California Assembly Bill AB2273 Introduced / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: AB 2273INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Torlakson FEBRUARY 18, 2010 An act to amend Sections 52050.5, 52051, and 52051.5 of, and to add Section 52051.6 to, the Education Code, relating to educational performance accountability. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2273, as introduced, Torlakson. Education: performance accountability. Existing law, the Public Schools Accountability Act of 1999, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction, with approval of the State Board of Education, to develop specified indices to track the achievement of schools and their pupils. The act applies to public and charter schools. Existing law contains various legislative findings and declarations. This bill would add the California Education Opportunity (CEO) Index to the Public Schools Accountability Act, which would require the Superintendent to develop the CEO Index to measure performance and offerings of both elementary and secondary schools in preparing students for graduation and to become responsible and contributing community members after graduation, as specified. The Superintendent would be required to establish an advisory committee, composed as specified, to advise the Superintendent and the state board on the CEO Index. Advisory committee members would serve a term not to exceed 2 years without compensation. The advisory committee would be required to make specified recommendations to the Superintendent and the state board by July 1, 2012. This bill would also make additional legislative findings and declarations. 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. Section 52050.5 of the Education Code is amended to read: 52050.5. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) The purpose of the California public school system is to provide for the academic development of each pupil and prepare each pupil, to the extent of his or her ability, to become a lifelong learner, equipped to live and succeed within the economic and societal complexities of the 21st century. (b) It is in the interest of the people and the future of this state to ensure that each child in California receives a high quality education consistent with all statewide content and performance standards, as adopted by the State Board of Education, and with a meaningful assessment system and reporting program requirements. (c) Recent assessments indicate that many pupils in California are not now, generally, progressing at a satisfactory rate to achieve a high quality education  , and recent studies indicate that schools are not adequately funded to provide the full range of opportunities necessary to support a pupil until graduation and prepare each pupil for the skills necessary to live and succeed in the 21st century economy and to be a productive member of their community  . (d) To remedy this, the state is in need of an immediate and comprehensive accountability system to hold each of the state's public schools accountable for the academic progress and achievement of its pupils within the resources available to schools  ,   and the state is in need of a reliable reporting system to provide pupils, parents, and the public with a transparent accounting of what each community school provides to prepare pupils for life after graduation  . (e) Any promising and effective accountability system  and reporting system  must be based upon a constructive and collaborative process that seeks to include stakeholders in the accountability process. (f) Any promising and effective accountability system  and reporting system  requires the active involvement of parents and guardians, pupils, educators, community leaders, school boards, and schoolsite teams. (g) The statewide school accountability system  and reporting system  must encourage the active participation of parents and guardians, pupils, educators, and the local community in improving pupil achievement  and preparing each pupil for life after graduation  . (h) The statewide accountability system  and reporting system  must be easily accessible and understandable to  pupils,  parents  ,  and  others   the public  . (i) The statewide accountability system must include rewards that recognize high achieving schools as well as interventions and, ultimately, sanctions for schools that are continuously low performing.  (j) The reporting system must provide a transparent account that acknowledges schools that encourage pupils to graduate and thrive, and provide opportunities for pupils to succeed in life after graduation.   (j)   (k)  It is also the intent of the Legislature that the comprehensive and effective school accountability system primarily focus on increasing academic achievement.  (k)   (l)  To achieve better pupil performance, it is the intent of the Legislature that any school accountability system do all of the following: (1) Encourage teacher preparation that allows teachers to develop the ability to inspire pupils to become lifelong learners. (2) Encourage teacher preparation and consistent ongoing professional development that serves to develop competency in content and pedagogy and that allows teachers to effectively involve themselves in promoting school accountability. (3) Encourage the involvement of the community and its stakeholders in the accountability system. (4) Encourage local community involvement in providing support for education and identifying causes of pupil failure and designing programs for remediation. (5) Approach accountability with an attitude of collaboration, encouragement, and correction. (6) Utilize the state infrastructure to support schools, school districts, and county offices of education in their efforts to improve pupil achievement and progress. (7) Encourage each local community to support and sustain high-quality educational programs and to build the capacity of educators and schools to succeed in educating every pupil. (8) Encourage active involvement of parents and guardians in the development and implementation of school accountability systems.  (m) It is also the intent of the Legislature that the comprehensive and effective school reporting system focus on the broad range of factors that impact a pupil's ability to learn, thrive, graduate, pursue higher education or a successful career after graduation, and become a productive participant in his or her community.   (n) It is the further intent of the Legislature that this reporting system be a tool for public transparency in public schools, not a measurement for further federal and state sanctions against individual schools, school districts, teachers, or administrators.   (o) To better measure a school's ability to provide the education necessary to prepare each pupil to become a lifelong learner, equipped to live and succeed within the economic and societal complexities of the 21st century, it is the intent of the Legislature that any school reporting system demonstrate and measure all of the following in order to improve them: :   (1) Student academic performance.   (2) Attendance rates for pupils.   (3) Graduation rates for pupils in schools containing grades 7-12, inclusive.   (4) Opportunities provided by the school to prepare pupils for college or a career after graduation.   (5) Opportunities provided by the school to prepare pupils for his or her civic responsibilities and participation in his or her community after graduation.   (6) Opportunities provided by the school to enhance a pupil's learning beyond the core academic curriculum and provide relevancy to the pupil's education, support the learning of 21st century workforce readiness skills and creativity, or contribute to a pupil's retention and matriculation, including, but not limited to, coursework or activities in leadership, the arts, physical education, advanced academics, world language acquisition, and career technical education.   (7) Opportunities provided by the school to improve student fitness and health.   (p) To encourage better pupil outcomes after graduation, it is the intent of the Legislature that any school reporting system do all of the following:   (1) Encourage teacher preparation that allows teachers to develop the ability to integrate relevancy and 21st century workforce readiness skill building into curriculum and inspire pupils to become lifelong learners.   (2) Encourage the involvement of pupils, parents, and the community and its stakeholders, in the reporting system and in identifying areas of improvement for opportunities offered at a school.   (3) Utilize the state data infrastructure to support schools, school districts, and county offices of education in their efforts to improve pupil achievement and progress.   (4) Encourage each local community to support and sustain high-quality educational programs and to build the capacity of educators and schools to succeed in helping every pupil graduate and succeed in life after graduation.  SEC. 2. Section 52051 of the Education Code is amended to read: 52051. The Public School Performance Accountability Program is hereby established and shall consist of the following  three   four  component parts: (a) The state Academic Performance Index, to be known as the API.  (b) The California Education Opportunity Index, to be known as the CEO Index.   (b)   (c)  The Immediate Intervention/Underperforming Schools Program.  (c)   (d)  The Governor's High Achieving/Improving Schools Program. SEC. 3. Section 52051.5 of the Education Code is amended to read: 52051.5. For purposes of this chapter, all references to schools shall  also  include charter schools. SEC. 4. Section 52051.6 is added to the Education Code, to read: 52051.6. (a) (1) The Superintendent shall develop a California Education Opportunity Index (CEO Index) to measure the performance and offerings of both elementary and secondary schools in preparing students for graduation and to become responsible and contributing community members after graduation. (2) The CEO Index shall consist of a variety of indicators currently reported to the department, including, but not limited to, each of the following opportunity areas: (A) Data that demonstrates student academic performance, including, but not limited to, results of the Academic Performance Index established pursuant to Section 52052. (B) Attendance rates for pupils. (C) Graduation rates for pupils in schools containing grades 7-12, inclusive. (D) In secondary schools, data that demonstrate opportunities provided by the school to prepare pupils for a career after graduation, including, but not limited to, college preparatory coursework and activities, and career technical education coursework, activities, and work study. (E) In middle and secondary schools, data that demonstrate opportunities provided by the school to prepare pupils for his or her civic responsibilities and participation in his or her community after graduation. (F) Data on coursework or activities that enhance a pupil's learning beyond the core academic curriculum and provide relevancy to the pupil's education, support the learning of 21st century workforce readiness skills and creativity, or contribute to a pupil's retention and matriculation, including, but not limited to, coursework or activities in leadership, the arts, physical education, advanced academics, world language acquisition, and career technical education. (G) Data that demonstrate student fitness and health. (3) (A) The Superintendent shall establish a broadly representative and diverse advisory committee to advise the Superintendent and the state board on the creation and reporting of the CEO Index. A majority of the committee members shall be public classroom teachers. Members of the advisory committee shall serve without compensation for terms not to exceed two years. (B) By July 1, 2012, the advisory committee established pursuant to this section shall make recommendations to the Superintendent and state board on the most appropriate format for an annual updating and reporting of this data in order to meet the Legislature's intent for a statewide reporting system, as outlined in Section 52050.5 and the appropriateness and feasibility of the following: (i) Use of data currently collected or planned for collection by the department, including, but not limited to, data collected for the school accountability report cards, the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System, and the California Basic Education Data System for the purposes of measuring each of the opportunity areas included in paragraph (2). (ii) The development of new data collection strategies to attain data for opportunity areas included in paragraph (2) but not currently collected by the department. (iii) A methodology for generating the scoring of education opportunities on a school site based on the indicators in paragraph (2) and other indicators recommended by the committee.