Instructional materials: academic content standards: English learners.

(1) Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to review existing tests that assess the English language development of pupils whose primary language is a language other than English, and requires that the tests include, but not be limited to, an assessment of the achievement of these pupils in English reading, speaking, and written skills, in accordance with specified criteria. Existing law requires each school district that has one or more pupils who are English learners, and, to the extent required by federal law, a county office of education and a charter school, to assess the English language development of each of those pupils in order to determine their level of proficiency. Existing law requires the State Department of Education, with the approval of the State Board of Education, to establish procedures for conducting the assessment and for the reclassification of a pupil from English learner to English proficient. Existing law requires a school district to annually conduct the assessment during a period that commences on the day upon which 55% of the instructional year is completed through July 1 of that calendar year. This bill would apply the above requirements to initial and summative assessments and make conforming changes. The bill would require the Superintendent to determine which assessments, if any, meet specified requirements, and would require the assessments to be used for certain purposes. The bill would require the state board to approve assessment blueprints, assessment performance descriptors, and performance-level cut scores based on standard settings. The bill would require the Superintendent to report to the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature when the assessments are ready for their initial administration. The bill would make the above-described provisions of existing law inoperative when the Superintendent makes this report, and would repeal those provisions the following January 1. The bill, after the Superintendent reports to the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature, would require the summative assessment to be conducted annually during a 4-month period after January 1 determined by the Superintendent with the approval of the state board and the assessment for initial identification to be conducted upon the initial enrollment of a pupil. (2) Existing law requires the State Board of Education to adopt basic instructional materials for use in kindergarten and grades 1 to 8, inclusive, for governing boards, as specified. Existing law also requires the state board to adopt and approve academic content standards for language arts and for English language development for pupils whose primary language is a language other than English. This bill would authorize the state board to adopt basic instructional materials for kindergarten and grades 1 to 8, inclusive, that are aligned to those standards for language arts and English language development by no later than November 30, 2015. The bill would, among other things, require the State Department of Education, before conducting an adoption of basic instructional materials for language arts and English language development, to provide notice, as specified, to all publishers or manufacturers that each publisher or manufacturer is required to pay a fee, as specified, to offset the cost of conducting the adoption process.