BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                          AB 15  
                                                  X1
                                                          Page  1

Date of Hearing:   February 10, 1999

                ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION 
                      Kerry Mazzoni, Chair
      AB 15 X1 (Kaloogian) - As Introduced: January 19, 1999
  
SUBJECT  :   Teacher Quality and Evaluation Program.

  SUMMARY  :   Establishes a program to assess the effectiveness of  
teachers in ensuring that their pupils progress through the  
school system and meet state content and performance standards.   
Specifically,  this bill  : 

1)Requires the State Board of Education (SBE) to establish  
  objective and uniform teacher performance assessment  
  guidelines and standards of expected pupil achievement that  
  are aligned with the state content and performance standards.


2)Requires school district governing boards to adopt the  
  guidelines and standards established by the SBE.


3)Requires school district governing boards to evaluate pupil  
  test scores to measure academic progress of pupils taught by  
  each teacher in the district.


4)Deletes the prohibition in current law on the use of  
  publishers' norms established by standardized tests from being  
  included in the evaluation and assessment of certificated  
  employee performance.


5)Requires, when any permanent certificated employee  has  
  received an unsatisfactory evaluation, that the employee be  
  placed on probation for two years and the employing authority  
  explore options to retrain the employee for another  
  profession, or encourage his or her retirement, if the  
  employee does not improve in that time.


  EXISTING LAW  :









                                                          AB 15  
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1)States legislative intent that school district governing  
  boards establish a uniform system of evaluation and assessment  
  of the performance of certificated personnel. The system must  
  involve the development and adoption by each school district  
  of objective evaluation and assessment guidelines.


2)Requires school district governing boards to adopt standards  
  of expected pupil achievement.


3)Prohibits the evaluation and assessment of certificated  
  employee performance from including the use of publishers'  
  norms established by standardized tests.


4)Requires, when a permanent certificated employee receives an  
  unsatisfactory evaluation, the employing authority to annually  
  evaluate the employee until the employee achieves a positive  
  evaluation or is separated from the district.


  FISCAL EFFECT  :   Unknown.

  COMMENTS  :   According to the author, this bill is part of a  
package developed by the Assembly Republican Education Task  
Force. This bill is intended to further recent efforts to ensure  
increased student academic performance by requiring that a  
teacher's students' test scores be used in the biennial  
evaluation. The bill would allow school districts to use  
publishers' norms to evaluate teachers.

  Local Control Eliminated  . This bill would require all 1,000  
local school districts to follow state standards of teacher  
performance assessment and pupil achievement. State standards  
may not reflect or address the needs or particular circumstances  
of individual school districts.

  Many Factors Influence Student Performance  . Opponents of this  
bill assert that a norm-referenced test, such as the  
Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) test, is not a valid  
basis for teacher evaluation. Pupil academic achievement is  
based on not only teacher performance, but on multiple factors  
such as the school environment, instructional materials, and  








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other elements necessary for the education process to flourish.  
One external index such as scores on the STAR exam may be  
subject to too many variables to make it a reliable measure of  
teacher performance.

  The STAR Exam .  Under the Standardized Testing and Reporting  
(STAR) program, all pupils in grades 2 through 11 are tested in  
the Spring of each year on a standardized test of basic skills  
that is chosen by the State Board of Education.  The board has  
awarded a five year contract to use the Stanford Achievement  
Test (SAT 9 or Stanford 9) published by Harcourt Brace.  This  
test provides individual pupil scores that are nationally normed  
by the publishers.  The test was administered statewide for the  
first time in the Spring of 1998.  In 1999 the test is being  
modified to be aligned with the recently adopted state  
standards.

  Author's Amendments  : The author intends to introduce amendments  
to this bill in committee that would require districts to  
annually evaluate probationary employees until they achieve a  
positive evaluation or leave the district, instead of exploring  
options to retrain or retire them

  REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   (as of 2/5/99)

  Support  

None received.

  Opposition  

California Federation of Teachers
  
Analysis Prepared by  :    Alva Johnson / aed / (916) 319-2087