BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 789
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Date of Hearing: June 13, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
SB 789 (Price) - As Amended: April 14, 2011
SENATE VOTE : 25-13
SUBJECT : Public School Accountability Program: Creative and
Innovative Education Index
SUMMARY : Requires the Academic Performance Index (API)
advisory committee to make recommendations regarding the
creation of a voluntary Creative and Innovative Education Index.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires the API advisory committee to consult with
individuals who are experts or have experience in innovation
in the fields of business, science, technology, mathematics,
engineering, and arts education on the development of a
voluntary Creative and Innovative Education Index.
2)Requires the index to be based in part on the creative
opportunities in each participating school as measured by the
availability of classes and before and after school programs
that provide creative opportunities for pupils.
3)Requires the advisory committee to consider the extent to
which this index should be part of the state's accountability
system and methods to foster creative and innovative education
in the public schools.
4)Requires the advisory committee to make recommendations
regarding the index to the Superintendent of Public
Instruction (SPI) by June 1, 2013.
EXISTING LAW establishes the Academic Performance Index (API),
which summarizes a school's or a local educational agency's
(LEA's) academic performance and progress on statewide
assessments. The API is a single number ranging from 200 to
1,000 and is required to include a variety of indicators,
including results of the Standardized Testing and Reporting
Program (STAR) tests, attendance rates, and high school
graduation rates. Existing law requires that achievement test
scores constitute at least 60% of the API. However, the only
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indicators used so far to calculate the API have been test
scores, so, in practice, test scores constitute 100% of the API.
Existing law also establishes the API advisory committee to
advise the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) on all
appropriate matters relative to the creation of the API.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : The API was established by SB1x 1 (Alpert), Chapter
3, Statutes of 1999, known as the Public School Accountability
Act of 1999 (PSAA). Part of the purpose of the PSAA was to
shift from an input-based to an output-based school
accountability system, in which schools would be held
accountable for results instead of compliance with rules and
regulations. The movement toward output-based accountability
also underlies the federal No Child Left Behind Act as well as
the standards and assessments being developed for the common
core curriculum. This bill moves back in the direction of
input-based accountability by basing the Creative and Innovative
Education Index (CIEI) on inputs such as the availability of
debate clubs, science fairs, theater performances and other
before and after school programs that provide creative
opportunities for pupils.
Clarification needed. This bill provides that the CIEI shall be
voluntary, but also requires the advisory committee to make
recommendations on the extent to which the index should be part
of the state's accountability system. However, if it becomes
part of the state's accountability system, then it would no
longer be voluntary. Staff recommends that the bill be amended
to delete the requirement that the advisory committee make
recommendations regarding adding the CIEI to the state's
accountability system.
Date change needed. This bill requires the advisory committee
to make its recommendations by June 1, 2013. This timeline
anticipated the bill taking effect January 1, 2012. Since the
bill will not take effect until January 1, 2013, if chaptered,
staff recommends the due date for the recommendations be moved
to June 1, 2014.
Related legislation. AB 224 (Bonilla) would have required the
SPI, in consultation with the State Board of Education (SBE), to
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incorporate various indicators into the API, including high
school graduation rates, rates by which pupils complete a course
of study at an achievement level that fulfills the requirements
and prerequisites for admission to California public
institutions of postsecondary education, and rates by which
pupils complete a course of study that provides the skills and
knowledge necessary to attain entry-level employment in business
or industry when they graduate from high school. That bill is
currently in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
AB 2361 (Pan) encourages schools to include in the School
Accountability Report Card the number of visual and performing
arts classes offered in the school district and at the
schoolsite, the amount of time devoted to visual and performing
arts instruction, the number of pupils enrolled in visual and
performing arts classes, and the number of full-time equivalent
teaching positions in the visual and performing arts. That bill
is pending in the Senate.
SB 1458 (Steinberg) reduces the value of test scores in the API
from 60% to no more than 40% in secondary schools and at least
40% in primary and middle schools. SB 1458 also authorizes the
SPI, with the approval of the SBE, to add to the API data
relating to grade promotion and matriculation rates and
preparedness for postsecondary education and careers. That bill
is set to be heard in the Assembly Education Committee on June
27, 2012.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Alliance for Arts Education
California Association for the Gifted
California Association for Health, Physical Education,
Recreation and Dance
California Association of Museums
Junior League of California
Opposition
None on file
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Analysis Prepared by : Rick Pratt / ED. / (916) 319-2087