BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 612
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Date of Hearing: June 21, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Marty Block, Chair
SB 612 (Steinberg) - As Amended: May 4, 2011
SENATE VOTE : 27-10
SUBJECT : Postsecondary education: instructional strategies.
SUMMARY : Authorizes the establishment of three additional
California Subject Matter Projects (CSMP), deletes the sunset
date on existing projects, adds new areas of emphasis for
subject matter projects, and makes various changes to the
concurrence committee and project advisory boards.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Makes findings and declarations about the high dropout rate in
California high schools; the need for an educated workforce;
the value of schools offering a more integrated approach to
learning; and declares that investments in delivering to
pupils the skills and knowledge needed for further education
and employment in California's high-growth, high-demand
industries are investments in the growth of a
knowledge-intensive, innovative economy.
2)Makes further findings and declarations about the role and
purpose of CSMP as a statewide network of subject-specific
professional development programs and how the CSMP
infrastructure may be leveraged to align middle and high
school curricula more closely to the needs of growing and
emerging sectors of the California economy by providing
teachers with the supports and tools necessary to deliver
career-oriented, integrated academic and technical education
content.
3)Adds two new areas of emphasis for CSMP to provide teachers
with:
a) Instructional strategies for delivering career-oriented,
integrated academic and technical content in a manner that
is linked to high priority industry sectors identified in
the California Career Technical Education Model Curriculum
Standards as adopted by the State Board of Education (SBE).
Requires the CSMP Concurrence Committee, in consultation
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with the appropriate state entities, industry leaders, and
representatives of organized labor, educators, and other
parties, to determine the priority of the industry sectors.
b) Instructional strategies for ongoing collaboration on
the delivery of career-oriented, integrated academic and
technical education content.
4)Clarifies that CSMP provide support to teachers to develop and
enhance content knowledge and pedagogical skills necessary to
implement the state-adopted content standards and the
curriculum frameworks.
5)Requires the CSMP Concurrence Committee, beginning January 1,
2016, and every three years thereafter, to provide a report,
as specified, on the subject matter projects to the Governor
and to appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the
Legislature. Makes the reporting requirement inoperative on
January 1, 2020, pursuant to the Government Code.
6)Modifies the composition of the nine-member CSMP Concurrence
Committee by reducing the number of representatives selected
by SBE from two to one; and by adding a representative
selected by the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI).
7)Requires the CSMP, in partnership with the University of
California Curriculum Integration Institute or other
appropriate entities, to provide teachers with support in the
implementation of career-oriented, integrated academic and
technical courses that meet course requirements for admission
to the University of California (UC), the California State
University (CSU), and align with high-priority industry
sectors as specified.
8)Adds the following projects to the list of authorized subject
matter projects:
a) The California Physical Education-Health Project;
b) The California Arts Project; and,
c) The California World Language Project.
9)Deletes the inoperative and repeal dates, thereby extending
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the operation of these provisions indefinitely.
10) Modifies the composition of project advisory boards
for each subject matter project by reducing from two to one,
representatives selected by UC, CSU, SPI, and SBE such that
the new composition of each advisory board is as follows:
a) One representative selected by the California
Postsecondary Education Committee (CPEC).
b) One representative, selected by the UC President, who is
a member of the faculty in the discipline addressed by the
project.
c) One representative, selected by the CSU Chancellor, who
is a member of the faculty in the discipline addressed by
the project.
d) One representative, selected by the SPI, who is a
classroom teacher in the subject area addressed by the
project.
e) One representative, selected by the SBE, who is a
classroom teacher in the subject area addressed by the
project.
f) One representative selected by the Governor.
g) One representative selected by the Commission on Teacher
Credentialing.
h) One representative of a statewide professional
organization of teachers in the subject matter addressed by
the project, as specified.
i) One representative of the California Community Colleges,
selected by the Chancellor, one of whom is a faculty member
in the subject matter addressed by the project.
j) One representative of an independent postsecondary
institution selected by the Association of Independent
California Colleges and Universities, one of whom is a
faculty member in the subject matter addressed by the
project.
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aa) One representative who is from an industry
sector that principally utilizes the discipline addressed
by the project and who is selected by the advisory board.
11) Adds high pupil drop-out rates to the criteria each
project advisory board must use in recommending funding for
local project sites.
12) Specifies that for purposes of recommending funding
for local project sites that serve middle or high school
teachers, the project advisory board shall give special
consideration to sites that utilize or are preparing to
utilize instructional strategies to deliver career-oriented,
integrated academic and technical content.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides for the establishment and maintenance of six CSMPs
for the purpose of developing and enhancing teachers' subject
matter knowledge and pedagogical skills, as follows (Education
Code � 99201):
a) The California Writing Project.
b) The California Reading and Literature Project.
c) The California Mathematics Project.
d) The California Science Project.
e) The California History-Social Science Project.
f) The World History and International Studies Project.
2)Authorizes UC to establish other subject matter projects and
specifies that no funds allocated in the annual Budget Act
shall be used for subject matter projects in subjects not
specifically authorized in statute. (EC � 99201.5)
3)Requires the UC Regents, with the approval of an
intersegmental Concurrence Committee, to establish and
maintain the projects and specifies the composition of the
concurrence committee to be representatives of the various
segments of education. Requires the advisory board of each
subject matter project to use specified criteria in
recommending funding for local project sites. (EC � 99200)
4)Sunsets CSMP on June 30, 2012, and repeals the authorizing
statute on January 1, 2013, unless a later-enacted statute
deletes or extends those dates. (EC � 99206)
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FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, eliminating the sunset date will result in $6-7
million in ongoing cost pressures and adding the three CSMP
subject areas will result in $1.8 million in additional costs
per year when fully implemented. However, UC has stated that
adding these three projects to statute would not create any cost
pressure on the General Fund because there are no plans to
request additional state funds above what CSMP currently
receives ($5 million a year). Existing resources will continue
to be utilized in funding all nine projects.
COMMENTS : This bill is double-referred to the Assembly
Education Committee, which will consider issues related to K-12
education. This bill is part of a four bill package (SB 547,
SB1x 1, SB 611, and SB 612) that the author is sponsoring to
align middle and high school curricula more closely to the needs
of growing and emerging sectors of the California economy and
reduce the middle and high school drop-out rate by engaging and
motivating students.
Need for this bill . According to the author, given the proven
efficacy of the CSMP along with its broad statewide reach, the
CSMP are uniquely positioned to help teachers deliver curriculum
that is more closely aligned with the needs of growing and
emerging sectors of the California economy. Further, state
authorization for the CSMP is set to expire on June 30, 2012.
CSMP . CSMP is an intersegmental effort of postsecondary
education institutions that connects K-12 educators with faculty
in the various disciplines from UC, CSU, and private higher
education colleges and universities to provide professional
development designed to enhance teachers' content knowledge and
instructional strategies to improve student learning and
academic performance as measured against the state's K-12
academic content standards. In addition, the CSMP provide
teachers with instructional strategies for working with English
learners and help teachers use research and data to improve
student learning and achievement. According to UC, the projects
served almost 26,000 teachers and administrators from 4,290 of
the state's public K-12 schools in 2009-10, serving over 800
school districts and close to 100 sites statewide on campuses of
UC, CSU, and independent colleges and universities.
Legislative history . Prior to 1998, the Education Code provided
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for the establishment and maintenance of subject matter projects
in each subject area of teachers in the public schools and
established priority for funding according to subjects required
for high school graduation and subjects that coincided with
state curriculum initiatives. With the adoption of K-12
academic content standards in the late 1990s, the state narrowed
the focus of the CSMP to the core content areas of English
language arts, mathematics, science, and history-social science,
and subject matter projects in arts, foreign language, and
physical education-health were deleted from statute. AB 1734
(Mazzoni, Chapter 333, Statutes of 1998), authorized the six
projects currently specified in statute and authorized UC to
establish additional subject matter projects; however, the
legislation prohibited such projects from receiving funding in
the annual Budget Act.
Three new subject areas . SB 611 (Ducheny, Chapter 857, Statutes
of 2003) expressed legislative intent that maintenance-level
funding be provided for projects in academic fields seeking
standards approval from the State Board. Accordingly, the UC
has continued to operate subject matter projects in the arts,
foreign language, and physical education/health, for which the
SBE adopted K-12 academic standards as follows: visual and
performing arts (2001), physical education (2005), health
education (2008), and world languages (2009). According to UC,
it currently supports the three projects with the CSMP
maintenance-level funding and will not seek additional state
funding for the projects; however, the author notes that
establishing these projects in statute could make it easier for
UC to successfully compete for foundation funding to provide
additional support for the projects.
Sunset elimination . According to a 2005 evaluation of the CSMP
conducted by SRI International, teachers reported that the CSMP
influenced their instruction more than other professional
development and contributed to improvements in student learning.
The SRI study report also notes that when these changes
influence teaching practice across departments or grade levels,
schools have observed increases in student achievement and made
progress in closing the achievement gap, especially for English
learners.
Career-oriented, integrated academic and technical content .
Pursuant to AB 2648 (Bass, Chapter 681, Statutes of 2008), the
California Department of Education submitted a report to the
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Governor and the Legislature in 2010, exploring the feasibility
of establishing and expanding additional high school programs
that prepare students to be successful in their chosen pathways
after high school. The AB 2648 Multiple Pathways to Student
Success Report suggests that teachers in linked learning
programs "need to have competencies in four domains: knowledge,
pedagogy, professional skills, and foundational comprehension.
Teachers need knowledge of the academic concepts that underlie
work in industries, intellectual skills to solve problems in the
real world, and must know how to work in a community of
practice."
Previous legislation . SB 199 (Ducheny, 2009) would have
authorized the establishment of subject matter projects in arts,
physical education and health, and foreign languages, deleted
the sunset date for CSMP and authorized projects to provide
assistance to teachers providing instruction in integrated
academic and career technical education programs. SB 232
(Ducheny, Chapter 292, 2007) would have required the Concurrence
Committee to report to the Governor and the Legislature on
specified elements of the CSM and would have also authorized the
establishment of subject matter projects in arts, physical
education and health, and foreign languages. SB 1073 (Simitian,
2006) would have added the California Arts Project, the
California Foreign Language Project, and the California Physical
Education-Health Project to the subject matter projects already
created by law. The three bills were either held in the Senate
Appropriations Committee or amended to remove the new subject
projects. AB 108 (Mazzoni, 2000) would have, among other
things, authorized the California Arts Project, the California
Foreign Language Project, and the California Physical
Education-Health Project to the statewide subject matter
projects but was vetoed by Governor Gray Davis, who opined that
the highest priority for the use of state funds should be to
support the existing subject matter projects aimed at improving
student academic performance in English, mathematics, science,
and the social sciences.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Association of Independent Colleges and Universities
California Alliance for Arts Education
California Art Education Association
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California Association for Bilingual Education
California Association for Health, Physical Education,
Recreation and Dance
California Association of Leaders for Career Preparation
California Association of Music Education
California Chamber of Commerce
California Federation of Teachers
California Language Teachers Association
California Postsecondary Education Commission
California State PTA
California State University, Sacramento, Department of Teacher
Education
California Teachers Association
Californians Together
Children Now
Fillmore Unified School District
Fresno Unified School District
Gary S. Thomas, Superintendent, San Bernardino County
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce
Los Angeles Unified School District
Magnolia School District
North State Building Industry Association
Orange County Department of Education
San Diego County Office of Education
San Diego Unified School District
San Francisco Unified School District
Temecula Valley Unified School District
University of California
Vista Del Lago High School Visual and Performing Arts/Career
Technical Education teachers
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Sandra Fried / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960