Bill Text: CA AB1573 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Alternative schools: Student Achievement via Excellence accountability system.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-05-23 - In committee: Set, second hearing. Held under submission. [AB1573 Detail]
Download: California-2013-AB1573-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 1573 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 1, 2014
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 2, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Jones-Sawyer
JANUARY 30, 2014
An act to amend Section 52052 of, and to add Article 5 (commencing
with Section 52078) to Chapter 6.1 of Part 28 of Division 4 of Title
2 of, the Education Code, relating to alternative schools.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1573, as amended, Jones-Sawyer. Alternative schools: Student
Achievement via Excellence accountability system.
Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction,
with the approval of the State Board of Education, to develop an
Academic Performance Index (API) to measure the performance of
schools and school districts, especially the academic performance of
pupils. Existing law also requires the Superintendent, with the
approval of the state board, to develop an alternative accountability
system for schools under the jurisdiction of a county board of
education or a county superintendent of schools, community day
schools, nonpublic, nonsectarian schools, and alternative schools
serving high-risk pupils, including continuation high schools and
opportunity schools. Existing law provides that schools in the
alternative accountability system may receive an API score, but shall
not be included in the API rankings.
This bill would, by July 1, 2016, require the Superintendent, with
the approval of the state board, to develop the Student Achievement
via Excellence (SAVE) accountability system for the schools under the
jurisdiction of a county board of education or a county
superintendent of schools, community day schools, certain charter
schools, nonpublic, nonsectarian schools, and alternative schools,
including continuation high schools and opportunity schools. The bill
would require the SAVE accountability system to be designed in
conformity with certain requirements, and would provide that its
purpose is to annually measure the positive outcome performance of a
covered school, as expressed by the school's SAVE score. The bill
would, among other things, require a school's SAVE score to be
calculated based upon 3 weighted categories: learning readiness, save
rate, and academic achievement, and would specify indicators for
each of these categories. The bill would require the
Superintendent to recommend, and the state board to adopt, weights
for each category. The bill would require the SAVE
accountability system to be fully implemented beginning with the
2016-17 school year.
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. This act shall be known, and may be cited, as The
Fairness in Instruction Act.
SEC. 2. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Alternative high schools provide significant social, economic,
and academic benefits to their pupils and to California's population
as a whole.
(b) Reengaged learners demonstrate higher civic achievement,
contribute to the cultural strengths of their communities, and are
significantly less likely to be unemployed, on public assistance, or
arrested for a violent crime.
(c) Alternative high schools face a number of challenges,
including pupils who are often significantly below grade level.
(d) Pupils who enroll in alternative high schools have displayed a
gradual process of disengagement from school that encompasses years
of academic and behavioral difficulties, absenteeism, and stressful
life circumstances.
(e) Successful alternative high schools use multiple strategies
including state-of-the-art technology and career technical education
to reach the variety of learning modalities of the population they
serve.
(f) Successful alternative high schools typically enroll pupils
for less than four years, provide competency-based rather than seat
time-based instruction, and operate with open entry or open exit
enrollment.
(g) Standardized testing depends on all pupils being present on a
fixed schedule with learning competencies within a narrower band of
averages than necessary to reflect the range of alternative high
school pupils. Research by the National Governors Association
recognizes that traditional testing and seat time education for
alternative high school pupils is a substantial and unnecessary
barrier.
(h) Support for successful alternative high schools should include
an alternative assessment mechanism that measures the individual
growth in pupils that can be administered at the school level when
pupils are available.
SEC. 3. Section 52052 of the Education Code is amended to read:
52052. (a) (1) The Superintendent, with approval of the state
board, shall develop an Academic Performance Index (API), to measure
the performance of schools and school districts, especially the
academic performance of pupils.
(2) A school or school district shall demonstrate comparable
improvement in academic achievement as measured by the API by all
numerically significant pupil subgroups at the school or school
district, including:
(A) Ethnic subgroups.
(B) Socioeconomically disadvantaged pupils.
(C) English learners.
(D) Pupils with disabilities.
(E) Foster youth.
(3) (A) For purposes of this section, a numerically significant
pupil subgroup is one that consists of at least 30 pupils, each of
whom has a valid test score.
(B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), for a subgroup of pupils who
are foster youth, a numerically significant pupil subgroup is one
that consists of at least 15 pupils.
(C) For a school or school district with an API score that is
based on no fewer than 11 and no more than 99 pupils with valid test
scores, numerically significant pupil subgroups shall be defined by
the Superintendent, with approval by the state board.
(4) (A) The API shall consist of a variety of indicators currently
reported to the department, including, but not limited to, the
results of the achievement test administered pursuant to Section
60640, attendance rates for pupils in elementary schools, middle
schools, and secondary schools, and the graduation rates for pupils
in secondary schools.
(B) The Superintendent, with the approval of the state board, may
also incorporate into the API the rates at which pupils successfully
promote from one grade to the next in middle school and high school,
and successfully matriculate from middle school to high school.
(C) Graduation rates for pupils in secondary schools shall be
calculated for the API as follows:
(i) Four-year graduation rates shall be calculated by taking the
number of pupils who graduated on time for the current school year,
which is considered to be three school years after the pupils entered
grade 9 for the first time, and dividing that number by the total
calculated in clause (ii).
(ii) The number of pupils entering grade 9 for the first time in
the school year three school years before the current school year,
plus the number of pupils who transferred into the class graduating
at the end of the current school year between the school year that
was three school years before the current school year and the date of
graduation, less the number of pupils who transferred out of the
school between the school year that was three school years before the
current school year and the date of graduation who were members of
the class that is graduating at the end of the current school year.
(iii) Five-year graduation rates shall be calculated by taking the
number of pupils who graduated on time for the current school year,
which is considered to be four school years after the pupils entered
grade 9 for the first time, and dividing that number by the total
calculated in clause (iv).
(iv) The number of pupils entering grade 9 for the first time in
the school year four years before the current school year, plus the
number of pupils who transferred into the class graduating at the end
of the current school year between the school year that was four
school years before the current school year and the date of
graduation, less the number of pupils who transferred out of the
school between the school year that was four years before the current
school year and the date of graduation who were members of the class
that is graduating at the end of the current school year.
(v) Six-year graduation rates shall be calculated by taking the
number of pupils who graduated on time for the current school year,
which is considered to be five school years after the pupils entered
grade 9 for the first time, and dividing that number by the total
calculated in clause (vi).
(vi) The number of pupils entering grade 9 for the first time in
the school year five years before the current school year, plus the
number of pupils who transferred into the class graduating at the end
of the current school year between the school year that was five
school years before the current school year and the date of
graduation, less the number of pupils who transferred out of the
school between the school year that was five years before the current
school year and the date of graduation who were members of the class
that is graduating at the end of the current school year.
(D) The inclusion of five- and six-year graduation rates for
pupils in secondary schools shall meet the following requirements:
(i) Schools and school districts shall be granted one-half the
credit in their API scores for graduating pupils in five years that
they are granted for graduating pupils in four years.
(ii) Schools and school districts shall be granted one-quarter the
credit in their API scores for graduating pupils in six years that
they are granted for graduating pupils in four years.
(iii) Notwithstanding clauses (i) and (ii), schools and school
districts shall be granted full credit in their API scores for
graduating in five or six years a pupil with disabilities who
graduates in accordance with his or her individualized education
program.
(E) The pupil data collected for the API that comes from the
achievement test administered pursuant to Section 60640 and the high
school exit examination administered pursuant to Section 60851, when
fully implemented, shall be disaggregated by special education
status, English learners, socioeconomic status, gender, and ethnic
group. Only the test scores of pupils who were counted as part of the
enrollment in the annual data collection of the California Basic
Educational Data System for the current fiscal year and who were
continuously enrolled during that year may be included in the test
result reports in the API score of the school.
(F) (i) Commencing with the baseline API calculation in 2016, and
for each year thereafter, results of the achievement test and other
tests specified in subdivision (b) shall constitute no more than 60
percent of the value of the index for secondary schools.
(ii) In addition to the elements required by this paragraph, the
Superintendent, with approval of the state board, may incorporate
into the index for secondary schools valid, reliable, and stable
measures of pupil preparedness for postsecondary education and
career.
(G) Results of the achievement test and other tests specified in
subdivision (b) shall constitute at least 60 percent of the value of
the index for primary schools and middle schools.
(H) It is the intent of the Legislature that the state's system of
public school accountability be more closely aligned with both the
public's expectations for public education and the workforce needs of
the state's economy. It is therefore necessary that the
accountability system evolve beyond its narrow focus on pupil test
scores to encompass other valuable information about school
performance, including, but not limited to, pupil preparedness for
college and career, as well as the high school graduation rates
already required by law.
(I) The Superintendent shall annually determine the accuracy of
the graduation rate data. Notwithstanding any other law, graduation
rates for pupils in dropout recovery high schools shall not be
included in the API. For purposes of this subparagraph, "dropout
recovery high school" means a high school in which 50 percent or more
of its pupils have been designated as dropouts pursuant to the
exit/withdrawal codes developed by the department or left a school
and were not otherwise enrolled in a school for a period of at least
180 days.
(J) To complement the API, the Superintendent, with the approval
of the state board, may develop and implement a program of school
quality review that features locally convened panels to visit
schools, observe teachers, interview pupils, and examine pupil work,
if an appropriation for this purpose is made in the annual Budget
Act.
(K) The Superintendent shall annually provide to local educational
agencies and the public a transparent and understandable explanation
of the individual components of the API and their relative values
within the API.
(L) An additional element chosen by the Superintendent and the
state board for inclusion in the API pursuant to this paragraph shall
not be incorporated into the API until at least one full school year
after the state board's decision to include the element into the
API.
(b) Pupil scores from the following tests, when available and when
found to be valid and reliable for this purpose, shall be
incorporated into the API:
(1) The standards-based achievement tests provided for in Section
60642.5.
(2) The high school exit examination.
(c) Based on the API, the Superintendent shall develop, and the
state board shall adopt, expected annual percentage growth targets
for all schools based on their API baseline score from the previous
year. Schools are expected to meet these growth targets through
effective allocation of available resources. For schools below the
statewide API performance target adopted by the state board pursuant
to subdivision (d), the minimum annual percentage growth target shall
be 5 percent of the difference between the actual API score of a
school and the statewide API performance target, or one API point,
whichever is greater. Schools at or above the statewide API
performance target shall have, as their growth target, maintenance of
their API score above the statewide API performance target. However,
the state board may set differential growth targets based on grade
level of instruction and may set higher growth targets for the lowest
performing schools because they have the greatest room for
improvement. To meet its growth target, a school shall demonstrate
that the annual growth in its API is equal to or more than its
schoolwide annual percentage growth target and that all numerically
significant pupil subgroups, as defined in subdivision (a), are
making comparable improvement.
(d) Upon adoption of state performance standards by the state
board, the Superintendent shall recommend, and the state board shall
adopt, a statewide API performance target that includes consideration
of performance standards and represents the proficiency level
required to meet the state performance target.
(e) (1) A school or school district with 11 to 99 pupils with
valid test scores shall receive an API score with an asterisk that
indicates less statistical certainty than API scores based on 100 or
more test scores.
(2) A school or school district annually shall receive an API
score, unless the Superintendent determines that an API score would
be an invalid measure of the performance of the school or school
district for one or more of the following reasons:
(A) Irregularities in testing procedures occurred.
(B) The data used to calculate the API score of the school or
school district are not representative of the pupil population at the
school or school district.
(C) Significant demographic changes in the pupil population render
year-to-year comparisons of pupil performance invalid.
(D) The department discovers or receives information indicating
that the integrity of the API score has been compromised.
(E) Insufficient pupil participation in the assessments included
in the API.
(F) A transition to new standards-based assessments compromises
comparability of results across schools or school districts. The
Superintendent may use the authority in this subparagraph in the
2013-14 and 2014-15 school years only, with approval of the state
board.
(3) If a school or school district has fewer than 100 pupils with
valid test scores, the calculation of the API or adequate yearly
progress pursuant to the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (20
U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.) and federal regulations may be calculated
over more than one annual administration of the tests administered
pursuant to Section 60640 and the high school exit examination
administered pursuant to Section 60851, consistent with regulations
adopted by the state board.
(4) Any school or school district that does not receive an API
calculated pursuant to subparagraph (F) of paragraph (2) shall not
receive an API growth target pursuant to subdivision (c). Schools and
school districts that do not have an API calculated pursuant to
subparagraph (F) of paragraph (2) shall use one of the following:
(A) The most recent API calculation.
(B) An average of the three most recent annual API calculations.
(C) Alternative measures that show increases in pupil academic
achievement for all groups of pupils schoolwide and among significant
subgroups.
(f) Only schools with 100 or more test scores contributing to the
API may be included in the API rankings.
(g) Schools in the Student Achievement via Excellence
accountability system, as specified in Article 5 (commencing with
Section 52078), may receive an API score, but shall not be included
in the API rankings.
(h) For purposes of this section, county offices of education
shall be considered school districts.
SEC. 4. Article 5 (commencing with Section 52078) is added to
Chapter 6.1 of Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education
Code, to read:
Article 5. Student Achievement via Excellence (SAVE)
Accountability System
52078. By July 1, 2016, the Superintendent, with the approval of
the state board, shall develop the Student Achievement via Excellence
(SAVE) accountability system for the schools under the jurisdiction
of a county board of education or a county superintendent of schools,
community day schools, charter schools operated pursuant to
subdivision (g) of Section 47605.1, nonpublic, nonsectarian schools
pursuant to Section 56366, and alternative schools, including
continuation high schools and opportunity schools.
52079. (a) The SAVE accountability system developed pursuant to
Section 52078 shall be fully implemented beginning with the 2016-17
school year.
(b) The SAVE accountability system shall be designed in conformity
with the requirements specified in subdivision (c), and its purpose
shall be to annually measure the positive outcome performance of a
covered school, as expressed by the school's SAVE score.
(c) A school's SAVE score shall be calculated based upon three
separate categories: learning readiness, save rate, and academic
achievement. Each category shall be weighted, with learning
readiness accounting for 10 percent of the overall SAVE score, the
save rate accounting for 30 percent of the overall SAVE score, and
academic achievement accounting for 60 percent of the overall SAVE
score The Superintendent shall recommend, and the
state board shall adopt, weights for each category . Each
weighted category shall be measured based upon indicators specific to
each category and appropriate to the school being measured.
(1) Learning readiness indicators shall include all of the
following:
(A) Improved pupil behavior, as measured by the number of and rate
of classroom-based long-term pupils suspended or recommended for
expulsion pursuant to Article 1 (commencing with Section 48900) of
Chapter 6 of Part 27. Reductions in classroom-based suspensions shall
also be weighted positively based on the percentage reduction.
(B) Reduction of the suspension rate below the statewide average,
as measured by the percentage of long-term pupils who receive
out-of-school suspensions.
(C) Improved pupil punctuality, as measured by the percentage of
long-term pupils who are present on time at the beginning of the
school day.
(D) Sustained daily attendance, as measured by the percentage of
classroom-based long-term pupils who are present in class and
complete their full assigned school day.
(E) Pupil persistence, as measured by the percentage of long-term
pupils considered accounted for by the annual California Basic
Educational Data System (CBEDS) Information Day.
(F) Improved attendance, as measured by the percentage of
apportionment days claimed for all long-term pupils.
(2) The save rate shall measure the effectiveness of the
educational options at a school by tracking the outcome for each
individual pupil. A pupil shall be considered saved upon enrollment
in a SAVE accountability school, and shall remain saved over the
course of his or her enrollment at the school. A pupil shall maintain
his or her saved status so long as his or her transition out of the
SAVE accountability system school is a positive outcome, as
determined by the positive outcome indicators. A pupil whose
transition out of a SAVE accountability school is not a positive
outcome, shall lose his or her saved status. A school's save rate
shall be calculated by determining the proportion of a school's
pupils that transition out of the school with a positive outcome. The
positive outcome indicators shall include all of the following:
(A) Attainment of a high school diploma.
(B) Continued enrollment in the same SAVE accountability system
school with progress being made toward graduation.
(C) Reenrollment in a traditional school.
(D) Attainment of a General Educational Development (GED)
credential.
(3) Academic achievement indicators shall include all of the
following:
(A) The writing, reading, and mathematic achievement measures and
instruments adopted by the state board pursuant to subdivision (b) of
Section 52052.
(B) An individual pupil growth model certified by the
Superintendent pursuant to Section 52052.3.
(C) Promotion to the next grade, as measured by the percentage of
pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 6, inclusive, who are promoted
to the next grade level.
(D) Actual course completion, as measured by the percentage of
courses passed by all middle school long-term pupils based on the
number of courses attempted.
(E) Actual credit completion, as measured by the percentage of
graduation credits earned, both full and partial, by all high school
long-term pupils based on the number of graduation credits attempted.
(F) Other indicators that may be recommended by the Superintendent
and adopted by the state board.
(d) For purposes of this section, "long-term pupil" means a pupil
enrolled at a school for 90 days or more.
(e) In addition to the indicators required by this section, the
Superintendent, with approval of the state board, may incorporate
additional indicators into a SAVE score category that are valid,
reliable, and stable measures, and consistent with the purposes of
the SAVE accountability system.
(f) The Superintendent, with the approval of the state board,
shall request that the United States Secretary of Education accept
the data collected pursuant to this section in either the next
consolidated state application accountability workbook or the next
waiver request under the federal Elementary and Secondary Education
Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.).
(g) The department shall, upon the next revision to the California
Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System, create a process for
school districts operating continuation schools to report the
following information:
(1) Total number of daily instructional minutes offered to pupils
enrolled at each continuation schoolsite.
(2) Whether pupils attending the school district's continuation
schools are also able to access career technical education and
vocational courses.
(h)
(g) The department may adopt regulations necessary to
implement the provisions of this article.
