Amended in Assembly April 22, 2014

Amended in Assembly April 2, 2014

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1539

Introduced by Assembly Member Hagman

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Brown, Nestande, and Waldron)

(Coauthor: Senator Knight)

January 22, 2014

An act to add Section 60605.4 to the Education Code, relating to content standards.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1539, as amended, Hagman. Content standards: computer science.

Existing law requires the State Board of Education to adopt statewide academically rigorous content standards, pursuant to recommendations of the Commission for the Establishment of Academic Content and Performance Standards, in core curriculum areas.

This bill would require the begin delete state board to adopt end delete begin insert Instructional Quality Commission to develop and recommend to the state board end insert , on or before July 31, 2015, computer science content standards, pursuant to recommendations developed by a group of computer science experts begin delete and in consideration of national computer science content standards, that provide guidance for teaching computer science education in grades 7 to 12, inclusive end delete . begin insert The bill would express that the Legislature encourages the commission to consider existing computer science content standards, including, but not necessarily limited to, national K-12 computer science standards developed by the Computer Science Teachers Association. end insert The bill would begin delete require end delete begin insert encourage end insert the Superintendent, in consultation with the begin delete state board end delete begin insert commission end insert , to convene that group of experts and ensure that the group includes individuals from specified groups.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 60605.4 is added to the Education Code,
to read:

60605.4.  

(a) On or before July 31, 2015, the begin delete state board shall
adopt end delete begin insert Instructional Quality Commission is encouraged to develop
and recommend to the state board, end insert computer science content
standards, pursuant to recommendations developed by a group of
computer science experts begin delete and in consideration of national computer
science content standards, that provide guidance for teaching
computer science education in grades 7 to 12, inclusive end delete . The
begin insert Legislature encourages the Instructional Quality Commission to
consider existing computer science standards, which include, but
are not limited to, the national K-12 computer science standards
developed by the Computer Science Teachers Association, and
consider end insert content standards begin delete shall include, end delete begin insert that include, end insert but begin insert are end insert not
necessarily begin delete be end delete limited to, standards for teaching coding. For
purposes of this section, “coding” is the process of converting a
program design into an accurate and detailed representation of that
program in a suitable language.

(b) (1) The Superintendent, in consultation with the begin delete state board,
shall end delete begin insert Instructional Quality Commission, is encouraged to end insert convene
the group of experts begin delete required end delete begin insert referenced end insert in subdivision (a), and
begin delete shall end delete begin insert is encouraged to end insert ensure that the members of the group
include, but are not necessarily limited to, all of the following:

(A) Teachers who teach computer science, including
mathematics and science teachers, in grades 7 to 12, inclusive.

(B) Schoolsite principals.

(C) School district or county office of education administrators.

(D) University professors.

(E) Representatives of private sector business or industry.

(2) The Superintendent, in consultation with the state board,
shall ensure that one-half of the members of the group are teachers
as described in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1).

(c) The content standards may be used by school districts to
develop computer science programs and course assessments but
are not mandatory.