schools to assess pupils who are
enrolled in a dual language immersion program that
includes the primary language of the assessment and who:
a) Are not limited English proficient.
b) Have been redesignated fluent
English.
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 subject to the approval of the
CDE.
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 current end-of-course assessments in
Integrated Math and Integrated/Coordinated Science.
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5) Clarifies that the bill's provisions do not require the
California Department of Education to develop or
administer new assessments.
6) Declares the Legislature's intent that schools not be
assigned a failing performance level when calculating the
Academic Performance Index (API) as the result of the
absence of the end-of-course assessments eliminated by
the bill's provisions.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . Currently, school districts that
operate Spanish/English dual immersion programs are not
authorized to administer the Standards -based Tests in
Spanish (STS) to pupils enrolled in a dual immersion
program who are not limited English proficient,
essentially because the intent of the primary language
assessment was to provide English learners a means of
demonstrating mastery of the standards in their primary
language. The author contends that these assessments can
be a valuable tool for teachers to determine how native
English speakers enrolled in dual immersion programs are
doing in acquiring academic content in the Spanish
language.
In addition, the author notes that California students
can spend numerous hours taking assessments, which can
include the CSTs, CMA, CAPA, STS, EAP, CAHSEE, CELDT,
CAHSEE and the CELDT. According to the author, this bill
takes a modest step towards streamlining the State's
assessment system by eliminating end-of-course California
Standards Tests that are not required by federal law and
that have had low demand over the past several years.
Elimination of these tests will generate cost savings and
restore instructional time.
2) End-of-course exams in math and science courses . The
chart below outlines the end-of-course exams currently
available and administered in high school math and
science courses.
--------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------
This bill proposes elimination of the integrated math and
science end-of-course exams. Integrated courses
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incorporate different disciplines within each subject
area. An integrated science course, for example, could
cover biology, chemistry, physics, and earth science in
one course. According to the CDE, the end-of-course
integrated assessments proposed for elimination by this
bill have experienced a 2/3 decrease in administration
over the last four years.
1) "Assignment of 200" Policy . Beginning with the 2002 Base
API, the State Board of Education adopted a methodology
to account for students who do not take end-of-course
CSTs, first in mathematics and later in science. The
methodology, the "assignment of 200," assigned the lowest
value (called the performance level weighting factor) of
200 points (Far Below Basic) when calculating a school's
API in instances where the student did not take one of
these tests. This methodology addressed the fact that the
tests are end-of-course exams and not
universally-administered to all students within a grade
level. The policy goal of the SBE was to provide an
incentive for high schools to encourage students to
enroll in rigorous, standards-based mathematics and
science courses and correspondingly to reduce incentives
for high schools to discourage low-performing students
from enrolling in these courses. In 2007, the State Board
opted to maintain the policy of assigning 200 points but
to reduce its impact by lowering the test weights of the
end-of-course CSTs. This bill declares the Legislature's
intent that the elimination of certain end-of-course
assessments by this bill should not result in an
"Assignment of 200" when calculating a school's API.
2) Prior legislation .
a) AB 409 (Alejo, 2011) contained provisions
identical to those in this bill authorizing the
administration of a primary language assessment to
pupils enrolled in dual immersion programs. AB 409
was passed by this committee in June 2011 by a vote
of 9-1, but was ultimately held under submission in
the Senate Appropriations Committee.
b) AB 930 (Ducheny, 2010) among other things,
would have authorized the administration of the
primary language assessment to pupils who are not
English learners. SB 930 was vetoed with the
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following message:
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.
c) AB 252 (Coto, 2007) made similar provision for
the administration of primary language assessment to
pupils in dual immersion programs. AB 252 was vetoed
with the following 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."
SUPPORT
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San Francisco Unified School District
State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Torlakson
OPPOSITION
None received.