BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1919
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 1919 (Brownley)
As Amended August 21, 2012
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |46-23|(May 25, 2012) |SENATE: |24-13|(August 23, |
| | | | | |2012) |
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Original Committee Reference: ED.
SUMMARY : Requires the California Department of Education (CDE)
to provide a school district with individual pupil test score
data of pupils who attend a charter school for which the school
district is the chartering authority, as specified.
The Senate amendments delete the requirement that a school
district:
1)Be provided a secondary Academic Performance Index (API) that
includes the API scores of the charter schools for which the
school district is the chartering authority.
2)Have access to view and download the individual pupil records
in the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System
(CALPADS) for pupils who attend a charter school for which the
school district is the chartering authority.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill required that a school
district:
3)Be provided a secondary Academic Performance Index (API) that
includes the API scores of the charter schools for which the
school district is the chartering authority.
4)Have access to view and download the individual pupil records
in the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System
(CALPADS) for pupils who attend a charter school for which the
school district is the chartering authority.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, significant workload increase to CDE to share charter
school pupil-level achievement data with the authorizing
districts.
AB 1919
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COMMENTS : According to the author, California has established
rigorous academic standards for its students and has developed
specific measures to determine if these standards are being
achieved. Existing law establishes several measures of student
performance, such as the STAR Program, and requires all schools,
including charter schools, to report results to the CDE. Some
charter schools independently report the information directly to
CDE, while other schools report the information through the
school district which authorized it. Currently, a school
district that wishes to obtain student-level achievement data
for students who attend an independently reporting charter
school within its jurisdiction must request the information
separately from each of the various schools, costing time and
resources that school districts cannot afford.
Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Data Request: In
2010, LAUSD requested from the CDE, student level assessment
data for students attending charter schools that were authorized
by the school district. In his October 12, 2010, response to
this request, Superintendent of Public Instruction O'Connell
wrote, "Current state law, California Education Code Section
60607 indicates that:
Any pupil results or a record of accomplishment shall be
private, and may not be released to any person, other than
the pupil's parent or guardian and a teacher, counselor or
administrator directly involved with the pupil, without the
express written consent of either the parent or guardian of
the pupil if the pupil is a minor, or the pupil if the
pupil has reached the age of majority or is emancipated.
Because of the legal restrictions imposed on the release of
student-level assessment data, the CDE is unable to fulfill your
current request. If you received these data in the past they
were delivered in error."
This bill requires that school districts have access to this
data for all charter schools for which the district is the
chartering authority. According to LAUSD, increasing student
achievement is a key goal for school districts, and an analysis
of pupil data is necessary to ensure students' needs are met.
Access to individual achievement data is important to assess how
students are faring. With this information, districts can
determine if sub-groups such as English-learners, low income
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students or certain demographic groups are succeeding. For
charter schools that are authorized by a school district,
current law only allows the district access to aggregate
school-level data. Given that districts are responsible for
renewing school charter agreements, access to pupil data for a
district's charters is necessary to properly evaluate the
performance of students at the charter school. Without this
information, it is difficult for districts to know if the needs
of certain groups of students are being met by the charter
school. Access to this information through the CDE allows
school districts to get an accurate, complete picture of student
achievement at all of its schools.
Analysis Prepared by : Chelsea Kelley / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN: 0005365