BILL NUMBER: SB 651AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 6, 2009 INTRODUCED BY Senators Romero and Steinberg FEBRUARY 27, 2009 An act to add Section 48070.6 to the Education Code, relating to pupil retention. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 651, as amended, Romero. Pupil retention. Existing law requires the governing board of each school district and each county superintendent of schools to adopt policies regarding pupil promotion and retention. Existing law requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, the state board, and the department to provide to the State Chief Information Officer the individual nonpersonally identifiable or aggregate data related to adequate yearly progress, graduation rates, pupils who drop out of school, and demographics of pupils and teachers. This bill would require the Superintendent, on or before August 1,20102011 , and annually thereafter, to submit to the Governor, the Legislature, and the state board, a report called the Annual Report on Dropouts in California. The bill would require, among other things, the report contain specified information on dropout rates, graduation rates, pupil promotion rates, course enrollment patterns, and behavioral data. The bill would require that the report include data from the most recent year and, at a minimum, the two prior years. The bill would also require the Superintendent to make an oral presentation of the contents of the report to the state board and to make the contents of the report available on the department's Internet Web site. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature that the report be usable by specified groups for analyzing the high rate of dropouts in California. 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 48070.6 is added to the Education Code, to read: 48070.6. (a) On or before August 1,20102011 , and annually thereafter, the Superintendent shall submit to the Governor, the Legislature, and the state board, a report that shall be called the Annual Report on Dropouts in California. The report shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following: (1) One-year adjusted dropout rates for grades 7 to 12, inclusive. (2) Four-year derived dropout rates for grades 9 to 12, inclusive. (3) Two- or three-year derived dropout rates, as appropriate, for middle schools. (4) Grade 9 to grade 10 promotion rates. (5) Percentage of high school pupils at each grade level who are on track to earn sufficient credits to graduate. (6) The average number of nonpromotional school moves that a pupil makes between grades 6 to 12, inclusive. (7) "Full-year" dropout rates for alternative schools. (8) Relevant data on school climate and pupil engagement from the California Healthy Kids Survey. (9) California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE) passage rates. (10) Other available data relating to dropout or graduation rates or pupil progress toward high school graduation. (b) When cohort dropout rates can be calculated accurately using longitudinal data, the rates described in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) shall be replaced by dropout rates for cohorts of pupils entering high school. (c) When cohort dropout rates can be calculated accurately using longitudinal data, the rates described in paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) shall be replaced by dropout rates for cohorts of pupils entering middle school. (d) If data is available, the report shall also include all of the following: (1) Rates at which pupils graduate in four, five, and six years. (2) Course enrollment patterns by school and school district, including college preparatory curriculum and career technical education. (3) Behavioral data by school and district, including suspensions and expulsions. (e) If possible, the data listed in subdivisions (a) and (b) shall be presented in the report, organized as follows: (1) By state. (2) By county. (3) By district. (4) By school. (f) The report shall include data from alternative middle and high schools, including continuation high schools, community day schools, juvenile court schools, special schools, opportunity schools, and schools attended by wards of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile Justice. (g) If possible, the data listed in subdivisions (a) and (b) shall be presented for the following subgroups, if the subgroup consists of at least 50 pupils each of whom has a valid test score, and the subgroup constitutes at least 15 percent of the total population of pupils at a school who have valid test scores: (1) Grade level. (2) Ethnicity. (3) Gender. (4) Socioeconomic status. (5) Limited English proficiency. (6) Disability status. (h) The report shall include data from the most recent year and, at a minimum, the two prior years, so that comparisons can be made easily. (i) The Superintendent or his or her designee shall make an oral presentation of the contents of the report to the state board at a regularly scheduled meeting of the board. (j) The Superintendent shall make the contents of the report available on the department's Internet Web site in a format that is easy for the public to access and understand. (k) If inclusion of school-level data would render the written report unwieldy, the data may be omitted from the written report and posted on the department's Internet Web site. (l) It is the intent of the Legislature that the report prepared by the Superintendent be usable by schools, districts, policymakers, researchers, parents, and the public, for purposes of identifying and understanding trends, causal relations, early warning indicators, and potential points of intervention to address the high rate of dropouts in California.