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.

Unless AB 740 of the 201516 Regular Session is enacted and becomes operative, this bill would require the state board, on or before January September 1, 2017, to adopt or reject specified national content standards for teaching foreign languages in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, pursuant to recommendations developed by the Superintendent. If AB 740 of the 201516 Regular Session is enacted and becomes operative, the bill would require the state board to appoint an advisory committee to recommend updated national content standards for teaching foreign language in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to the state board and would require the state board to adopt or reject those content standards, as specified.

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.

Date of Hearing: May 6, 2015

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Jimmy Gomez, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 711

Author:(Santiago) – As Amended Ver:April 23, 2015

Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: No

SUMMARY:

This bill requires the State Board of Education (SBE), on or before September 1, 2017, to adopt or reject national content standards for teaching foreign languages, pursuant to recommendations of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI). These requirements would occur only if AB 740 (Weber) of this session is not enacted. If AB 740 is enacted, this bill would require the SBE to appoint an advisory committee to recommend updated national foreign language content standards.

FISCAL EFFECT:

1. If AB 740 is enacted, the fiscal effect of this bill is as follows:

   1. Annual General Fund administrative costs of approximately $800,000 to develop a new Content Standards Unit within the California Department of Education.

   2. One-time costs of approximately $100,000 (GF/non-98) to convene each Academic Content Standards Advisory Committee. There are currently ten subjects that could be updated.

2. If AB 740 is not enacted, the fiscal effect of this bill is approximately $700,000 GF in the first year and $570,000 GF in the second year to support staffing costs associated with the SPI recommendations to the SBE to either reject or adopt World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages.

3. The adoption of new content standards has a multiplier effect that will lead to additional costs. Once new curriculum standards are adopted, frameworks aligned to those standards must be adopted. After frameworks are adopted, instructional materials adoption follows. General Fund administrative costs for these activities average about $1 million each. In addition to these costs, local education agencies would incur additional Proposition 98/GF costs to purchase instructional materials and provide professional development

COMMENTS:

1. Purpose. The California World Language Content Standards were adopted by the SBE in 2009. According to the author, the current state standards for foreign languages are in need of revision to align them with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

2. Amendments. There are three bills introduced this Session that would require the adoption of new standards (AB 711, Santiago; AB 740, Webber; and SB 725, Hancock).  Each takes a different approach with respect to designating the authority which prepares the revised set of standards to recommend to the SBE. 

Recent amendments include provisions that mirror the same advisory committee structure in AB 740 with regard to review and adoption of content standards.  According to policy committee staff, the amendments are intended to include an alternative process for rejection or adoption of the World-Readiness Standards for Learning if AB 740 is signed into law. 

As currently drafted, there are no dates specified for the adoption or rejection of updated standards in the event that AB 740 is enacted and an advisory committee is enacted.  It is also not clear that the revised standards be consistent with the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages.  Staff proposes clarifying amendments to include a date by which this action is to occur and that the revision be based on the above standards.

3. Related legislation.

1. AB 740 (Webber) of this Session requires the SPI, by January 1, 2017, to recommend to the SBE a schedule for the regular update of academic content standards. This bill grants the SBE the authority to convene academic content standards advisory committees to update the standards, and requires that the SBE adopt or reject them. This bill is pending on the Suspense file in this committee.

2. SB 725 (Hancock) of this Session would require the SBE, by June 30, 2017, to adopt, reject, or modify visual and performing arts standards submitted by the SPI. This bill is pending in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Analysis Prepared by: Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916) 319-2081

Date of Hearing: April 8, 2015

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

Patrick O'Donnell, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 711

Author:(Santiago) – As Introduced Ver:February 25, 2015

SUBJECT: School curriculum: foreign languages

SUMMARY: Requires the State Board of Education (SBE) to adopt World Languages content standards which are in accordance with the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages by June 1, 2017, pursuant to the recommendations of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI). Specifically, this bill:

1. Makes findings and declarations relative to the national World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages, which will be published in 2015.

2. Requires, on or before June 1, 2017, the SBE to adopt national content standards for teaching foreign languages in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12.

3. Requires that those standards be in accordance with the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages, published, in 2015, by the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages.

4. Requires that the SBE act pursuant to recommendations developed by the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Requires the SBE to adopt content standards for teaching foreign languages in grades K-12 by June 1, 2009.

2. Requires that these standards include 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.

3. Allows the content standards to be used by school districts to develop language programs and course assessments but are not mandatory.

FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown

COMMENTS:

Need for the bill. The author’s office states, “The current state standards for foreign languages are in need of revision to align them with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), as well as other standards.

The California World Language Content Standards were adopted by the SBE in 2009. Since the California Language World Content Standards were adopted much later than national standards, many teachers and school districts in California were already using national standards by default. This has created some challenges and difficulties for educators and school districts that had already aligned their curricula goals to the national standards. Furthermore, world language and culture educators in California currently must navigate between national and state standards as they read research and professional documents, collaborate with other educators from other states, and engage in other professional standards-based work, such as national assessments for assessing learner’s proficiency in world languages and cultures.

AB 711 will enable California to benefit from these newly-revised national standards. California will be able to focus on developing curriculum framework that will concentrate on making world language learning a reality for all language learners and support educators, as well as schools and districts”

Standards adoption dates by subject area. The most recent adoption (original or update) of content standards in each subject area is shown below.

1998: History-Social Science

2001: Visual and Performing Arts

2005: Physical Education

2008: Health Education

2009: World Languages

2010: English Language Arts

2010: Mathematics

2012: English Language Development

2013: Career Technical Education

2013: Science

Current schedule for framework adoption. Curriculum frameworks are revised and adopted on an eight-year cycle, and instructional materials adoptions take place after new frameworks are adopted. Standards adoptions precede the development of the frameworks. The next frameworks set for revision are as follows:

2016: History-Social Science, Science

2018: Health

2019: World Languages

2020: Math, Visual and Performing Arts

2021: Physical Education

2022: English Language Arts/English Language Development

The author argues that the revising of the standards by June 1, 2017 would allow the framework revision scheduled for 2019 to be aligned and even developed “in tandem” with the standards, and that this may provide some cost savings to the state. The Committee may also wish to consider that, while the World Languages standards are not the most out-of-date set of content standards, if the standards are not updated before the framework revision in 2019, the opportunity to align California’s framework and instructional materials with nationally-recognized standards may be lost.

World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages vs. California’s standards. The World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages are published by the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages. According to the author, while the California standards are aligned conceptually with the World-Readiness standards, the national standards incorporate recent research findings on second language acquisition and brain research, and have a greater focus on career readiness and how learners learn can apply the world languages and cultures in academic and professional settings. The new standards are also aligned with the Common Core State Standards. Thirty-two other states have adopted the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages and more are expected to do so in coming years.

Timeframe needs modification. The CDE advises that the time frame in this bill needs modification to reflect their estimate of the time required to complete a standards revision. To reflect CDE’s estimate of an expedited revision process (14 months), and to account for any appropriation required for this purpose, staff recommends that this bill be amended to specify an adoption date of September, 1, 2017.

Who recommends standards to the SBE? There are three bills introduced this Session which would require the adoption of new standards (AB 711, Santiago; AB 740, Webber; and SB 725, Hancock). Each takes a different approach with respect to designating the authority which prepares the revised set of standards to recommend to the SBE. AB 711 tasks the SPI (presumably through the Instructional Quality Commission and an advisory group) with recommending standards to the SBE. AB 740 would have the SBE convene academic content standards advisory committees to revise the standards and recommend them to the SBE. SB 745 requires the SPI and an expert panel in visual and performing arts to recommend standards to the SBE. Staff recommends that this bill be amended to reflect the proposed advisory committee structure in AB 740 by requiring – if that measure is enacted - the convening of an academic content standards advisory committee with the same composition and responsibilities as specified in that measure.

Adopt, reject, or modify? These three bills also provide different authority to the SBE in acting on the revised standards. AB 711 requires the SBE to adopt World Languages standards. AB 740 requires the SBE to adopt or reject revised standards. SB 725 requires the SBE to adopt, reject, or modify standards in visual and performing arts. Reflecting the approach taken in the Common Core State Standards revision process, staff recommends that this bill be amended to require the SBE to either adopt or reject the revised standards, and if the standards are rejected to require the SBE to provide a specific written explanation to the SPI, the Governor, and the Legislature of the reasons why the proposed standards were rejected.

Related legislation: AB 740 (Webber) of this Session would require the SPI, by January 1, 2017, to recommend to the SBE a schedule for the regular update of academic content standards. This bill grants the SBE the authority to convene academic content standards advisory committees to update the standards, and requires that the SBE adopt or reject them. SB 745 (Hancock) of this Session would require the SBE, by June 30, 2017, to adopt, reject, or modify visual and performing arts standards submitted by the SPI.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

California Language Teachers Association (sponsor)

Several individuals

Opposition

None on file

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