BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 491
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Author: |Gonzalez |
|-----------+-----------------------------------------------------|
|Version: |May 31, 2016 Hearing |
| |Date: June 15, 2016 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Consultant:|Kathleen Chavira |
| | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: English learners: identification: notice
SUMMARY
This bill expands parental notification requirements relative to
long-term English learners, requires the California Department
of Education (CDE) to develop a sample notification letter
disclosing the use of the results of the home language survey
used to determine the primary language of a student upon
enrollment, and requires districts to provide the letter to
parents at the time the home language survey is provided.
BACKGROUND
Existing law defines a long-term English learner and a student
at risk of becoming a long-term English learner. (Education
Code § 313.1)
Existing law requires that the CDE annually ascertain and report
the number of students who are, or are at risk of becoming,
long-term English learners and to provide this information to
districts and schools. (EC § 313.2)
Existing law requires the determination of a student's primary
language upon enrollment and assessment of the language skills
of all students whose primary language is other than English.
(EC § 52164.1)
Federal law requires that a school district that receives
AB 491 (Gonzalez) Page 2
of ?
federal funds for providing a language instruction education
program for limited English proficient students to provide
notice to a parent within 30 days of the start of the school
year of specified information if their child has been identified
for participation in the program. In addition, state law
requires that, in conformance with these provisions, that the
notice include specified information. (Title 20, § 7012, USC)
Both federal and State law require that each school district
with English language learners annually assess these students'
English language development until they are redesignated as
English proficient. (EC § 313)
ANALYSIS
This bill:
1) Expands parental notification requirements regarding the
assessment of a student's English language proficiency to
additionally contain the following information:
a) Whether the child is a long-term English learner
(EL) or at risk of
becoming a long-term EL.
b) The manner in which the English language
development instruction will:
i) Meet the long-term EL or at
risk of becoming a long-term EL educational
strengths and needs.
ii) Help the EL or at risk of becoming a
long-term EL develop English proficiency and meet
age-appropriate academic standards.
2) Requires the California Department of Education to develop
and make available a sample notification letter explaining
AB 491 (Gonzalez) Page 3
of ?
the purposes of the home language survey letter and the
procedures for identification and reclassification of ELs.
Additionally, it:
a) Requires that the notification letter
include specified statements advising parents how they
can dispute the school's determination.
b) Requires that districts provide the
notification letter to parents/guardians at the same
time the home language survey is provided.
3) Updates federal law cross references and makes other
technical changes.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill. According to the author, while federal
law requires parental notification of a student's English
proficiency within 30 days of the start of school, no
information is currently provided regarding students who
are long term ELs or who are at risk of becoming long-term
ELs. Additionally, the author is concerned that the home
language survey required under sunset California law does
not provide parents with an understanding of the purpose of
the survey and the procedures for identification and
reclassification of ELs. This bill is intended to prevent
students from being misclassified upon initial enrollment
at a school.
2) Long-term English Learners. A 2010 report by Californians
Together, Reparable Harm: Fulfilling the Unkept Promise of
Educational Opportunity for California's Long-Term English
Learners, presented survey data collected from 40 school
districts. Major findings of the survey included the
following:
a) The majority (59%) of secondary school English
learners (EL) are "Long-Term English Learners (defined
as being in US schools for more than six years without
sufficient English proficiency to be reclassified).
b) California school districts that do not have a
shared definition of Long-term English learners.
AB 491 (Gonzalez) Page 4
of ?
c) Several contributing factors include; no receipt
of language development programs, being given
elementary school curricula and materials that were
not designed to meet EL needs, weak language
development program models, inconsistent programs,
social and linguistic isolation and other things.
d) Few districts have designated programs or formal
approaches designed for Long-Term English Learners.
As a result of this report, legislation was enacted (AB
2193, Chapter 427, Statutes of 2012) to statutorily define
"long-term English learner" and "at risk of becoming a
long-term English learner" and to require that the
California Department Education (CDE) ascertain and provide
the number of students who meet these definitions to
districts and schools.
This bill would require that existing notification
requirements regarding the assessment of a student's
English language proficiency include specific information
for students identified as a long-term EL or at risk of
becoming a long-term EL.
3) Home Language Survey. Current law requires schools to
determine the language(s) spoken in the home of each
student. This determination begins with a home language
survey (HLS), which is completed by the parents or
guardians at the time the student is first enrolled. The
CDE provides a sample form, available in various languages
to assist with this identification process.
According to the CDE, a redetermination of a primary language
is only required if the results are disputed by a parent or
guardian. If a language other than English was inaccurately
included on the HLS, a parent/guardian may request to update the
HLS to accurately reflect the language(s) spoken in the home.
However, if a pupil has already completed a California English
Language Development Test (CELDT) and has been designated an
English learner, the pupil must take the assessment annually
until they are reclassified fluent English proficient.
This bill is intended to respond to concerns that the current
AB 491 (Gonzalez) Page 5
of ?
home language survey process "misidentifies" students as English
learners and makes it difficult to correct any
"misidentifications". The bill would require that the home
language survey information include disclosures regarding the
purpose of the home language survey, the ability of a parent to
dispute the determination, and the inability to make any changes
once the child has been tested and identified as an English
learner.
4) Are there issues? In March 2013, in response to concerns
regarding inaccurate identification of English learners
(ELs), California Department of Education (CDE) gathered
suggestions for possible home language survey (HLS)
revisions from the statewide Bilingual Coordinators'
Network of district and county professionals. In September
2013, the CDE participated in a national working session
with several states, stakeholders, and researchers convened
by the Council of Chief State School Officers aimed at
strengthening the reliability, accuracy, and usefulness of
HLS questions and processes. In February and May of 2014,
the CDE met with representatives from five local
educational agencies, researchers, and other stakeholders
to review the current HLS and make recommendations for
revising the tool. From these meetings, the workgroup
developed survey questions to be used in an HLS Pilot Study
conducted by the West Ed Regional Education Laboratory-West
and California Comprehensive Center in collaboration with
the University of California Los Angeles Graduate School of
Education & Information Studies.
The HLS Pilot Study examined the clarity of the HLS
(questions and the extent to which these may better predict
which students are potential ELs and need to be assessed.
Approximately 20 schools participated in the study from
five participating districts including ABC Unified School
District, Coachella Valley Unified School District,
Inglewood Unified School District, Robla Elementary School
District, and Torrance Unified School District.
According to the CDE, because the sample size was limited
to 150 students, the results of the pilot study do not
yield sufficient information to recommend policy decisions.
The CDE recommended a more extensive and systematic study
be conducted at a later date when the English Learner
AB 491 (Gonzalez) Page 6
of ?
Proficiency Assessment is operational.
5) Technical clean-up. As currently drafted, the bill creates
duplicate definitions, adds new language to provisions
which have sunset and modifies language intended to conform
to federal law requirements.
Staff recommends that the bill be redrafted to ensure that
these provisions are appropriately and accurately
incorporated into the Education Code. Specifically:
a) Staff recommends the bill be amended to delete
Section 1 of the bill.
b) Staff also recommends the bill be amended to
delete Section 2 of the bill and to instead insert the
provisions of subdivision (c) in section 313.2.
i) On Page 5, line 6, the language should
be redrafted to read "In addition to the
information required in subdivision (b) of
section 440, the notice of assessment of a
child's English proficiency shall include the
following information:"
ii) On Page 5, line 9 to add before the
period "as those terms are defined in section
313.1"
c) Staff further recommends that Section 3 of the
bill be deleted and a new section containing these
provisions be established within Chapter 3 (Sections
300-340).
6) English learners. The California Department of Education
(CDE) provides the following information on English
learners in California's public schools:
a) In the 2014-15 school year there were
approximately 1.4 million English learners in
California public schools, constituting 22.3 percent
of the total enrollment.
b) Over 2.6 million students (42.9 percent of
AB 491 (Gonzalez) Page 7
of ?
public school enrollment) spoke a language other than
English in their home.
c) 73 percent of English learners are enrolled in
the elementary grades (K-6) with the remaining 27
percent enrolled in grades 7-12.
d) Although English learner data is collected for
60 language groups, 94 percent speak one of the top
ten languages in the state, which include Spanish
(83.7 percent), Vietnamese, Pilipino (Filipino or
Tagalog), Cantonese, Mandarin, Arabic, Hmong, Korean,
Punjabi, and Russian.
e) During 2013-14 the CDE administered the
California English Language Development Test (CELDT)
to 1.4 million students, 1.1 million of whom were
tested under the annual assessment window.
f) In 2012-13 and 2013-14, approximately 12
percent of English learners were reclassified as
English proficient. Prior to that approximately 11
percent of English learners were annually
reclassified, with the notable exception that in
2011-12, 16.3 percent were reclassified.
SUPPORT
Association of California School Administrators
San Diego Unified School District
OPPOSITION
None received.
-- END --