BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2592
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 18, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
AB 2592 (Furutani) - As Amended: March 29, 2012
SUBJECT : Instructional Quality Commission: membership
SUMMARY : Adds career technical education (CTE) as a subject
area that the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) and the
State Board of Education (SBE) shall considered for
representation in the membership of the Instructional Quality
Commission (IQC).
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes in the state government the Instructional Quality
Commission consisting of a Member of the Assembly and a public
member appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly, a Member of
the Senate and a public member appointed by the Senate
Committee on Rules, one public member appointed by the
Governor, and 13 public members appointed by the State Board
of Education (SBE) upon the recommendation of the
Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) or the members of
the SBE. (Education Code Section -EC 33530)
2)Requires, at least seven of the 13 public members appointed by
the SBE to be persons, who because they have taught, written,
or lectured on the specified subject matter fields, in the
course of public or private employment, have become recognized
authorities or experienced practitioners in those fields. (EC
33530)
3)Requires the SBE to make its appointments to ensure that, at
any one time, at least seven of the public members shall be
current classroom teachers, or mentor teachers, or both
assigned to teach kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12,
inclusive. (EC 33530)
4)Encourages, in making the remaining appointments to the IQC,
the SBE to consider the role of other representatives of the
educational community in the development of curriculum and
instructional materials, including, but not limited to,
administrators, governing school board members, and parents
who are reflective of the various ethnic groups and types of
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school districts in California. (EC 33530)
5)Requires the SPI and the SBE to consider for membership on the
IQC persons representing subjects commonly taught in public
schools, including:
a) English;
b) Social sciences:
c) Foreign languages:
d) Science;
e) Mathematics;
f) Visual and performing arts;
g) Applied arts; and,
h) Conservation education. (EC 33533)
6)Requires the IQC to study problems of courses of study in the
schools of the state and upon request, recommend to the SBE
the adoption of minimum standards for courses of study in
preschool, kindergarten, elementary, and secondary schools.
Courses of study in the public schools shall conform to such
minimum standards when adopted. (EC 33538)
7)Requires the IQC to do all of the following:
a) Recommend curriculum frameworks to the state board;
b) Develop criteria for evaluating instructional materials
submitted for adoption so that the materials adopted
adequately cover the subjects in the indicated grade or
grades;
c) Study and evaluate instructional materials submitted for
adoption;
d) Recommend instructional materials for adoption to the
SBE;
e) Recommend to the SBE policies and activities to assist
the California Department of Education (CDE) and school
districts in the use of the curriculum framework and other
available model curriculum materials for the purpose of
guiding and strengthening the quality of instruction in the
public schools;
f) Advise and make recommendations to the SBE, including,
but not limited to, what policies and activities are needed
to implement the state's academic content standards, and
bring the state's curriculum frameworks, instructional
materials, professional development programs, pupil
assessments, and academic accountability systems into
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alignment with those standards. (EC 60204)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : The Instructional Quality Commission (IQC), formerly
the Curriculum Development and Supplemental Materials Commission
(Curriculum Commission), is an advisory body to the SBE on
curriculum, instructional materials, and content standards. The
IQC consists of 18 members, 13 of whom are appointed by the SBE
upon the recommendation of the SPI or the members of the SBE.
At least seven of the public members are current classroom
teachers, or mentor teachers, or both, who are assigned to teach
in grades kindergarten to grade12, inclusive (K-12). Other
professionals involved in the development and use of curriculum
and instructional materials, including, but not limited to,
school administrators, school governing board members, and
parents who are reflective of California's diversity are also
considered for appointment.
Current law requires the SPI and the SBE to consider for
membership on the IQC, individuals that represent the subject
areas of English, social sciences, foreign languages, science,
mathematics, visual and performing arts, applied arts and
conservation education. This bill adds CTE to the list of
subject areas that shall be considered for representation on the
IQC.
The author states, "It is important that the membership of the
Instructional Quality Commission is representative of all
subjects taught in public schools in order to ensure the highest
level of curriculum standards. The inclusion of Career
Technical Education is important in light of AB 1330 (Furutani)
2011, which gives high school students the option to complete a
course in Career Technical Education to fulfill an existing high
school graduation requirement. Therefore, it is imperative that
the Instructional Quality Commission ensures Career Technical
Education curriculum meets the highest level of rigor."
The IQC has not had a role in the development of CTE curriculum.
In fact, the CTE standards and the framework were adopted
through a process that is different than the process for
developing and adopting frameworks in all other subject areas.
In developing the CTE standards and framework, current law
requires the SPI to work in consultation with an advisory group
comprised of classroom teachers, administrators, parents,
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postsecondary educators, representatives from labor and
industry, and other members. The CTE standards and framework
were developed and recommended by the CTE Model Curriculum
Standards and Framework Advisory Group. While the IQC will not
necessarily have a role in the implementation of AB 1330
(Furutani), Chapter 621, Statutes of 2011, an argument could be
made that CTE should be included in the list of subjects that
shall be considered for representation on the membership of the
IQC since CTE is a subject area that is taught in public
schools.
Status of frameworks and instructional materials development
activities : Due to the fiscal challenges of the state, the
current framework development and instructional materials
adoption activities had been suspended and the funding for the
IQC was eliminated. AB 2 X4 Chapter 2, Statutes of 2009-10,
Fourth Extraordinary Session suspends the requirement for the
SBE to conduct any of the activities related to the adoption of
instructional materials for use in K-8 through the 2012-13
fiscal year. As part of the 2011 budget process, SB 70
(Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review), Chapter 7, Statutes of
2011, extended the provisions of SB 2 X4 for two additional
years, hence the framework development and instructional
materials adoption processes are suspended until the 2015-16
fiscal year. As a result of the temporarily-suspended work of
the Curriculum Commission, the SBE did not fill the Commission
member vacancies in 2009-2011. However, AB 250 (Brownley)
Chapter 608, Statutes of 2011 renamed the Curriculum Commission
as the Instructional Quality Commission, and lifted the
suspension but only for purposes of developing curriculum
frameworks aligned to the language arts and mathematics common
core academic content standards.
Recent appointments to the IQC : The SBE took action at its
March 7, 2012 meeting to appoint 13 new members to the IQC, and
appointed seven teachers and six administrators and other
educators as follows:
1)Teachers:
a) Kristyn Bennett, Santa Paula Elementary School District,
expertise in reading and English language arts.
b) Jose Dorado, Los Angeles Unified School District,
expertise in English language arts and mathematics.
c) Angienette Estonina, San Francisco Unified School
District, expertise in English language arts and English
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language development (ELD).
d) Lori Freiermuth, Sweetwater Union High School District,
expertise in mathematics.
e) Marlene Galvan, Dinuba Unified School District,
expertise in English language arts.
f) Julie Spykerman, Anaheim Union High School District,
expertise in mathematics and English language arts.
g) Lauryn Wild, San Bernardino City Unified School
District, expertise in English language arts.
2)Other Members:
a) Angel Barrett, Los Angeles Unified School District,
expertise in mathematics, English language arts, and ELD.
b) Edward D'Souza, Rialto Unified School District,
expertise in mathematics.
c) Louis (Bill) Honig, expertise in English language arts,
mathematics, and history-social science.
d) JoAnn Isken, Lennox School District, expertise in
English language arts and ELD.
e) Nancy McTygue, California History-Social Science
Project, University of California, Davis, expertise in
history-social science.
f) Socorro Shiels, Morgan Hill Unified School District,
expertise in ELD.
3)Five existing members include
a) Will Parish, Science teacher, Gateway High School, a
charter school in the San Francisco Unified School
District.
b) Martha Hern�ndez, Director, Curriculum, Instruction &
Continuous Improvement, Ventura County Office of Education.
c) Michelle Herczog, Consultant history-social science, Los
Angeles County Office of Education.
d) Assemblymember Wilmer Amina Carter.
e) Senator Alan Lowenthal.
The terms of the recent appointees vary from two to four years
in length. Hence, it will be at least two years before the next
round of appointments is made and before there is an opportunity
for members with backgrounds in subjects currently not
represented, including foreign language, visual and performing
arts, applied arts and, if this bill is enacted, CTE, to be
considered for appointment.
Arguments in support : The California Business Education
AB 2592
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Association writes, "AB 2592 will help integrate CTE themes and
content back into the instructional materials of all
subject-matter disciplines by make sure someone with a CTE
background participates in all curricular development endeavors.
We strongly encourage your support of this modest but important
bill."
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.
Renames the Curriculum Commission as the Instructional Quality
Commission.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Business Education Association
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Marisol Avi�a / ED. / (916) 319-2087