California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System.

Existing law establishes the California Education Information System, which consists of the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) and the California Longitudinal Teacher Integrated Data Education System. Existing law requires the State Department of Education under CALPADS to contract for the development of proposals that will provide for the retention and analysis of longitudinal pupil achievement data. Existing law requires local educational agencies to retain individual pupil records for each test taker, including other data elements deemed necessary by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, with approval of the State Board of Education, to comply with federal reporting requirements delineated in the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. This bill would require the department, contingent on federal funding for this purpose and in consultation with the Department of Finance and the Legislative Analyst's Office, to prepare CALPADS to include data on a quarterly rate of pupil attendance. The bill would require that CALPADS be capable of issuing to local educational agencies periodic reports on district, school, class, and individual pupil rates of absence and chronic absentees, as defined. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature to support the development of early warning systems to identify and support individual pupils who are at risk of academic failure or of dropping out of school. Existing law requires the Superintendent annually to submit to the Governor, the Legislature, and the State Board of Education a report on dropouts using the data produced by CALPADS. This bill would require the report to include chronic absentee rates when that data is available. The bill would make implementation of the provisions regarding the inclusion of pupil attendance data in CALPADS contingent upon the appropriation of federal funds specifically for the purposes of those provisions.