Moves to Fiscal Panel
The Senate Education Committee on July 3 gave its overwhelming approval to a CTA-sponsored measure designed to reform California's student testing system.
AB 356 by Assembly Member Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) now moves to the Senate Appropriations Committee for further action.
The measure gained the committee's approval on a 10-1 vote. All Democratic members of the committee voted for the measure, Assembly Member Jeff Denham (R) voted against it, and all other Republican members of the committee did not cast a vote.
The approval came after the committee heard testimony by CTA Member Nanci Gilbert, a second grade teacher from Joseph Bonnheim School in the Sacramento City Unified School District. Gilbert pointed out that California's current system uses excessive testing that robs students of valuable classroom instructional time. She noted that federal guidelines do not call for testing students in second grade, something California requires that is reducing students' learning time and harming students without serving any useful purposes.
Among its other provisions, the CTA-sponsored measure brings California's student testing system more in line with federal requirements.
As amended, AB 356 would:
- Align California's Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program with federal guidelines in the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). It would exempt pupils in second grade from the state-testing requirement, beginning on July 1, 2004. In so doing, AB 356 will also increase instructional time for second graders.
- The State Board of Education (SBE), in consultation with the Superintendent of Public Instruction and early childhood experts, will examine alternatives to the second grade STAR test, make recommendations, and report to the Legislature by February 15, 2004.
- Delay until the 2005-06 school year requiring students to pass the California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE) as state requirement for high school graduation.
- The bill requires the SBE, in consultation with the Superintendent of Public Instruction, to study the appropriateness of other criteria to demonstrate competency and receive a high school diploma. The SBE shall forward its recommendations to the Legislature by February 15, 2004.
- Eliminates school and staff rewards based on tests scores in the STAR program including: the Governor's Performance Awards Program and the Certificated Staff Performance Incentive Program.
AB 356 is important because in this time of deficits, it will help the state use its education funding more wisely, protect youngsters in early grades from unnecessary testing, and bring California's testing program in line with federal requirements.