BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 753|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 753
Author: Padilla (D)
Amended: 9/1/111
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 9-0, 4/13/11
AYES: Lowenthal, Runner, Alquist, Hancock, Huff, Liu,
Price, Simitian, Vargas
NO VOTE RECORDED: Blakeslee, Vacancy
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 8-0, 5/26/11
AYES: Kehoe, Walters, Alquist, Lieu, Pavley, Price,
Runner, Steinberg
NO VOTE RECORDED: Emmerson
SENATE FLOOR : 39-0, 6/2/11
AYES: Alquist, Anderson, Berryhill, Blakeslee, Calderon,
Cannella, Corbett, Correa, De Le�n, DeSaulnier, Dutton,
Emmerson, Evans, Fuller, Gaines, Hancock, Harman,
Hernandez, Huff, Kehoe, La Malfa, Leno, Lieu, Liu,
Lowenthal, Negrete McLeod, Padilla, Pavley, Price, Rubio,
Simitian, Steinberg, Strickland, Vargas, Walters, Wolk,
Wright, Wyland, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Runner
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not available
SUBJECT : Pupils: English learners: assessment
SOURCE : Los Angeles Unified School District
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DIGEST : This bill makes changes related to the timing
and administration of the required English language
development assessments.
Assembly Amendments (1) require school districts to
annually conduct the assessment during a period that starts
on the day upon which 55 percent of the instructional year
is completed through July 1 of that calendar year instead
of 65 percent, (2) specifies that changes to the bill will
not be implemented unless the California Department of
Education receives written documentation from the U.S.
Department of Education that implementation is permitted by
federal law or until the 2013-14 school year, whichever
occurs later, and (3) prohibits any pupil in grades 3 to 9,
inclusive, from being required to retake portions of the
ELD assessment for which he or she has previously achieved
the advanced proficiency level within each appropriate
grade span, and prohibits pupils in grades 10-12,
inclusive, from being required to retake the portions of
the ELD assessment for which he or she has previously
achieved the early advanced or advanced levels.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1.Requires each school district that has one or more pupils
who are English learners (ELs) to assess each pupil's
English language development (ELD), using a test acquired
or developed by the Superintendent of Public Instruction
(SPI) with the approval of the State Board of Education
(SBE), in order to determine the level of proficiency
upon initial enrollment, and annually, thereafter, until
the pupil is redesignated as English proficient; federal
law extends this requirement to all ELs.
2.Requires the assessment to include, but not be limited
to, an assessment of achievement of these pupils in
grades 2-12, inclusive, in English listening, speaking,
reading, and writing skills, and pupils in kindergarten
and grade 1 in English listening, speaking, and until
July 1, 2012, early literacy skills. Requires the ELD
assessment, among other specifications, to be aligned
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with the English language development standards and be
age and developmentally appropriate for pupils.
3.Requires the SPI and the SBE to establish procedures for
conducting the ELD assessments, including determining the
period of time in which the annual ELD testing is
required to be conducted.
4.Requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to
develop reclassification procedures that utilize multiple
criteria in determining whether to reclassify a pupil as
proficient in English, including, but not be limited to,
the following:
A. Assessment of language proficiency.
B. Teacher evaluation.
C. Parental opinion and consultation.
D. Comparison of the pupil's performance in basic
skills that demonstrates whether the pupil is
sufficiently proficient in English to participate
effectively in a curriculum designed for native
English speaking pupils at the same age.
This bill makes changes related to the timing and
administration of the required ELD assessments.
Specifically, this bill:
1.Requires, commencing with the point in time in which the
CDE receives written documentation from the United States
Department of Education (USDOE) that federal law permits
the implementation of these changes or the 2013-14 school
year, whichever occurs later, that the annual ELD
assessment of ELs, using the test specified for that
purpose, be conducted annually during a testing window
that begins with the day upon which 55 percent of the
instructional year is completed and ends on July 1 of the
same calendar year.
2.Requires a school district to determine if the pupil is
an EL by conducting an assessment of a pupil at the
pupil's initial enrollment, using the current or prior
year's test, as specified, for the grade in which the
pupil is being enrolled. Also requires a school district
to assess ELD of a pupil no more than one time per school
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year.
3.Prohibits a pupil in any of grades 3 to 9, inclusive,
from being required to retake portions of the ELD
assessment for which he or she has previously achieved
the advanced proficiency level within each appropriate
grade span, and prohibits pupils in grades 10 to 12,
inclusive from being required to retake the portions of
the ELD assessment for which he or she has previously
achieved the early advanced or advanced levels.
4.Specifies the provisions in #3 above shall not be
implemented until the existing ELD assessment contract
expires, and shall not be implemented unless and until
the CDE receives written documentation from the USDOE
that implementation is permitted by federal law.
Comments
Nearly one quarter of the student population in
California's public schools are classified as ELs, and
closer to one half of the state's pupils come from homes
where English is not the primary language. Current law
requires schools to assess the English proficiency of all
pupils whose primary language is not English, using an ELD
test acquired or developed by the SPI with the approval of
the SBE. The California English Language Development Test
(CELDT) was developed and is required as the assessment to
be used for this purpose. The ELD test is used for three
purposes: (1) to identify new students who are ELs in
kindergarten through grade 12; (2) to determine the level
of English-language proficiency; and (3) to annually assess
ELs progress in learning English until they are
reclassified.
ELs in grades 2-12 are administered the ELD test, which
assesses those pupils in four domains: speaking,
listening, reading and writing. Title III of the federal
Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the current version
of which is known as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB),
also places similar ELD testing requirements on states.
This bill makes two proposals related to the ELD
assessment.
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Need for the Bill . In December 2007, the Los Angeles
Unified School District convened the Achieving A+ Summit
which brought together over 40 researchers, academics, and
expert practitioners from across the nation, as well as
local community based organizations and district staff.
Among the extensive recommendations to emerge from the
group's work was the proposal that the CDE change the
testing window for the CELDT to the Spring. English
learners constitute approximately 24 percent of the total
enrollment in California public schools. During 2009-10,
the CDE administered the CELDT to 1.6 million students, 1.3
million of whom were tested under the annual assessment
window.
Current Practice Compared to Bill Provisions
Test Administration . California currently administers the
CELDT at the beginning of the school year (July 1 - October
31) and results are generally made available to school
districts by early February. The sponsors of the bill
contend that this makes it difficult for districts to use
this information to make informed placement and
instructional decisions and testing after summer when
students are not at peak proficiency can negatively affect
reclassification. According to information provided by the
sponsor of the bill, only two states (California and
Montana) administer an English language proficiency test in
the fall. Forty-six states, including Texas, New York,
Florida, and Illinois, administer the test in the Spring.
Prior Legislation
SB 521 (Romero), 2009-10 Session, was nearly identical to
this bill. (Held under submission in the Senate
Appropriations Committee)
SAB 2077 (Fuentes), 2007-08 Session, was nearly identical
to this bill. (Held under submission in the Senate
Appropriations Committee)
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13
2013-14 Fund
Screening test $3,000-$6,000 annually,
beginning in General
implementation 2013-14
SUPPORT : (Verified 9/7/11)
Los Angeles Unified School District (source)
Alliance for a Better Community
American Civil Liberties Union
Antonio R. Villaraigosa, Mayor, City of Los Angeles
Association of California School Administrators
Boyle Heights Learning Collaborative
California Association for Bilingual Education
California Association of Latino Superintendents and
Administrators
California Charter Schools Association
California Federation of Teachers
California School Boards Association
California State PTA
California Teacher Association
California Teachers of English to Speakers of Other
Languages
Californians Together
Central American Resource Center, Los Angeles
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Right of LA
College Board
Contra Costa County Superintendents' Coalition
Fremont Unified School District
Fresno Unified School District
GreenDot Public Schools
Hispanas Organized for Political Equality
Innercity Struggle
Japanese American Citizens League
Latin Business Association
Lennox School District
Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom
Long Beach Unified School District
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce
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Los Angeles County Office of Education
MALDEF
National Council of La Raza
Parent Teacher Association
Parent Revolution
Public Advocates
Riverside County School Superintendents' Association
Riverside County Superintendent of Schools
Rowland Unified School District
San Francisco Unified School District
Santa Clara Unified School District
Service Employees International Union, California
Services, Immigrant Rights & Educational Network
Sierra Sands Unified School District
United Teachers Los Angeles
Vaughn Next Century Learning Center
Visalia Unified School District
Youth Policy Institute
OPPOSITION : (Verified 9/7/11)
Association of California School Administrators
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
moving the test to the Spring would better support
end-of-year reclassification by providing schools with
up-to-date scores aligned with student scorers on the
California Standards Test, allow students to be tested
following a school year of English language instruction
rather than following a summer break, and provide language
proficiency information early enough to ensure proper
placement of students for the following school year.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : In opposition, the Association
of California School Administrators (ACSA) contends that
"?a date change to the spring will result in lost time for
teachers to use the CELDT data to adjust curriculum based
on the student's language proficiency within the school
year. Waiting to use the data for the prospective year
creates a lag during summer.
ACSA has also expressed concerned with the excessive amount
of testing in the spring particularly since the CELDT is a
very time intensive and labor intensive assessment
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involving listening, speaking, reading and writing to gauge
language proficiency.
CPM:cm 9/7/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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