BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Alan Lowenthal, Chair
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 1668
AUTHOR: Carter
AMENDED: May 16, 2012
FISCAL COMM: No HEARING DATE: June 27, 2012
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Lynn Lorber
SUBJECT : Dropout recovery high schools.
SUMMARY
This bill expands the definition of "dropout recovery high
school" to include schools in which at least 50% of the
pupils were not otherwise enrolled in school for at least
180 days.
BACKGROUND
Current law:
1) Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction
(SPI) and the State Board of Education (SBE) to allow
up to 10 dropout recovery high schools to report the
results of an individual pupil growth model that the
SPI certifies as meeting specific criteria, in lieu of
other indicators under the state's alternative
accountability system. (Education Code � 52052.3)
2) Defines a "dropout recovery high school" for this
purpose, as a school offering instruction in any of
grades 9-12 in which at least 50% of its pupils are
designated as dropouts pursuant to the exit and
withdrawal codes developed by the California
Department of Education (CDE) and the school provides
instruction in partnership with any of the following:
a) The federal Workforce Investment Act;
b) Federally affiliated Youthbuild programs;
c) Federal job corps training or instruction provided
pursuant to a
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memorandum of understanding with the federal
provider; or,
d) The California Conservation Corp or local
conservation corps
certified by the California Conservation Corps.
(EC � 52052.3)
3) Prohibits graduation rates for pupils in dropout
recovery high schools from being included in the
Academic Performance Index and defines dropout
recovery high school for this purpose, as a high
school in which at least
50% of its pupils have been designated as dropouts
pursuant to the exit/withdrawal codes developed by the
CDE. (EC � 52052(a)(4)(D))
4) Requires the SPI, with the approval of the SBE to
develop an alternative accountability system for
schools under the jurisdiction of a county board of
education or a county superintendent of schools,
community day schools, non-public schools, and
alternative schools serving high-risk pupils,
including continuation high schools and opportunity
schools. Schools in the alternative accountability
system may receive an Academic Performance Index (API)
score, but are not included in the API rankings. (EC
� 52052)
ANALYSIS
This bill expands the definition of "dropout recovery high
school," for the purpose of reporting the results of an
individual pupil growth model, to include schools in which
at least 50% of the pupils were not otherwise enrolled in
school for at least 180 days.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author, "Current
efforts to reform the Alternative School
Accountability Model (ASAM) are focused on limiting
the assessment tools available to STAR test and the
high school exit exam. These tools are not intended
to measure an individual student's learning gains over
time. To accurately reflect the value of dropout
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recovery programs, an alternative is needed. In
response to this need, AB 180 (Carter, Ch. 669,
2011) provided that, as part of the ASAM for schools,
the Superintendent and the State Board will allow a
dropout recovery high school to use an individual
student growth model that meets certain criteria.
This bill amends the definition in AB 180 to resolve
ambiguities in some of the exit and withdrawal codes.
As a result of those ambiguities, many dropout
recovery students who have previously dropped out from
another high school for a period of over 90 days would
not qualify for inclusion in the growth model pilot
program."
2) Author's amendments . The author proposes to amend
this bill as follows:
a) Require dropout recovery high schools to
submit to the Superintendent of Public
Instruction (SPI) a certification that the school
meets the definition of dropout recovery high
school and provide a summary of CALPADS data to
support the certification.
b) Add to definitions of dropout recovery high
schools in other areas of the Education Code the
designation of being a dropout for pupils who are
not enrolled in school for at least 180 days.
3) Exit/withdrawal codes . According to information on
the California Department of Education's website, for
state-level reporting purposes, any pupil that is
reported by a school district as transferring to
another California public school district but cannot
be found subsequently enrolled on or before
Information Day (the first Wednesday in October) is
considered a "lost transfer" and will eventually be
counted as a dropout. However, a pupil may be
considered a "lost transfer" for over a year before he
or she is counted as a dropout.
4) Self-certification . The California Department of
Education had concerns about the process needed to
identify schools that enroll pupils who have not been
enrolled for at least 180 days because there is
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currently no mechanism in CALPADS to easily generate
this data. To address this concern, the author
proposes amendments to require dropout recovery high
schools to self-certify meeting the definition of
dropout recovery high school and provide a summary of
CALPADS data to support the self-certification.
5) Prior legislation . AB 2013 (Arambula, 2010) would
have required schools that enroll 100% of their pupils
in independent study programs to be included in the
state's alternative accountability system and made
changes to require mandatory participation by all
alternative schools. AB 2013 was held on the
Assembly Appropriations Committee's suspense file.
AB 429 (Brownley, 2009) would have required examination of
methods for making and reporting valid comparisons of
individual academic performance over time and for
making potential improvements in the Academic
Performance Index, so as to be able to measure and
report both a student's and a school's academic growth
over time. AB 429 was vetoed by the Governor, whose
message read:
I appreciate the author's intent to address the
issue of measuring annual academic achievement
growth in schools. However, this bill
circumvents the authority of the State Board of
Education (SBE), by not providing the SBE with
the authority to approve or modify the
recommendations of the Public Schools
Accountability Act advisory committee.
SUPPORT
Riverside county Superintendent of Schools
OPPOSITION
None on file.