BILL ANALYSIS �
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Date of Hearing: July 6, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
SCR 18 (Liu) - As Introduced: February 28, 2011
SENATE VOTE : 25-14
SUBJECT : Public schools: pupil, teacher, and parent surveys
SUMMARY : Makes findings and resolutions regarding the
California School Climate, Health, and Learning Survey System
(CAL-SCHLS). Specifically, this bill :
1)Makes findings that include the following:
a) School climate and safety are an important priority and
significantly contribute to, or detract from, the overall
success of pupils, schools, and the general well-being of
our children.
b) The California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS) is an
anonymous, comprehensive, confidential, and self-reported
data collection system that addresses youth resiliency,
school climate, health risks, and behaviors, and is
administered to pupils in grades 5, 7, 9, and 11.
c) The California School Climate Survey (CSCS) is an online
staff survey that provides a means to confidentially obtain
staff perceptions about learning and teaching conditions
for both general and special education, in order to
regularly inform decisions about professional development,
instruction, the implementation of learning supports, and
school reform.
d) The California School Parent Survey (CSPS) assesses the
perceptions of parents related to school climate, parent
outreach, and pupil achievement, and is designed to provide
teachers, administrators, and other school staff with
information directly from parents that can be used to
foster positive learning and teaching environments, parent
involvement, and pupil achievement, health, and well-being.
e) Together, the CHKS, CSCS, and CSPS form the CAL-SCHLS
comprised of three interrelated surveys that secure the
critical information with respect to pupil, staff, and
parental perceptions of the teaching and learning
environments in California public schools.
f) These surveys provide all of the following: a critical
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lens into the environments and outcomes of our schools, an
important tool for planning, addressing, and monitoring
problematic conditions, a meaningful tool for transparency
and accountability, and an important mechanism to support
parental, civic, and community-based engagement efforts.
g) Funding received pursuant to the federal Safe and
Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act, or for tobacco use
prevention education, has been curtailed, and absent
reauthorization of the federal Elementary and Secondary
Education Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.), the collection
of this critical information will no longer be required.
2)Expresses the intent of the Legislature to pursue every means
necessary to ensure that the CAL-SCHLS remains viable and
urges the state to pursue federal funding, grants, or other
sources to ensure that school districts receive the necessary
funding to support the CAL-SCHLS.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Specifies that the Annual Report on Dropouts in California
report may include, among others, relevant data on school
climate and pupil engagement from the CHKS. (Education Code
(EC) 48070.6)
2)Authorizes, to the extent consistent with federal and state
privacy laws, local educational agencies that receive after
school program funds to provide specified data to an operator
of an after school program, including CHKS results in
aggregate form. (EC Section 8484.1)
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill is keyed non-fiscal.
COMMENTS : The CAL-SCHLS is comprised of three surveys that
provide insight into student well-being and student, school
staff, and parent perceptions of the school environment. The
CHKS was developed in 1998 and administered on a voluntary basis
until 2003, when the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act
required states that receive Title IV funds (Safe and Drug-Free
Schools and Communities Program) to establish a uniform
management information and reporting system that includes, among
others, the "incidence and prevalence, age of onset, perception
of health risk, and perception of social disapproval of drug use
and violence by youth in schools and communities". Title IV
also requires compilation of statistics that includes "incident
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reports by school officials, anonymous student surveys, and
anonymous teacher surveys." California received $28 million
annually from Title IV funds, the majority of which were
allocated to districts to implement programs to address school
safety and alcohol and drug use. The CHKS was developed to
measure progress and collect data and to comply with the NCLB
requirements. According to the Superintendent of Public
Instruction Tom Torlakson, the CHKS is an exemplary program,
recognized by President Barack Obama's administration as a model
survey for the nation.
The CHKS is administered biennially to pupils in grades 5, 7, 9,
and 11. The voluntary survey is anonymous and confidential,
with three versions available for elementary, middle, and high
school kids. The survey assesses health risks, with specific
focus on alcohol, tobacco, and drug use; school violence;
physical health; resilience and youth development; and school
climate. Schools can add questions as appropriate for the age
group; for example, the high school survey can be supplemented
with questions relating to sex education, suicide, gang
involvement and issues related to the achievement gap.
The survey results may help schools identify issues faced by
students and develop strategies to address the issues and
improve youth development and school climate. A couple of
provisions in the Education Code and additional bills that have
been introduced in the current and prior sessions have
referenced the CHKS, even though the survey is not in law, as a
way of garnering information regarding student perceptions.
Title IV funds that triggered the survey requirement and that
were used to administer the CHKS expired last year and may be
restored with the reauthorization of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act. Until then, the CHKS is not required.
According to the California Department of Education (CDE), the
CSCS is on online staff survey that is administered at the same
schools as the CHKS. The CSCS provides schools, communities and
the state with data on learning and teaching barriers and
supports that affect academic achievements and staff retention.
The CSPS is the newest of the three surveys, initiated by the
CDE just last year, and is designed to provide a school with
parent viewpoints to help foster positive learning and teaching
environments, parent involvement, and student achievement,
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health, and well-being.
This bill expresses the intent of the Legislature to pursue
every means necessary to ensure that the CAL-SCHLS remains
viable and urges the state to pursue federal funding, grants, or
other sources to ensure that school districts receive the
necessary funding to support the CAL-SCHLS.
The author states, "Some of the information collected from this
survey includes data related to rates of depression among
students, supervision by adults after school hours, adolescent
connections to adults, how safe students feel at school,
students who have witnessed or been involved in violence at
school, students who have tried or use drugs and alcohol, etc.
While these issues contribute greatly to the success of students
in the classroom, they are often issues administrators and
teachers are unaware of and therefore, unable to address. The
Cal-SCHLS program provides LEAs with a way to monitor
information about the students they serve."
Related legislation . AB 1368 (Pan), held in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee suspense file this year, would have
codified the CHKS.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California State PTA
Children Now
Equality California
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087