BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó






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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                        SB 359|
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                                   THIRD READING 


          Bill No:  SB 359
          Author:   Mitchell (D)
          Amended:  6/2/15  
          Vote:     21  

           SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE:  8-0, 4/15/15
           AYES:  Liu, Huff, Block, Hancock, Leyva, Mendoza, Pan, Vidak

           SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE:  7-0, 5/28/15
           AYES:  Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza, Nielsen

           SUBJECT:   California Mathematics Placement Act of 2015.


           SOURCE:    California State Conference of the NAACP
                      Silicon Valley Community Foundation
          
          DIGEST:   This bill requires each local educational agency  
          serving grades 8 or 9 to develop and implement a fair,  
          objective, and transparent mathematics placement policy.

          ANALYSIS:   


          Existing 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)








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          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)

          This bill:  

          1)Establishes the California Mathematics Placement Act.

          2)Requires the governing board of 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 at least one progress checkpoint during the  
               academic year to permit reevaluation of individual student  
               progress.

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

             d)   Requires the 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 timely recourse for each student and  
               his or her parent who questions the student's placement.

          3)Requires the governing boards of each LEA to adopt the  
            mathematics placement policy in a regularly scheduled public  
            meeting.

          4)Requires each LEA to ensure that its mathematics placement  
            policy is posted prominently on the LEA's website.







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          5)Clarifies that this bill applies only to LEAs that do not have  
            a mathematics placement policy as of January 1, 2016.

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

          7)States legislative findings and declarations relative to  
            mathematics misplacement.

          Comments
          
          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/aug2013apxacoursep 
          lace.pdf]
          
          Why include grade 8?  This bill requires each 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  







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          to take Algebra I in high school would still be required to  
          complete two mathematics courses while in high school.  

          FISCAL EFFECT:   Appropriation:    No          Fiscal  
          Com.:YesLocal:   Yes


          According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, this bill  
          imposes unknown, potentially significant costs for LEAs without  
          a mathematics placement policy to develop and implement one in  
          accordance with the requirements of this bill.  Costs to the  
          state would depend on the number of LEAs that would be required  
          to develop a placement policy as these activities, as well as  
          implementing the policy, could be determined to be a  
          reimbursable state mandate.




          SUPPORT:   (Verified6/1/15)


          California State Conference of the National Association for the  
          Advancement of 
              Colored People (co-source)
          Silicon Valley Community Foundation (co-source)
          Association of California School Administrators
          Bayer
          California School Boards Association
          Education Trust-West
          Equal Justice Society
          Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay  
          Area
          Public Advocates
          San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce
          San Mateo County Office of Education
          St. James Community Foundation


          OPPOSITION:   (Verified6/1/15)


          None received








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          ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT:     According to the Education Trust-West,  
          some students are disadvantaged by unfair math placement  
          practices that require students to repeat Algebra or other  
          classes after having already passed the course in the eighth  
          grade.  Due to bias or opinions that are not based on data or  
          evidence, some high schools require entering freshmen to retake  
          their college preparatory math course.  This reduces the total  
          number of college preparatory courses taken in high school,  
          weakens the student's preparation for university-level  
          coursework, and potentially threatens his or her chances for  
          admission to competitive institutions.



          Prepared by:Lynn Lorber / ED. / (916) 651-4105
          6/2/15 12:52:20


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