BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
SB 696 (Block) - Academic Performance Index: Civics
Amended: April 18, 2013 Policy Vote: Education 9-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 23, 2013 Consultant: Jacqueline
Wong-Hernandez
SUSPENSE FILE. AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED.
Bill Summary: SB 696 requires the Superintendent of Public
Instruction (SPI), on or before July 1, 2015, to report to the
Legislature and recommend to the State Board of Education (SBE)
for adoption a project-based assessment, as specified, through
the system of public school accountability, or by other means,
to measure the civics learning objectives contained in the
history-social science framework for grades 6-12.
Fiscal Impact:
Project-based assessment recommendations: Significant new
workload for the California Department of Education (CDE) to
evaluate potential civics assessments.
Inclusion in accountability: Incorporating a new
(additional) measurement of student achievement/learning
will necessarily incur substantial costs to local
educational agencies (LEAs) to administer the assessments.
If civics assessments are incorporated into the state
accountability system, they would result in additional
contracting costs for the CDE to incorporate the assessment
and could result in fiscal ramifications for LEAs that fail
to meet performance standards.
Report: Likely minor costs to develop a report to the
Legislature, as the majority of the work will be completed
in order to determine what the SPI's recommendation will be.
Background: Civics is generally included in the history-social
science standards and framework, with several references to the
United States and California Constitutions and democracy.
Existing law authorizes the SBE to consider the adoption of a
revised framework and evaluation criteria in history-social
science but only after the CDE has completed work on the
development of frameworks for the common core standards. (EC �
SB 696 (Block)
Page 1
60200.8)
Existing law requires the SPI to report to the Legislature and
recommend to the SBE for adoption, by October 1, 2013, a method
for increasing the emphasis on student mastery of standards in
science and social science through the system of public school
accountability or by other means. (EC � 52052.9)
Existing law further requires the SPI to develop
recommendations, by November 1, 2012, for the reauthorization of
the statewide student assessment program, including among other
numerous items to be considered, the assessment of science and
history-social science in all grade levels at or above grade 4.
(EC � 60604.5)
Proposed Law: SB 696 requires the SPI to, by July 1, 2015 to
report to the Legislature, and recommend to the SBE for
adoption, a project-based assessment to measure the civics
learning objectives contained in the history-social science
framework for grades 1-12. This bill requires specific civics
learning objectives, and that the project-based assessment use
an approach that engages pupils in learning essential knowledge
and skills through a pupil-influenced inquiry process, as
specified.
Staff Comments: This bill requires the SPI to recommend a
project-based assessment to measure civics learning objectives
to the SBE for adoption. This, in turn, requires the CDE to
evaluate (existing, or to plan to create a new) project-based
civics assessment for each grade level that: 1) measures an
understanding of the relevance of public policy, the structure
of the federal, state, and local governments, and both the
California and United States Constitutions; and 2) uses an
approach that engages pupils in learning essential knowledge and
skills through a pupil-influenced inquiry process structured
around complex, authentic questions and carefully designed
projects and tasks. Implementation of this bill will result in
significant new workload to the CDE, or contracting costs to
evaluate assessments or develop a new assessment concept. The
level of detail intended for the SPI's recommendation is
unclear.
If the SBE adopts the SPI's recommendation, there will be
substantial cost pressure to implement and provide funding for
SB 696 (Block)
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the new project-based assessment for each grade level. Costs
will be determined by the design of the assessment and its
administrative requirements. The CDE will also likely have to
adopt new civics standards consistent with the assessment, which
will incur additional costs.
This bill allows the SPI to recommend the project-based
assessment be part of the public school accountability system or
to incorporate the measurement "by other means." This broad
authority could result in significant costs to either
incorporate it into the overall accountability system (which
could also lead to long-term ramifications for LEAs failing to
meet the expectations of the assessment) or to implement the
measurement outside of the accountability system. Those costs
will depend entirely on the design of the assessment and the
form of implementation.
AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED: Amend per author to limit civics
assessments to grades 6-12, and to make clarifications regarding
the assessment.