California Assembly Bill AB711 Introduced / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: AB 711INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Santiago FEBRUARY 25, 2015 An act to amend Section 60605.3 of the Education Code, relating to school curriculum. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 711, as introduced, Santiago. School curriculum: foreign languages. Existing law requires the State Board of Education, on or before June 1, 2009, to adopt content standards for teaching foreign languages in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, pursuant to recommendations developed by the Superintendent of Public Instruction. This bill would require the state board, on or before January 1, 2017, to adopt specified national content standards for teaching foreign languages in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, pursuant to recommendations developed by the Superintendent. 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. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) The national World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages are in the process of being published. Those standards reflect new research on best practices for teaching languages and cultures and offer a sound vision for program goal setting, teaching and facilitating learning, and assessing the standards pupils know and applying that knowledge in global settings. Those standards have now been adopted in total or with minor modifications in 40 states. (b) The national World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages are based on the original national standards, publish in 1996, that stood the test of time in providing common language and descriptors for world languages and cultures education. (c) Pupils will benefit from the clarity that will arise from following the widely adopted and updated national standards. World language and culture educators in California, as of January 1, 2016, need to navigate between national and state standards as they read and research professional documents, collaborate with other world language and culture educators from other states and nations, and engage in other professional standards-based work, including national assessments for assessing learners proficiency in world languages and cultures. (d) If the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages are adopted by the State Board of Education by June 1, 2017, the standards and framework could be developed in tandem, rather than revising the standards adopted as of January 1, 2016, to reflect new framework and research, resulting in significant cost savings for the state. (e) The national World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages provide pupils friendly and clearly stated functional learning goals and assessment tasks through a series of "I can" statements based on predictable descriptors of language development. SEC. 2. Section 60605.3 of the Education Code is amended to read: 60605.3. (a) On or before June 1,  2009,   2017,  the  State Board of Education   state board  shall adopt  national  content standards  in accordance with the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages, published, in 2015, by the   American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages  , pursuant to recommendations developed by the  Superintendent of Public Instruction,   Superintendent,  for teaching foreign languages in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive. (b) The content standards shall support the goals of Section 51212 and subdivision (c) of Section 51220 by including all of the following: (1) A summary of the language goals which recognizes that instruction may begin in elementary or secondary school. (2) A description of individual language skills that should be taught and attained at each level. (3) Course content that is aligned with findings from research on second language acquisition and education. (4) Course content that is aligned with the admission requirements for the California State University and the University of California. (c) The content standards may be used by school districts to develop language programs and course assessments but are not mandatory.