Alternative schools: Student Achievement via Excellence accountability system.

Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction, with the approval of the State Board of Education, to develop an Academic Performance Index (API) to measure the performance of schools and school districts, especially the academic performance of pupils. Existing law also requires the Superintendent, with the approval of the state board, to develop an alternative accountability system for schools under the jurisdiction of a county board of education or a county superintendent of schools, community day schools, nonpublic, nonsectarian schools, and alternative schools serving high-risk pupils, including continuation high schools and opportunity schools. Existing law provides that schools in the alternative accountability system may receive an API score, but shall not be included in the API rankings. This bill would, by July 1, 2016, require the Superintendent, with the approval of the state board, to develop the Student Achievement via Excellence (SAVE) accountability system for the schools under the jurisdiction of a county board of education or a county superintendent of schools, community day schools, certain charter schools, nonpublic, nonsectarian schools, and alternative schools, including continuation high schools and opportunity schools. The bill would require the SAVE accountability system to be designed in conformity with certain requirements, and would provide that its purpose is to annually measure the positive outcome performance of a covered school, as expressed by the school's SAVE score. The bill would, among other things, require a school's SAVE score to be calculated based upon 3 weighted categories: learning readiness, save rate, and academic achievement, and would specify indicators for each of these categories. The bill would require the Superintendent to recommend, and the state board to adopt, weights for each category. The bill would require the SAVE accountability system to be fully implemented beginning with the 2016–17 school year.