BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
SB 1057 (Corbett) - History-Social Science Content Standards
Amended: April 30, 2014 Policy Vote: Education 7-1
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 23, 2014 Consultant: Jacqueline
Wong-Hernandez
SUSPENSE FILE. AS AMENDED.
Bill Summary: SB 1057 requires the Superintendent of Public
Instruction (SPI) to convene a group of history-social science
experts and, by March 30, 2016, to recommend history-social
science content standards to the state board of education (SBE).
This bill requires the SBE, on or before July 30, 2016, to
adopt, reject, or modify history-social science content
standards in accordance with specified procedures.
Fiscal Impact (as approved on May 23, 2014):
Content standards: Approximately $700,000 (General Fund) in
one-time costs to develop new content standards in 2018.
Framework: Up to $1 million (General Fund) to revise the
history-social science framework in 2018.
Background: Pursuant to existing law (which required adoption by
November 1, 1998), the SBE adopted history-social science
content standards on October 9, 1998. The SBE does not have the
authority to revise these standards. (Education Code � 60605)
Academic content standards define the knowledge, concepts and
skills that pupils should learn at each grade level. Curricular
frameworks serve as a blueprint for how to implement the
standards and provide guidance to publishers, along with
evaluation criteria, for the development of instructional
materials. The processes for the revision of curricular
frameworks and adoption of instructional materials are suspended
until the 2015-16 school year. (EC � 60200.7)
The history-social science framework was last adopted in 2005.
The processes for reviewing frameworks and adopting
instructional materials have been suspended since July 2009, due
to budget constraints. At the time of the suspension, a review
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of the history-social science framework was nearly complete.
Since the suspension, the CDE has ceased work on the review and
update. The SBE is specifically prohibited from reviewing
frameworks and adopting instructional materials until the
2015-16 school year. (EC � 60200.7 and � 60200.8)
The role of the Instructional Quality Commission (IQC) is to
recommend curriculum frameworks to the SBE, develop criteria for
evaluating instructional materials, study, evaluate and
recommend to the SBE instructional materials for adoption, and
make recommendations to the SBE regarding the use of frameworks
and model curriculum and alignment with the academic content
standards. (EC � 60204)
Proposed Law: This bill requires the SPI to convene a group of
history-social science experts and, by March 30, 2016, to
recommend history-social science content standards to the SBE.
The group of experts must include, but is not limited to,
individuals who are elementary and secondary history-social
science teachers, schoolsite principals, school district or
county office of education administrators, and university
professors, scholars of all major religious, ethnic, racial, and
cultural groups, and individuals who represent the perspectives
of all major religious, ethnic, racial, and cultural groups,
genders, sexual orientations, and disability statuses.
This bill requires the SBE, on or before July 30, 2016, to
adopt, reject, or modify history-social science content
standards in accordance with specified procedures.
Related Legislation: SB 1380 (Wyland) requires the IQC to
consider including the Armenian genocide in the history-social
science framework, and encourages instruction to include
specific components.
AB 659 (Nazarian) encourages the CDE to include the Armenian
Genocide in its published curriculum resources, encourages the
incorporation oral testimony when teaching specific instances of
genocide into existing curriculum, and encourages including the
Armenian Genocide in state and local professional development
activities and in the next revision of the history-social
science curriculum framework. AB 659 is pending referral in the
Senate.
SB 1057 (Corbett)
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SB 897 (Steinberg), among other things, requires the IQC to
consider whether and how to incorporate the College, Career, and
Civic Life Framework for Social Studies State Standards into the
history-social science framework. SB 897 is currently on the
suspense file in this Committee.
Staff Comments: The history-social science framework was last
adopted in 2005. The processes for reviewing frameworks and
adopting instructional materials have been suspended since July
2009, due to budget constraints. At the time of the suspension,
a review of the history-social science framework was nearly
complete. Since the suspension, the CDE has ceased work on the
review and update. The CDE is actively seeking permission to
complete the framework as soon as possible.
If this bill takes effect (on January 1, 2015) while the
framework remains incomplete, the new standards would delay the
revision further. The framework in progress would have to be set
aside until the content standards were adopted and, depending on
the extent to which the new content standards differ from those
upon which the in-progress framework is based, the framework
would have to be revised or replaced. That, in turn, would delay
the development of Common Core assessments in those areas.
The costs cited in the fiscal impact above presume that a group
of experts meeting the bill's requirements can actually be
convened by the required deadline. This bill requires that the
standards be developed by a group of experts that include
individuals elementary and secondary history-social science
teachers, schoolsite principals, school district or county
office of education administrators, and university professors,
scholars of all major religious, ethnic, racial, and cultural
groups, and individuals who represent the perspectives of all
major religious, ethnic, racial, and cultural groups, genders,
sexual orientations, and disability statuses. What constitutes
a "major" religious, ethnic, cultural group, gender, sexual
orientation, and disability status is not defined and it is
unclear whether a full representation could be achieved with
volunteers. The size of the group will also likely make the
development process more extensive and time-consuming than it
would otherwise be.
The adoption of new standards and frameworks also creates cost
pressure to provide related professional development, and
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potentially to adopt new instructional materials.
Committee amendments delay the bill until 2018, and align its
requirements to the existing process for developing and adopting
new content standards. Amendments require the inclusion of a
multitude of perspectives from various groups in the development
of the content standards.