BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 754|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 754
Author: Padilla (D)
Amended: 4/6/11
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
SUBJECT : California English Language Development Test
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill prohibits a student in grades 3-12
from being required to retake portions of the California
English Language Development Test for which the student has
previously tested Early Advanced or Advanced, effective
when the current test publisher's contract expires and to
the extent permitted by federal law.
ANALYSIS : Both federal and state law require that each
school district with English language learners annually
assess these students' English language development until
they are redesignated as English proficient. The
assessment, the California English Language Development
Test (CELDT), must be administered to all students whose
primary language is not English within 30 calendar days
after they are enrolled in a California public school for
the first time, and annually thereafter during a period of
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tie determined by the Superintendent of Public Instruction
and the State Board of Education (SBE) until they are
reclassified as fluent English proficient. Districts are
required to inform parents of test results within 30
calendar days of receiving student results from the testing
contractor, or within two weeks of the child being enrolled
in a language instruction program after the beginning of
the school year.
The CELDT serves three purposes. It (1) identifies pupils
as limited English proficient, (2) determines the level of
English language proficiency of these students, and (3)
annually assesses the progress of these students in
acquiring the skills of listening, speaking, reading, and
writing in English. Among other things, current law
requires that the test be aligned with the English Language
Development Standards and be age and developmentally
appropriate for students.
This bill:
1.Prohibits a student in grades 3-12 from being required to
retake portions of the CELDT for which he/she has tested
Early Advanced or Advanced, to the extent permitted by
federal law.
2.Specifies that the prohibition applies within the
appropriate grade spans determined by the department, in
accordance with current law requirements that the test be
age and developmentally appropriate for students.
3.Delays the effective date of these provisions until such
time as the current test publisher's contract expires.
Comments
English Learners (ELs) constitute approximately 24 percent
of the total enrollment in California public schools. A
majority of ELs (68 percent) are enrolled in the elementary
grades, kindergarten through grade six, with 31percent
enrolled in the secondary grades, seven through 12.
Although EL data are collected for 55 language groups, 95
percent speak one of the top ten languages in the state,
which includes Spanish (84.8 percent), Vietnamese, Filipino
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(Filipino or Tagalog), Cantonese, Hmong, Korean, Mandarin,
Arabic, Punjabi, and American. During 2009-10, the
California Department of Education (CDE) administered the
CELDT to 1.6 million students, 1.3 million of whom were
tested under the annual assessment window.
How is the CELDT scored ? The CELDT, aligned to the
English-language development (ELD) standards adopted by the
SBE, assesses the four domains of listening, speaking,
reading, and writing in English. Test results are reported
by five performance levels: beginning, early intermediate,
intermediate, Early Advanced, and Advanced. The overall
scale score is calculated by weighting the domain scale
scores 25 percent in each domain, for grades 3-12. The
CELDT Criterion for English language proficiency is an
overall score of Early Advanced or higher and scores for
each domain (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) at
Intermediate or higher.
Grade spans ? This bill establishes a prohibition against
retesting students on portions of the CELDT within the
appropriate "grade spans." The CELDT blueprints, developed
by the CDE, outline the specific ELD standards tested and
the number of questions included within each domain on the
CELDT for each grade form kindergarten through grade 12.
These blueprints are grouped by the following grades spans,
K-1, grade 2, grades 3-5, grades 6-8, grades 9-12. Under
the bill's provisions, an EL who has previously passed any
of the domains of the CELDT, yet has not met the overall
score necessary to be considered English language
proficient, would be prohibited from being retested on
those domains until reaching the next grade span.
Continually improving the CELDT . In 2006, test developers
conducted a study for the CDE evaluating linkage and
realignment of the ELD standards and assessments. Among
other things, it found that:
1.ELD standards were generally of lower complexity than
content standards as ELD standards usually represented
linguistic skills while content standards represented
more academic language functions.
2.Development of the CELDT items that reflect more academic
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language functions and higher levels of complexity would
improve overall alignment of the system, and increased
emphasis on academic language functions was necessary to
bring ELD standards and CELDT into better compliance with
federal requirements.
3.The CELDT was somewhat aligned to ELD standards, but
items in listening and writing showed weaker alignment
than speaking and reading.
4.State content standards reflect more academic language
functions and higher complexity when compared to the ELD
standards and the CELDT.
5.Misalignment on complexity affects the interpretation of
the CELDT as a measure of proficiency for purposes of
reclassification or initial identification as fluent.
Students prematurely classified may not get the support
needed to succeed in school and beyond.
6.While development of test items that reflected more
academic language functions/higher level complexity
improve overall alignment, classroom and formative
assessments may still be more suitable for assessing
academic language functions.
As a result of the study, the CELDT cut scores were changed
in 2006 and the test was rescaled to allow for the
comparison of a student's scale score on each domain across
future academic years. According to the CDE, there is
continual development of test items to ensure the validity
and reliability of the CELDT at all grade spans.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 4/14/11)
Alliance for a Better Community
Association of California School Administrators
Californians Together
The Latin Business Association
PTA
Public Advocates
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Youth Policy Institute
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
"Passing the CELDT is a critical first step for
reclassification as fluent English proficient.
Reclassification is vital for career and college readiness.
Currently, an English Learner who fails any section of the
CELDT is required to retake the entire exam, including
sections the student has previously passed. Clearly,
California has an interest in eliminating unnecessary
barriers in the reclassification process. Requiring
students to retake sections of the CELDT which they
previously passed is detrimental to reclassifying
students." In addition, the author's office contends that
the bill will produce cost savings because it will no
longer require unnecessary testing.
CPM:cm 4/14/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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