California Senate Bill SB473 Amended / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: SB 473AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 11, 2011 AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 21, 2011 INTRODUCED BY Senator Price FEBRUARY 17, 2011  An act to add Article 6.5 (commencing with Section 54720) to Chapter 9 of Part 29 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code, relating to pupil dropout recovery.   An act to amend Section 48070.6 of the Education Code, relating to pupils.  LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 473, as amended, Price. Pupils: dropouts: recovery  programs  . Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction  , on or before August 1, 2011, and annually thereafter,  to submit to the Governor, the Legislature, and the State Board of Education  ,  a report called the Annual Report on Dropouts in California.  Existing law requires, among other things, that the report contain specified information on dropout rates, graduation rates, and pupil promotion rates.  Existing law states the intent of the Legislature that the report be usable by schools,  school  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.  Existing law requires county superintendents of schools and governing boards of school districts to report attendance information for purposes of apportionment, and requires the county superintendent of schools to determine a revenue limit for each school district in the county according to a formula based on average daily attendance.  This bill would  authorize a local educational agency to continue to claim average daily attendance for pupils who have dropped out of school if the local educational agency develops a dropout recovery program that conforms to specified criteria. These criteria would include developing a strategy for the identification and enrollment of pupils who have dropped out of a high school in the school district, a procedure to demonstrate pupil academic growth, and criteria showing the pupil's readiness for career preparation or postsecondary education. A program developed pursuant to these provisions would be required to be approved by the State Department of Education. The bill would require the department to make available on its Internet Web site a list of successful dropout recovery programs developed pursuant to these provisions   require the report also to include information about the availability of dropout recovery programs  . 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.  (11) Information about the availability of dropout recovery programs.  (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   paragraphs (1) to (10), inclusive, of subdivision  (a) and  ,   in subdivision  (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) For purposes of this section, "dropout recovery high school" has the same meaning as defined in subparagraph  (C)   (D)  of paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) of Section 52052.  SECTION 1.   Article 6.5 (commencing with Section 54720) is added to Chapter 9 of Part 29 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code, to read: Article 6.5. Dropout Recovery 54720. (a) A local educational agency may continue to claim average daily attendance for pupils who have dropped out of school if the local educational agency develops a dropout recovery program that conforms to the criteria described in this section. (1) The program shall include all of the following components: (A) A strategy for the identification, location, and enrollment of pupils who have previously dropped out of a high school in the school district. (B) A procedure to demonstrate individual pupil academic growth significantly beyond that which would be expected for the pupil's time in the classroom. (C) Other meaningful criteria showing the pupil's readiness for career preparation or postsecondary education. (2) The program shall be approved by the department. (3) The local educational agency may partner with another local educational agency, a governmental agency, apprenticeship program, or a nonprofit organization with a demonstrated history of dropout recovery. (b) The department shall develop and make available on its Internet Web site a list of successful dropout recovery programs established pursuant to this section. The purpose of this list is to illustrate potential models that a local educational agency may consider in developing a dropout recovery program pursuant to this section.