BILL NUMBER: SB 1497INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Senator Negrete McLeod FEBRUARY 24, 2012 An act to amend Section 48070.6 of the Education Code, relating to pupils. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 1497, as introduced, Negrete McLeod. Pupil data: dropouts: report. Existing law establishes the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS), and requires a local educational agency to retain all data necessary to compile reports required by specified federal laws, including, but not limited to, dropout and graduation rates. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to annually submit to the Governor, the Legislature, and the State Board of Education a report on dropouts using the data produced by CALPADS. This bill would prohibit the inclusion of a pupil in the dropout rates indicated in the report more than one time. 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 of the Education Code is amended to read: 48070.6. (a) On or before August 1, 2011, and annually thereafter, utilizing data produced by the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System pursuant to Section 60900 and other available data, 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 dropout rates for each of grades 7 to 12, inclusive. (2) Four-year cohort dropout rates for grades 9 to 12, inclusive. (3) Two- or three-year cohort dropout rates, as appropriate, for middle schools. (4) Grade 9 to grade 10 promotion rates. (5) Percentage of high school pupils for each of grades 9 to 12, inclusive, who are on track to earn sufficient credits to graduate. (6) The average number of nonpromotional school moves that pupils make between grades 6 to 12, inclusive. (7) "Full-year" dropout rates for alternative schools, including dropout recovery high schools, calculated using a methodology developed by the Superintendent to appropriately reflect dropout rates in each type of alternative school. (8) An explanation of the methodology or methodologies used to calculate "full-year" dropout rates for alternative schools pursuant to paragraph (7). (9) Passage rates on the high school exit examination adopted pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 60850. (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 (3) of subdivision (a) shall be replaced by dropout rates for cohorts of pupils entering middle school. (c) When data is available, the report shall also include all of the following: (1) Rates at which pupils graduate in four, five, and six years, pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) of Section 52052. (2) Percentage of high school graduates and dropouts who completed courses that are certified by the University of California as meeting admission requirement criteria for the University of California and California State University systems. (3) Percentage of high school graduates and dropouts who completed two or more classes in career technical education. (4) Percentage of high school graduates and dropouts who completed both course sequences described in paragraphs (2) and (3). (5) Behavioral data by school and district, including suspensions and expulsions. (6) Truancy rates. (7) GED earning rates. (8) Chronic absentee rates, as defined in Section 60901. (d) 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, both including and excluding charter schools. (4) By school. (e) 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. (f) The report may include relevant data on school climate and pupil engagement from the California Healthy Kids Survey. (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, and the subgroup constitutes at least 15 percent of the total population of pupils at a school: (1) Grade level. (2) Ethnicity. (3) Gender. (4) Low socioeconomic status. (5) English learners. (6) Special education status. (h) The first Annual Report on Dropouts in California shall include data from the most recent year. Subsequent annual reports 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. (m) For purposes of this section, dropouts shall be defined using the exit/withdrawal codes developed by the department. (n) A pupil shall not be included in the dropout rates indicated in the report more than one time.(n)(o) For purposes of this section, "dropout recovery high school" has the same meaning as defined in subparagraph (C) of paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) of Section 52052.