BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 740|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 740
Author: Hancock (D), et al
Amended: 5/31/11
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 6-3, 4/27/11
AYES: Lowenthal, Alquist, Hancock, Liu, Price, Vargas
NOES: Runner, Blakeslee, Huff
NO VOTE RECORDED: Simitian, Vacancy
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 6-3, 5/26/11
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Lieu, Pavley, Price, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Emmerson, Runner
SUBJECT : Standardized Testing and Reporting Program:
Grade 2
SOURCE : California Federation of Teachers
DIGEST : This bill (1) eliminates the requirement that
assessments be administered to pupils in second grade
pursuant to the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR)
Program, beginning July 1, 2012, (2) requires the
California Department of Education, by July 1, 2014, to
identify and make available to school districts information
regarding existing assessments in language arts and
mathematics for pupils in grade 2 for diagnostic use by
classroom teachers, and (3) requires these provisions to be
implemented from the savings realized from the elimination
of the grade 2 standards-based achievement testing.
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ANALYSIS : Existing law requires each school district,
charter school, and county office of education to
administer designated achievement tests to each pupil in
grades 2 through 11 as part of the STAR Program. The STAR
Program is scheduled to sunset on July 1, 2013.
Recently enacted legislation, SBX5 1 (Steinberg), Chapter
2, Statues of 2010, Fifth Extraordinary Session, states
legislative intent regarding the reauthorization of
California's assessment system, to include alignment with
the common core standards, any common assessment based on
the common core, and conformity to the assessment
requirements of any reauthorized federal law.
The STAR Program requires pupils to be tested in English
language arts, mathematics, science and history-social
science at specific grade levels. The STAR Program
includes the California Standards Tests, the California
Alternate Performance Assessment and the California
Modified Assessment administered to certain pupils with
disabilities, and a national norm-referenced test in
Spanish that is administered to Spanish speaking English
learners who have been in school in the U.S. less than 12
months or who are receiving instruction in Spanish.
STAR test results are available statewide, by county,
school district, schoolsite, and for individual pupils.
Individual pupil results are provided to parents generally
by the middle of September following the administration of
the STAR tests. These tests results provide information
about the performance level the pupils' scores in each
subject, such as advanced, proficient, basic, below basic
and far below basic.
This bill:
1.Eliminates, beginning July 1, 2012, the requirement that
assessments be administered to pupils in second grade
pursuant to the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR)
Program and makes conforming changes related to:
A. A plan for producing valid, reliable, and
comparable individual pupil scores.
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B. The development and distribution of workbooks.
C. The development of the California Standards Tests.
D. The requirements that test publishers must meet.
E. The development of a reading list.
2.Requires the California Department of Education to
identify and make available to school districts
information regarding existing assessments in language
arts and mathematics for pupils in grade 2 for diagnostic
use by classroom teachers.
3.Requires the provisions of #2 above to be implemented
from savings realized from the elimination of the grade 2
standards-based achievement testing.
Comments
Accountability . While assessments in English language arts
and mathematics in grade 2 are used for purposes of state
accountability (the Academic Performance Index), federal
accountability provisions included in No Child Left Behind
do not require states to use grade 2 assessment data for
accountability purposes.
What is gained from second grade testing ? Test results for
individual pupils are provided to schoolsite personnel and
parents of the pupil. These results include information
about the performance level the pupil scored in each
subject area tested. Opponents are concerned that without
second grade testing, parents and teachers will not have
this data early in a pupil's educational career which is
important for making adjustments to that student's
instruction.
Legislative history of STAR testing in second grade . The
STAR Program was created in 1997 by SB 376 (Alpert),
Chapter 828, Statutes of 1997, and authorized assessments
in grades 2-11 until January 1, 2002. SB 233 (Alpert),
Chapter 722, Statutes of 2001, reauthorized the STAR
Program until January 1, 2005.
SB 1448 (Alpert), Chapter 233, Statutes of 2004,
reauthorized the STAR Program until January 1, 2011, with
the exception of second grade testing which was to be
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phased out over a three year period (until July 1, 2007).
Passed the Senate with a vote of 39-0 on July 29, 2004.
AB 356 (Hancock), 2003-04 Session, among other things,
would have provided for a diagnostic assessment, rather
than standardized testing, in grade 2 as part of the STAR
program. (Died on the Senate Floor)
AB 1353 (Huff), 2007-08 Session, would have extended second
grade assessments to January 1, 2011. (Died in Assembly
Education Committee)
SB 80 (Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee), Chapter
174, Statutes of 2007, extended second grade testing until
July 1, 2011. Passed the Senate with a vote of 28-11 on
August 21, 2007.
SB 800 (Hancock), 2009-10 Session, was nearly identical to
this bill. (Failed passage in the Senate Education
Committee)
AB 476 (Torlakson), 2009-10 Session, at one time would have
eliminated STAR testing in the second grade. Passed the
Senate with a vote of 26-13 on September 4, 2010. At the
time of enrollment, AB 476 required the Superintendent of
Public Instruction to contract for an independent
evaluation of the STAR Program. AB 476 was subsequently
vetoed by the Governor, whose veto message read:
"The objectives of this bill are duplicative of work
already being done by a variety of sources. Not only
have there been reviews of California's standards and
assessment system by the United States Department of
Education's peer review process, the California
Department of Education has a process which has
included an independent alignment study and review of
test items by various content and test development
experts. Finally, this bill circumvents the State
Board of Education in the selection of the independent
evaluator and approving the evaluation and its
recommendations."
SBX5 1 (Steinberg), Chapter 2, Statutes of 2010, Fifth
Extraordinary Session, extended the STAR Program for grades
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2-11 until July 1, 2013. Passed the Senate with a vote of
27-7 on June 6, 2010.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13
2013-14 Fund
Eliminate 2nd grade test <$1,700-$2,000>
<$1,700 - $2,000> General
Diagnostic assessmentsPotentially significant costs
beginning in 2013-14 General
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/26/11)
California Federation of Teachers (source)
California State PTA
California Teachers Association
Californians Together
OPPOSITION : (Verified 5/26/11)
EdVoice
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
"Children in second grade are regularly given a variety of
local instructionally supportive assessments, including
diagnostic tests to help parents, teachers and schools
understand the strengths and weaknesses in the child's
learning; including identification of special needs.
Numerous early childhood organizations express concern
about the validity of standardized tests administered to
young children and recommend that administration of
California Standards Tests in the second grade is
developmentally inappropriate for young children. The
elimination of second grade tests would provide estimated
yearly savings of approximately $2 million."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : According to the Ed Voice, "SB
740 would result in the loss of critical statewide data
used by policymakers at the local and state level in
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evaluating best practices in the primary grades, and would
severely undermine California's effort to ensure that every
child learn to ready by the end of the third grade.
Without a uniform 2nd trade test, parents, teachers and
policymakers will be less likely to know which schools are
failing to close achievement gaps and allowing students -
particularly low-income and minority students - to fall
further behind."
CM:nl 5/31/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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