Cal Grant Program: qualifying institutions: publication of license examination passage rates.

(1) Existing law establishes in the State Department of Education the California Education Information System, consisting of the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System and the California Longitudinal Teacher Integrated Data Education System. The function of the California Education Information System is to establish, conduct, and, by continuous concern, keep up to date, a basic, integrated, statewide information system for education. This bill would add to the provisions relating to the California Education Information System an expression of the intent of the Legislature that, as the California Education Information System is implemented over time, access to public information already available on various measures of the quality of teacher preparation programs be available in electronic format and be accessible to the extent practicable through downloadable pages and reports accessible to the public in a consolidated manner. This bill would also require all teacher preparation programs to provide information to prospective candidates regarding the license examination passage rates of completers of its program for the most recent available year, if that data is available electronically through the Internet Web site of the Commission on Teacher Credentialing. (2) Existing law, the Ortiz-Pacheco-Poochigian-Vasconcellos Cal Grant Program, establishes the Cal Grant A and B entitlement awards, the California Community College Transfer Cal Grant Entitlement awards, the Competitive Cal Grant A and B awards, the Cal Grant C awards, and the Cal Grant T awards under the administration of the Student Aid Commission, and establishes eligibility requirements for awards under these programs for participating students attending qualifying institutions. For purposes of the Cal Grant Program, existing law defines "qualifying institution" as a California private or independent postsecondary educational institution that participates in specified federal student aid programs, a nonprofit institution that is headquartered and operating in California that meets specified criteria, or a California public postsecondary educational institution. This bill would redefine "qualifying institution" for purposes of the Cal Grant Program to mean an institution that is within any of those 3 categories and that complies with a requirement to provide information on where to access California license examination passage rates for graduates of specified undergraduate programs if that data is electronically available through the Internet Web site of a California licensing or regulatory agency.