Bill Text: CA AR43 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

California Assembly Resolution 43 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Relative to standard English learners.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-08-31 - Referred to Com. on RLS. From committee: Be adopted. Ordered to third reading. (Ayes 7. Noes 3.) (August 31). Read. Adopted. (Page 6761.). [AR43 Detail]

Download: California-2011-AR43-Introduced.html

BILL NUMBER: HR 43	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Davis

                        AUGUST 30, 2012

   Relative to standard English learners.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
             HOUSE OR SENATE RESOLUTIONS DO NOT CONTAIN A DIGEST



   WHEREAS, Standard English learners are pupils of limited English
proficiency whose primary language, though classified as English, is
comprised of phonological, grammatical, and pragmatic linguistic
features that do not match the standard English structure; and
   WHEREAS, Standard English learners come from home environments
where the absence of standard English impacts their acquisition of
standard English before school enrollment; and
   WHEREAS, Standard English learners are a multicultural and
multilinguistic population. There are two million standard English
learners in the California school system and they include American
Indians, Mexican Americans, African Americans, Hawaiians, and others;
and
   WHEREAS, Forty-two percent of all standard English learners are
achieving at basic, below basic, and far below basic levels of
proficiency in English language arts on the California Standards
Test. Their low-academic performance places many of them at the
bottom of the achievement gap; and
   WHEREAS, The existing body of work done by expert researchers and
organizations has defined standard English learners and described
their specific language needs; and
   WHEREAS, Standard English learners are a group with unique
linguistic and instructional needs who must be provided culturally
and linguistically responsive material; and
   WHEREAS, Schools with achievement gaps need the ability to adopt
research based, culturally and linguistically responsive
interventions to close the achievement gap while increasing overall
pupil achievement and ensuring the success of all pupils, especially
those who are farthest behind; and
   WHEREAS, There are available language assessments for standard
English learners that are explicitly aligned to the California common
core academic content standards; and
   WHEREAS, On January 21, 1974, in the case of Lau v. Nichols (414
U.S. 563), the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of Chinese
American students finding that the lack of linguistically appropriate
accommodations effectively denied the students equal educational
opportunities on the basis of their ethnicity. The students claimed
that they were not receiving special help in school due to their
inability to speak English, help that they argued they were entitled
to under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 because of its ban
on educational discrimination on the basis of national origin. The
United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of the students, thereby
expanding rights of students nationwide with limited English
proficiency. The United States Supreme Court stated that these
students should be treated with equality among the schools; and
   WHEREAS, On July 12, 1979, the United States District Court for
the Eastern District of Michigan ruled in the case of Martin Luther
King Jr. Elementary School Children v. Ann Arbor School District
Board (473 F.Supp. 1371), which was brought on behalf of limited
English proficient African American students claiming that the school
district denied students equal protection of the law because
applicable Michigan regulations did not recognize social, economic,
and cultural factors differing those pupils from others. The district
court agreed that the school district violated federal statute
because it failed to take into account the home language of the
children in the provision of education instruction. The district
court ordered the school district to find a way to identify African
American students of limited English proficiency in the schools and
to use that knowledge in teaching those students how to read standard
English; and
   WHEREAS, Proficiency in standard English is a key factor in
academic progress and eventual matriculation through high school. A
lack of proficiency in standard English is a key cause of future
academic failure and as early as third grade can be a driving force
in a student falling behind academically. A lack of standard English
proficiency is therefore a key factor in the state's high school
dropout rate; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, That the
Assembly encourages policymakers to provide the resources for
educators to develop an assessment mechanism to precisely identify
standard English learners and provide specific language instruction
and professional development to improve standard English proficiency
and the overall academic achievement of standard English learners;
and be it further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the Governor, the Superintendent of Public
Instruction, and to the author for appropriate distribution.