BILL ANALYSIS �
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 612
Author: Steinberg (D), et al
Amended: 8/26/11
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 8-2, 4/27/11
AYES: Lowenthal, Alquist, Hancock, Huff, Liu, Price,
Simitian, Vargas
NOES: Runner, Blakeslee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Vacancy
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 6-2, 5/26/11
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Lieu, Pavley, Price, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Runner
NO VOTE RECORDED: Emmerson
SENATE FLOOR : 27-10, 6/1/11
AYES: Alquist, Calderon, Corbett, Correa, De Le�n,
DeSaulnier, Emmerson, Evans, Fuller, Hancock, Hernandez,
Huff, Kehoe, Leno, Lieu, Liu, Lowenthal, Negrete McLeod,
Pavley, Price, Simitian, Steinberg, Vargas, Wolk, Wright,
Wyland, Yee
NOES: Anderson, Berryhill, Blakeslee, Cannella, Dutton,
Gaines, Harman, La Malfa, Strickland, Walters
NO VOTE RECORDED: Padilla, Rubio, Runner
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not available
SUBJECT : Teacher Professional Development: Subject
Matter Projects
CONTINUED
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SOURCE : University of California
DIGEST : This bill authorizes the establishment of three
additional California Subject Matter Projects (CSMP),
extends 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.
Assembly Amendments (1) specify that the individuals who
compose the CSMP's Concurrence Committee include
individuals with educational expertise on instructional
strategies for English learners and academic language
acquisition, (2) allow the Commerce Committee to provide
their report to the Governor and Legislature before January
1, 2016 and delete the requirement for the Commerce
Committee to continue reporting to the Governor and
Legislature every three years thereafter, (3) delete from
the CSMP's project advisory boards the representative
selected from the California Postsecondary Education
Committee, (4) update CSMP statue to account of the state's
adoption of the Common Core Standards, (5) provide that the
additional CSMP's added by this bill become operative only
if funding is provided in the annual Budget Act or if
federal funds are made available and appropriated, and (6)
extend the sunset date of the CSMP until June 30, 2017.
ANALYSIS : Existing law provides for the establishment
and maintenance of six CSMP for the purpose of developing
and enhancing teachers' subject matter knowledge and
pedagogical skills. Current law authorizes the following
subject matter projects:
1.The California Writing Project.
2.The California Reading and Literature Project.
3.The California Mathematics Project.
4.The California Science Project.
5.The California History-Social Science Project.
6.The World History and International Studies project.
Existing law authorizes the University of California (UC)
to establish other subject matter projects and specifies
that no funds allocated in the annual Budget Act shall be
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used for subject matter projects in subjects not
specifically authorized in statute.
Existing law requires the Regents of the UC, 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.
Existing law requires the advisory board of each subject
matter project to use specified criteria in recommending
funding for local project sites.
Existing law makes the CSMP inoperative on June 30, 2012,
and repeals the authorizing statute on January 1, 2013,
unless a later enacted statute deletes or extends those
dates.
This bill:
1. Requires the CSMPs to provide teachers with
instructional strategies for delivering career-oriented,
integrated academic technical content in a manner that
is linked to high priority industry sectors identified
in the state career technical education (CTE) model
curriculum standards.
2. Authorizes the establishment of a physical
education/health, arts, and world language CSMP.
3. Requires the CSMPs, in partnership with the UC
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 UC and the California State University
(CSU), and align with high priority industry sections,
as specified.
4. Requires the CSMP Concurrence Committee, beginning on
January 1, 2016, and every three years thereafter, to
provide a report on the subject matter projects to the
governor and the appropriate policy committees of the
Legislature. Further requires the report to include
information on CTE professional development provided to
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teachers, as specified.
5. Changes the makeup of the Concurrence Committee to
include one representative selected by the
Superintendent of Public Instruction. This does not
change the overall number of the Concurrence Committee;
instead, the State Board of Education (SBE) will now
select only one representative instead of two.
6. Adds one representative from an industry sector to each
CSMP advisory board and reduces the number of
individuals who serve on each CSMP advisory committee
from 15 to 10, as specified.
7. Adds schools with a dropout rate that exceeds the
statewide average as one of the criteria each project
advisory board utilizes to recommend project funding.
8. Requires each project board, for purposes of
recommending funding that serves middle/high school
teachers, to give special consideration to sites that
utilize or are preparing to utilize instructional
strategies to deliver career-oriented, integrated
academic and technical content.
9. Updates CSMP statute to account for the state's adoption
of the Common Core Standards in English language arts
and mathematics.
10.Provides that these provisions become operative only if
funding is provided in the annual Budget Act or if
federal funds are made available and appropriated, or
both, for the purposes of this bill.
Comments
California Subject Matter Projects . The CSMP provides
intensive, content-rich and discipline-based professional
development designed to develop and enhance teachers'
content knowledge and instructional strategies for the
purpose of improving 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
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learners and help teachers use research and data to improve
student learning and achievement. In addition to the six
subject matter projects authorized in statute, the UC has
established and maintains three additional projects in art,
physical education-health, and foreign languages.
Together, the nine projects serve over 800 school districts
and close to 100 sites statewide on campuses of the UC,
CSU, and independent colleges and universities. According
to the UC, the projects served 94,703 teachers,
administrators, and university faculty from 2006 to 2010.
Background . Prior to 1998, the Education Code provided 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. AB 1734 (Mazzoni),
Chapter 333, Statutes of 1998, authorized the six projects
currently specified in Education Code and authorized the UC
to establish additional subject matter projects, but
prohibited those projects from receiving funding in the
annual budget act. Subsequent legislation expressed
legislative intent that maintenance-level funding be
provided for projects in academic fields seeking standards
approval from the SBE. Although the SBE has adopted K-12
academic content standards in visual and performing arts
(2001), physical education (2005), health education (2008),
and world languages (2009), legislative attempts to
authorize these subject areas in statute have been
unsuccessful. While authorizing these three additional
subject matter projects could create cost pressure to
provide maintenance-level funding, it could be argued that
authorizing them in statute will make it easier for the UC
to successfully compete for foundation funding to provide
additional support for the projects and will provide a
formal recognition that all nine subject areas are included
in the course of study undertaken by middle school and high
school students and represent the content standards adopted
by the SBE.
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Career-oriented, Integrated Academic and Technical Content .
In recent years, many high schools have established
partnership academies, career-themed small learning
communities, and other programs that integrate academic
coursework with applied learning opportunities.
Additionally, many schools and regional occupational
centers/programs have worked to increase the rigor of
career technical education courses to ensure that these
courses prepare students for more options following high
school. The goal of these programs is to provide students
with rigorous, relevant learning opportunities that link
what we expect them to know when they leave high school
with the skills necessary to follow a chosen career
pathway.
Pursuant to AB 2648 (Bass), Chapter 681, Statutes of 2008,
the California Department of Education submitted a report
to the Governor and the Legislature in 2010, that explores
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." The report also noted that
teachers need pedagogical skills specific to engaging
engage students in project-based and cooperative learning,
building on students' prior knowledge and skills, and using
multiple assessment measures and ways for students to
demonstrate their competencies. Teachers must have
appropriate professional skills that equip them to work in
pathway settings and collaborate with other teachers and
industry partners. By expanding the emphasis of the CSMP
to include providing teachers with instructional strategies
to deliver career-oriented integrated academic and
technical content and by providing teachers with strategies
for ongoing collaboration in the delivery of that content,
this bill will enable the CSMP to help teachers working in
these programs and could enable teachers of traditional
academic courses incorporate real-world examples and
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applied learning opportunities into their day-to-day
instruction.
Time to Eliminate the Sunset ? The Legislature established
the CSMP in 1988 and the projects have been providing
professional development to teachers continuously since
that time. The CSMP serves as a model of intersegmental
collaboration in the delivery of content-rich professional
development that has helped develop teacher leaders in
schools. The unique adaptable structure of the CSMP has
enabled the projects to help schools implement state
academic content standards and respond to priorities
established by the No Child Left Behind Act while
maintaining a strong focus on teachers with the most need
of support: those in low-performing schools and those
working English learners. 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. Case study evidence
gathered by SRI further suggests 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. Given the positive
evaluations associated with this long-established program
and the fiscal control the Legislature has over its
funding, deleting the sunset date appears to pose little
policy risk to the state.
The 2010-11 Budget Act allocates $9.35 million in state and
federal funding to support the six existing CSMPs. ($4.35
million is federal funding and $5.0 million in non-98
General Funds.) Since the newly authorized projects could
be allocated funds from the annual Budget Act, this bill
could create cost pressure to increase funding for the
CSMP. Funding for CSMP in 2011-12 includes $5 million in
General Funds and $5.758 million in federal funds.
Related/Prior Legislation
SB 199 (Ducheny), 2009-10 Session, would have authorized
the establishment of subject matter projects in arts,
physical education and health, and foreign languages,
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deleted the sunset date for CSMP and authorized projects to
provide assistance to teachers providing instruction in
integrated academic and career technical education
programs. (Held in Senate Appropriations Committee)
SB 232 (Ducheny), Chapter 292, Statutes of 2007, required
the Concurrence Committee to report to the Governor and the
Legislature on specified elements of the CSMP and would
have also authorized the establishment of subject matter
projects in arts, physical education and health, and
foreign languages. Passed the Senate with a vote of 37-1
on September 11, 2007.
SB 1073 (Simitian), 2005-06 Session, 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. Passed the Senate with a vote of 26-8 on May 31,
2005. (Held in Assembly Appropriations Committee)
AB 108 (Mazzoni), 1999-2000 Session, 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. Passed the Senate with a vote of 25-8 on
August 31, 2000. The bill was subsequently 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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13
2013-14 Fund
Repeals CSMP Cost pressure; $6,000-$7,000
annually General
sunset
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Expands CSMP areas $900 $1,800
$1,800 General
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/27/11)
University of California (source)
Association of Independent California Colleges and
Universities
California Alliance for Arts Education
California Art Education Association
California Association for Health, Physical Education,
Recreation and Dance
California Association for Bilingual Education
California Association of Leaders for Career Preparation
California Association for Music Education
California Language Teachers Association
California Teachers Association
California State University Sacramento Teacher Ed
Department
Californians Together
Genentech
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce
Los Angeles Unified School District
Magnolia School District
Orange County Department of Education
San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools
San Diego County Office of Education
San Diego Unified School District
San Francisco Unified School District
Temecula Valley Unified School District
Vista Del Lago High CTE/VPA Teachers
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
"A stronger and more integrated approach to learning - one
that combines rigorous academics with career education -
can engage and motivate students who are at risk of
dropping out and can create more options for them after
high school, whether they choose college or career."
The California Alliance for Arts Education and the
California Association for Health, Physical education,
Recreation and Dance believe that this bill will strengthen
the focus of the CSMP by including professional development
focused on career-oriented, integrated academic and
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technical
content, and as a result, the long term education goals of
all students will be enriched and better met.
CPM:cm:kc 9/2/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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