Academic content standards: English language development standards.

(1) Existing law requires each school district that has one or more pupils who are English learners and, to the extent required by federal law, each county office of education and each charter school to assess the English language development of each of those pupils upon initial enrollment in order to determine the level of proficiency of those pupils, and thereafter to assess each of those pupils annually until the pupil is redesignated as English proficient. Existing law requires the State Board of Education to approve standards for English language development for pupils whose primary language is a language other than English. Existing law further requires that these standards be comparable in rigor and specificity to the standards for English language arts. This bill would additionally require these standards to be comparable in rigor and specificity to the standards for mathematics and science. (2) Provisions that were repealed on July 1, 2013, required the Superintendent of Public Instruction, in consultation with the state board, to update, revise, and align the English language development standards adopted pursuant to existing law to the state board-approved academic content standards for English language arts, as provided. This bill would require the Superintendent, on or before January 1, 2015, to recommend modifications to the English language development standards to link with the state board-approved academic content standards for mathematics and science for adoption by the state board. The bill would require the Superintendent, in consultation with the state board, to convene a group of experts in English language instruction, curriculum, and assessment, as provided, to meet those requirements and to review the mathematics and science academic content standards to identify those standards that correspond to the English language development standards. The bill would require the Superintendent to hold a minimum of 2 public meetings in order for the public to provide input regarding any modifications to the English language development standards. The bill would require the state board, on or before August 1, 2015, to adopt or reject the Superintendent's recommendations for the English language development standards to correspond with the state board-approved academic content standards for mathematics and science, as specified. The bill would require the state board to ensure that any modifications to the English language development standards adopted by the state board are incorporated into the appropriate mathematics and science curriculum frameworks. The bill would require that funding be provided in the annual Budget Act or another statute before these provisions could be implemented. The bill would make the above provisions inoperative on July 1, 2016, and would repeal them on January 1, 2017.