BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                     SB 359


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          SENATE THIRD READING


          SB  
          359 (Mitchell)


          As Amended  August 28, 2015


          Majority vote


          SENATE VOTE:  40-0


           ------------------------------------------------------------------ 
          |Committee       |Votes|Ayes                  |Noes                |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
          |Education       |7-0  |O'Donnell, Chávez,    |                    |
          |                |     |Kim, McCarty,         |                    |
          |                |     |Santiago, Thurmond,   |                    |
          |                |     |Weber                 |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
          |Appropriations  |17-0 |Gomez, Bigelow,       |                    |
          |                |     |Bloom, Bonta,         |                    |
          |                |     |Calderon, Chang,      |                    |
          |                |     |Nazarian, Eggman,     |                    |
          |                |     |Gallagher, Eduardo    |                    |
          |                |     |Garcia, Holden,       |                    |
          |                |     |Jones, Quirk, Rendon, |                    |
          |                |     |Wagner, Weber, Wood   |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
           ------------------------------------------------------------------ 








                                                                     SB 359


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          SUMMARY:  Requires local educational agencies (LEAs) and charter  
          schools serving students entering grade nine to adopt a fair,  
          objective, and transparent mathematics placement policy.   
          Specifically, this bill:  


          1)Makes findings and declarations regarding students'  
            inappropriate placement in mathematics courses at the  
            secondary level. 


          2)States that the act shall be known as the California  
            Mathematics Placement Act of 2015.


          3)Requires governing boards of LEAs serving students entering  
            grade 9 that do not have a fair, objective, and transparent  
            mathematics placement policy as of January 1, 2016, to develop  
            and adopt in a regularly scheduled public meeting a fair,  
            objective, and transparent mathematics placement policy before  
            the beginning of the 2016-17 school year that:


             a)   Systematically takes multiple, objective academic  
               measures into consideration.


             b)   Defines "objective academic measures" to mean measures  
               such as statewide mathematics assessments, including  
               interim and summative assessments; placement tests that are  
               aligned to state-adopted content standards in mathematics;  
               classroom assignments and grades; and report cards.


             c)   Includes at least one placement checkpoint within the  
               first month of the school year to ensure accurate  
               placement.








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             d)   Requires annual examination of aggregate pupil placement  
               data to ensure that students who are qualified to progress  
               in mathematics courses based on their performance on  
               objective academic measures are not held back in a  
               disproportionate manner on the basis of their race,  
               ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic background.


             e)   Requires LEAs to report the aggregate results of this  
               examination to their governing boards. 


             f)   Offers clear and timely recourse for each student and  
               his or her parent or guardian who questions the student's  
               placement.


             g)   For non-unified school districts, addresses the  
               consistency of mathematics placement policies between  
               elementary and high school districts.


          1)States that LEAs serving students who are transitioning  
            between elementary and middle or junior high schools may  
            develop and implement policies meeting the criteria above.  


          2)Requires LEAs to post their mathematics placement policies on  
            their Web sites.  


          3)Defines "local educational agency" to mean a county office of  
            education, school district, state special school, or charter  
            school.


          FISCAL EFFECT:  According to the Assembly Appropriations  








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          Committee, unknown Proposition 98/General Fund state mandated  
          costs, likely in the low millions, 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.  For illustration, assuming  
          roughly half of all school districts, county offices of  
          education, and charter schools serving students entering 9th  
          grade were required to implement a policy, statewide costs would  
          range from $2.8 million to $5.8 million. This assumes average  
          LEA administrative costs in the range of $4,000 to $8,000 per  
          LEA. 


          COMMENTS:  


          Need for the bill.  According to the author's office, "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."


          Study finds many students who successfully pass algebra in 8th  
          grade placed in same course in 9th grade.  A 2010 study by the  
          Noyce Foundation which examined the math placement practices of  
          nine school districts and their effect on 1,700 students found:


          1)Forty-six percent of 8th grade algebra students who earned a  








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            grade of B- or better were placed in Algebra again in 9th  
            grade, or dropped to a less advanced course.
          2)Forty-five percent of 8th grade algebra students who met or  
            exceeded standards on standardized assessments (California  
            Standards Test or the formative Mathematics Assessment  
            Resource Service assessments) were placed in algebra again in  
            9th grade.


          3)Nearly half of the students who were successful in algebra in  
            the 8th grade and who were placed again in Algebra in 9th  
            grade were no more successful in their second experience. 


          4)Evidence suggesting (but is not generalizable because of the  
            methodology of this study) that Latino, African American, and  
            Pacific Islander students who were successful in 8th grade  
            algebra were less likely than other students to be placed in  
            algebra again in 9th grade.


          A new definition of "math misplacement".  Prior to the  
          publication of the above data, "math misplacement" was typically  
          considered to mean the placement of students in courses for  
          which they were academically unprepared.  The state's  
          Mathematics Framework states that "[math] misplacement is  
          common," and devotes the discussion of this problem  
          predominantly to the problem of students' lack of readiness for  
          the course.  


          Enrollment in 8th grade algebra has increased dramatically in  
          recent years, from 32% to 54% between 2003 and 2009, according  
          to the CDE.  Scores on the California Standards Test in algebra  
          increased for students overall during this period, but scores  
          have risen more dramatically for low income, English learner,  
          African American, and Latino students, as well as students with  
          disabilities.  









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          Yet concerns persist about inappropriate placement in this  
          course.  These concerns are based in part on proficiency scores  
          on the California Standards Test, but also on the observations  
          that many students retake algebra in 9th grade, and that many  
          retake the algebra CST (which occurs each time a student takes  
          the course).  The misplacement data presented above raises the  
          question:  could some part of California's students' math  
          "failure" actually be success in disguise?


          How do schools determine math placement?  Current law is silent  
          with regard to mathematics placement policies and practices.   
          The state's Mathematics Framework states:  


             Most districts typically rely on teacher recommendations  
             and course grades to determine course placement (Bitter  
             and O'Day 2010, page 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. [emphasis added]


          What causes math misplacement?  There are several factors which  
          have been identified as leading to students' misplacement in math  
          courses in 9th grade.  Among them are:


          1)Over-reliance on subjective measures.  Use of subjective  
            measures to determine placement may be a significant factor in  
            math misplacement.  Research on math placement illustrates the  
            potential consequences of over-reliance on subjective  
            judgments in placement decisions:










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             a)   A 2014 longitudinal study of placement of students in  
               algebra in 8th grade investigated the relationship between  
               standardized test scores and teacher evaluation of  
               students' math skills on math placement.  It found that  
               African American students had two-thirds the chance of  
               being placed in algebra than other students of the same  
               ability.  For white students, test scores were a stronger  
               predictor of algebra placement than teacher evaluation, but  
               for African American students, teacher evaluations  
               significantly outweighed test scores.  Students who had  
               high test scores but low teacher evaluations had only  
               one-tenth the rate of algebra placement as students who had  
               high test scores and high teacher evaluations.  For  
               high-achieving African American students, the rate of  
               algebra placement was 40% lower than for high-achieving  
               white students.  Even for African American students with  
               high test scores and high teacher evaluations, the rate of  
               placement was no higher than for those African American  
               students with average scores and evaluations.


             b)   Another study of math placement in an urban school  
               district found that among 8th grade students scoring in the  
               highest quartile on a statewide standardized assessment of  
               mathematics, placement in the 9th grade "gatekeeper"  
               mathematics courses differed dramatically by schools within  
               the same district.  Overall, 27% of high scoring students  
               were not placed in appropriate courses, and low  
               socio-economic students were three times as likely as  
               wealthier students to be denied appropriate placement.  The  
               school observed to have a culture of low expectations  
               placed the least number of high-achieving students in the  
               appropriate courses.  


          2)Poor timing of data availability from some objective measures.  
             Data from statewide assessments has historically been  
            available only after placement recommendations have been made.  
             This should improve, however, with the state's new,  








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            computer-based assessments, which will produce test scores for  
            non-performance items within weeks after test administration.


          3)Absence of consistently-applied policies.  There is no  
            statewide data on school districts' math policies.  Some  
            districts, such as Capistrano Unified School District, do have  
            clear placement policies posted on their Web sites.  But  
            anecdotal evidence suggests that some school districts either  
            lack a formal, publicly-accessible placement policy, or that  
            their existing policies are not applied consistently.  


          4)Lack of coordination between middle and high schools.  A 2012  
            report by WestEd, "College Bound in Middle School and High  
            School?  How Math Course Sequences Matter," found poor  
            coordination between middle and high schools in math  
            placement, reporting that of the districts studied, "none had  
            focused on the relationship between students' math performance  
            in early middle school and later course taking and  
            achievement," reflecting a "disjuncture, or lack of  
            communication, between middle- and high-school staff."  It  
            noted that "middle-school staff never learned how their  
            students fared in high school; high-school teachers do not  
            systematically seem to know how their students had performed  
            in middle school before transitioning to high school." 


          5)Wide variation in course names.  As noted above, there are  
            many names for mathematics courses used by school districts,  
            and this variation may result in improper course placement in  
            the transition between schools and districts.


          6)Parental involvement.  Research has demonstrated that more  
            educated parents are more likely to intervene in mathematics  
            course placement decisions affecting their children.










                                                                     SB 359


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          7)Concern in high schools about quality of 8th grade algebra  
            courses.  A 2009 EdSource report notes a concern, expressed by  
            the CDE, that "some students who pass algebra I in grade eight  
            might be placed in the course again by high schools that  
            criticize the quality of 8th grade courses."  


          8)Non-unified districts.  For non-unified school districts, math  
            placement policies may not consistently align between  
            elementary feeder districts and high school districts.


          9)Lack of sufficient counselors.  Likely contributing to the  
            problem of math misplacement is California's poor  
            counselor-to-student ratio.  In 2010-2011, the state ranked  
            last in the nation, with one counselor for every 1,016  
            students.


          What happens when districts implement a math placement policy  
          based on objective measures?  According to the Silicon Valley  
          Community Foundation, twenty-two school districts are actively  
          working to improve their math placement practices.  One of  
          these, the Sequoia Union High School District, reviewed its math  
          placement practices and found that math misplacement was  
          occurring almost exclusively among students of color coming from  
          a lower income area.  They examined the reasons why teachers  
          were recommending that students who had succeeded in algebra  
          were being placed in algebra again, and found a variety of  
          reasons, from concerns that students didn't pay enough attention  
          in class, to poor homework completion, to a general perception  
          that students weren't ready to face academic challenges.   
          Sequoia Union High School District began placing students in  
          math courses based on test scores, and within a year had  
          achieved "accurate placement" aligned to ability between 96% and  
          99% of the time.











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          Math misplacement may begin even earlier than 8th grade.  While  
          there is no statewide data on math placement practices in the  
          transition between elementary and middle school, limited  
          evidence suggests that math misplacement may occur at this  
          juncture as well.  For example, the Fremont Unified School  
          district Web site states that sixth grade students must take a  
          math placement test, and that "no changes may be made to a  
          student's math course pathway until after 9th grade."  It also  
          states that absent students must take the placement test on the  
          day they return to school or they will "will lose the  
          opportunity to accelerate and will automatically be placed in  
          the non-accelerated course."  While the 8th to 9th grade  
          transition is a critical one, math misplacement may occur long  
          before.  This bill includes a permissive statement on the  
          inclusion of the elementary to middle school transition in math  
          placement policies.




          Analysis Prepared by:                                             
                          Tanya Lieberman / ED. / (916) 319-2087  FN:  
          0001829