BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



          SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
                              Senator Carol Liu, Chair
                                2015 - 2016  Regular 

          Bill No:             SB 359             
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          |Author:    |Mitchell                                             |
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          |Version:   |April 6, 2015                               Hearing  |
          |           |Date:    April 15, 2015                              |
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          |Urgency:   |No                     |Fiscal:    |Yes              |
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          |Consultant:|Lynn Lorber                                          |
          |           |                                                     |
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          Subject:  California Mathematics Placement Act of 2015

            SUMMARY
          
          This bill requires each local educational agency serving grades  
          8 or 9 to develop and implement a fair, objective, and  
          transparent mathematics placement policy.

            BACKGROUND
          
          Current law:

             1.   Requires students to successfully complete two courses  
               in mathematics as a condition of graduation from high  
               school.  (Education Code § 51225.3)

             2.   Requires that one of those courses, or "a combination of  
               the two courses" required for graduation meet or exceed the  
               rigor of the 1997 content standards for Algebra 1.  (EC §  
               51224.5)

             3.   Established the Academic Content Standards Commission  
               for the purpose of developing the California Common Core  
               Standards in English language arts and mathematics, and  
               required the State Board of Education to reject or adopt  
               those standards by August 2, 2010.  (EC § 60605.8)

            ANALYSIS
          
          This bill requires each local educational agency serving grades  







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          8 or 9 to develop and implement a fair, objective, and  
          transparent mathematics placement policy.  Specifically, this  
          bill:

          1.   Establishes the California Mathematics Placement Act.

          2.   Requires each local educational agency (LEA) serving grade  
               8 or grade 9, or both, to develop and implement a fair,  
               objective, and transparent statewide mathematics placement  
               policy that does all of the following:  

                    A.             Systematically takes current academic  
                    objective measures into consideration, such as  
                    statewide assessments, student grades, and diagnostic  
                    placement tests.  


                    B.             Includes multiple progress checkpoints  
                    throughout the academic year to permit reevaluation of  
                    individual student progress, including at least one  
                    checkpoint within the first three months of the  
                    academic year.

                    C.             Requires examination of student  
                    placement data, at least annually, to ensure that  
                    there is no disproportionate impact in the course  
                    placement of students by race, ethnicity, or  
                    socioeconomic background.  

                    D.             Requires the local educational agency  
                    (LEA) to report the aggregate results of this  
                    examination to the LEA's governing board and  
                    prominently post the examination results on the LEA's  
                    website.  This report may be included as part of the  
                    LEA's accountability report of its local control and  
                    accountability plan.  

                    E.             Offers clear and immediate recourse for  
                    each student and his or her parent who questions the  
                    student's placement.

          3.   Requires each LEA to ensure that its mathematics placement  
               policy is available to each student and parent, and is  
               posted prominently on the LEA's website.








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          4.   Defines "local educational agency" as a county office of  
               education, school district, state special school, or  
               direct-funded charter school.

          5.   States legislative findings and declarations relative to  
               mathematics misplacement.

          STAFF COMMENTS
          
          1.   Need for the bill.  According to the author, "Math  
               misplacement occurs when 9th grade students are held back  
               to repeat their 8th grade math course despite achieving a  
               "B" grade or better, or testing at proficient or advanced  
               on state assessments instead of being placed in the next  
               course in the recommended math sequence as a freshman in  
               high school.  Most universities, including the California  
               State University and the University of California, require  
               at least three years of math for college eligibility and  
               prefer students who have taken high-level math courses such  
               as Calculus or Advanced Placement Statistics.  Failing to  
               take high level math classes in high school can have  
               significant ramifications on the student's future economic  
               success."

          2.   How do schools currently determine math placement?  Current  
               law is silent with regard to mathematics placement policies  
               or practices.  According to Appendix A of the 2013  
               Mathematics Framework, which was adopted by the State Board  
               of Education on November 6, 2013:  

                    Most districts typically rely on teacher  
                    recommendations and course grades to determine  
                    course placement (Bitter and O'Day 2010, p. 6),  
                    with standardized mathematics test scores,  
                    student/parent preferences, and counselor  
                    recommendations also factoring into the decision  
                    (Hallinan 2003).  Teacher and counselor placement
                     recommendations include subjective judgments  
                    about "students' personalities, behavior and  
                    motivation" in addition to test score  
                    performance.  

                http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/ma/cf/documents/aug2013apxacou 








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               rseplace.pdf  

          3.   Why include grade 8?  This bill requires each local  
               educational agency (LEA) serving grades 8 or 9 to develop  
               and implement a mathematics placement policy.  This bill  
               includes grade 8 because many students take Algebra I in  
               grade 7, or earlier, and are affected by placement  
               decisions in grade 8.  This bill sunshines math placement  
               practices by requiring LEAs to have a policy with specific  
               elements, ensuring schools consistently use objective  
               measurements, apply the practice uniformly, and make  
               students and parents aware of the placement policies.  This  
               bill does not require the policies of LEAs to accept  
               completion of Algebra I in middle school as satisfying high  
               school graduation requirements.  Students who successfully  
               complete Algebra I in grade 8 and are not required to take  
               Algebra I in high school would still be required to  
               complete two mathematics courses while in high school.  
           
           4.   Clarifying and technical amendments.  

               A.        Specifically require the governing board of an  
                    LEA to adopt the policy in a regularly scheduled  
                    public meeting.

               B.        On page 3, line 23, strike "statewide."

               C.        On page 3, at the end of line 36, insert  
                    "gender."

          5.   Related and prior legislation.

          RELATED LEGISLATION

          AB 220 (Holden, 2015) allows the course Mathematics 1 to satisfy  
               a mathematics graduation requirement.  States that a  
               student who completes a course in Algebra 1 or Mathematics  
               1 before 9th grade is exempt from the above requirement but  
               not from the requirement to take two math courses in grades  
               9 to 12.  AB 220 is pending in the Assembly Appropriations  
               Committee.

          AB 770 (Irwin, 2015) establishes a grant program, and as a  
               condition of receiving a grant, requires the governing  








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               board of a community college district to demonstrate in its  
               application that the community colleges will among other  
               things: 

               A.        Adopt placement tests and related policies that  
                    include multiple measures of student performance,  
                    including grades in high school courses and input from  
                    counselors.

               B.        Increase the placement of students directly in  
                    gateway English and mathematics courses and career  
                    pathways supplemented by remediation.  

               AB 770 is scheduled to be heard by the Assembly Higher  
               Education Committee on April 21.

               PRIOR LEGISLATION

               SR 60 (Mitchell, 2014) asks local school boards to develop,  
               adopt, and monitor a fair, objective, and transparent  
               mathematics placement policy.

            SUPPORT
          
          Bayer
          California School Boards Association
          California State Conference of the National Association for the  
          Advancement of Colored 
               People
          Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay  
          Area
          Public Advocates
          Silicon Valley Community Foundation

            OPPOSITION
           
           None received.

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