BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 547
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Date of Hearing: August 17, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
SB 547 (Steinberg) - As Amended: August 15, 2011
Policy Committee: Education Vote:7-3
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill sunsets the Academic Performance Index (API), the
state's accountability system for schools and districts, on July
1, 2014 and replaces it with the Education Quality Index (EQI),
which is comprised of multiple newly established indices to
reflect the overall performance of the state's public schools,
districts, and pupils. Further requires the State Board of
Education (SBE) to adopt the EQI not later than August 1, 2014.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Annual, GF administrative costs to SDE of at least $470,000 to
implement the requirements of this bill. These costs are
associated with staff for the development and implementation
of the EQI. A portion of this funding, approximately $250,000
GF, will likely only be required for a limited time period
because much of the work is associated with the development of
the indices.
2)GF/98 costs, likely between $750,000 and $1 million, to SDE to
hire an independent contractor to complete the reporting
requirements of this bill.
3)Potential GF/98 cost pressure, of approximately $19 million,
to school districts to collect data required by the EQI. The
bill requires the SPI, in consultation with the PSAA, to
recommend any additional data elements that need to be
collected from districts to implement the EQI. This measure
provides discretion to the SPI, with approval by the SBE, to
include any new data elements.
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SUMMARY CONTINUED
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI), in
consultation with the Public Schools Accountability Act (PSAA)
advisory committee, to develop the EQI for schools and
districts. Further requires all schools and districts,
commencing with the 2014-15 school year and each school year
thereafter, to be evaluated using the EQI value.
2)Requires the EQI, for school districts maintaining any of
grades 9-12 to include, at a minimum, the following
components: (a) The State Assessment Index (SAI), (b) the
Graduation Rate Index (GRI), (c) The College Preparedness
Index (CPI), and the Career Readiness Index (CRI). Defines
each component within the EQI as follows:
a) The SAI is required to be comprised of pupil scores from
the standards-based achievement tests, or any successor
assessments adopted by the SBE, and the high school exit
examination. Further requires the SAI to include test
scores of pupils enrolled in alternative education
programs, as specified.
b) The GRI is required to include one or both of the
following: (i) Four, five, and six year graduation rates
and rates at which pupils successfully promote from one
grade to the next in middle and high school, as specified.
Further requires pupils enrolled in alternative education
programs to be included in this data under specified
parameters.
c) The CPI is required to consist of multiple, and stable
measures of pupil preparedness for postsecondary education.
Authorizes the SPI to include local and state assessments,
course enrollment and completion; academic and
extracurricular programs; and advanced or additional
learning opportunities as indicators for pupils in grades
9-12.
d) The CRI is required to consist of multiple, and stable
measures of pupil readiness for career. Authorizes the SPI
to include course enrollment and completion career
technical education (CTE) programs; industry validated
courses and certifications; intersegmental articulation
with institutions of higher education; and local and state
assessments as indicators for pupils in grades 9-12.
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3)Requires the EQI, for school districts maintaining grade 8 to
include, at a minimum, the SAI and the GRI, as specified.
Further requires the EQI, for school districts maintaining any
of grades K-7 to include, at a minimum, the SAI and requires
the SAI to comprise 40% of the total value of the EQI for
grades K-12.
4)Requires the SPI, in consultation with the PSAA advisory
committee, to develop and recommend to the SBE the following:
a) Adoption of an alternative accountability system for
juvenile court, community day, and nonpublic schools, as
specified.
b) Weight of the component indices that comprise a school
and district EQI.
c) Annual improvement or growth targets for the SAI, the
GRI, including targets for subgroups (i.e., English
language learners (ELLs), disadvantaged pupils, and pupils
with disabilities).
d) Whether an additional weight is necessary to provide
recognition to schools and districts that can demonstrate
that ELLs are making progress in learning English, as
specified.
5)Requires the SPI, when additional data elements are available,
to develop and recommend additional indices to reflect the
important elements of school quality, including, but not
limited to, creativity and innovation; pupil engagement in
school and group or individual growth in academic performance.
6)Requires the SPI, no later than July 1, 2015 and annually
thereafter, to report to the governor and the Legislature on
specified information, including the timeline for development
and implementation of additional indices; data elements
planned for inclusion in each additional indices; and timeline
for development/implementation of these indices, as specified.
7)Requires the SPI, in consultation with the PSAA advisory
committee, no later than July 1, 2018, to report to the
governor and the Legislature on the effectiveness and
reliability of the EQI and any statutory changes necessary for
implementation. Authorizes the SPI to develop regulations to
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implement the EQI.
COMMENTS
1)Background . SB 1X (Alpert), Chapter 3, Statutes of 1999,
established the PSAA, which required the development of the
API. The API is used to measure performance of schools and
districts over time. An API score is calculated based on
students' performance on the following standardized tests: the
California Standards Tests (i.e., standards-based assessments)
in English language arts, mathematics, and history-social
science, and science (where applicable) and the California
High School Exit Exam.
Statute also requires the SPI to establish the PSAA advisory
committee to advise the SPI and the SBE on all appropriate
matters related to the creation of the API. Members of this
committee are required to serve terms not to exceed two years
and without compensation.
SB 1 X5 (Steinberg), Statutes of 2010, required the SPI and
the SBE, in consultation with the PSAA and by January 1, 2011,
to make recommendations to the governor and Legislature on
methods to incorporate a measure of the degree to which pupils
graduate from high school with the skills and knowledge
necessary to attain entry-level employment in business and
industry and/or postsecondary education into the API, as
specified. It is unclear whether this information has been
provided to the governor and Legislature.
This bill requires the PSAA advisory committee to have a
significant role in the development and implementation of the
EQI, including the components of each index within the EQI, as
specified.
2)Purpose . In May 2010, Superintendent of Public Instruction
Jack O'Connell released The Multiple Pathways to Student
Success: Envisioning the New California High School report,
which details the need for high schools to offer an
instructional "approach that effectively integrate both
academic and career technical content, problem-based
instructional strategies, work-based learning opportunities,
and support services �that] effectively prepare all students
to pursue multiple options beyond high school graduation." In
order to promote this transformation of high school
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curriculum, the report recommends "expanding the number of
measures within the API to include rates of completion of
college entrance requirements, career technical education
program completion and certification, school graduation rates,
and dropout recovery rates."
According to the author, "The API has performed an important
role, but has been limited by its sole reliance on
standardized test scores as indicators of school performance.
Dropout and graduation rates are required by statute to be
included, but are not yet part of the API. It is time for the
API to evolve to what it was originally intended to be: an
index that encompasses other valuable indicators in addition
to student test scores."
This bill, sponsored by the SPI, sunsets the API, the state's
accountability system for schools and districts, on July 1,
2014 and replaces it with EQI, which is comprised of multiple
newly established indices to reflect the overall performance
of the state's public schools, districts, and pupils.
3)California becomes a governing state in national assessment
consortium . In June 2011, California joined the SMARTER
Balanced Assessment Consortium as a governing state. A total
of 30 states have signed up to become members of this
consortium. Of those, California is one of 18 governing
states, which allows decision-making participation. The
remaining 12 are advisory states.
As part of the federal Race to the Top grant program, the
federal government set-aside funding to establish assessment
consortiums to design national assessments aligned to the
Common Core ELA and mathematic standards. The SMARTER
Balanced Consortium received $176 million in federal funds to
design assessments in ELA and mathematics in grades 3 through
8 and grade 11. The new assessments are expected to be
available for the 2014-15 school years.
The goal of the consortium is to prepare students for college
and career by improving teaching and learning in schools
through the development of assessments of the Common Core
State Standards in ELA and mathematics that are valid and
reliable. It is expected that the assessments developed by
SMARTER Balanced will replace the existing STAR program.
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Since the STAR program is the current basis for the API, it is
likely that the tests developed pursuant to this consortium
will be part of any successor accountability system. The
exact role the consortium assessments will have in any
accountability system is unclear and subject to review by the
Legislature, the governor, and other interested parties.
4)Similar legislation . AB 224 (Bonilla), pending in the Senate
Appropriations Committee, modifies the indicators that
contribute to the API and requires the SPI, beginning in the
2012-13 FY, to create a new API for grades 8-12.
5)Previous legislation . AB 400 (Nunez), similar to this
measure, was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger in October 2007
with the following message:
"While I agree with the author that what the state measures in
its accountability system sends a powerful message to schools
and to the public about the outcomes we value, this bill still
needs refinement. I respect the intention to provide schools
the incentive to expand access to A-G college admission
required courses, and expand course offering in Career
Technical Education program. I am open to opportunities to
accomplish that goal. However, I must maintain that the API
should continue to be based on objective, reliable, valid and
consistent statistical measurements."
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081