Pupil instruction: world languages: revision of content standards.

Existing law requires the State Board of Education, on or before June 1, 2009, to adopt content standards for teaching foreign languages in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, pursuant to recommendations developed by the Superintendent of Public Instruction. This bill would require the Superintendent, in consultation with the Instructional Quality Commission, to recommend revisions to the World Language Content Standards for California Public Schools, adopted pursuant to the above requirement, to the state board and to present those recommended revisions to the state board by a specified date. The bill would require the Superintendent, in consultation with the Instructional Quality Commission and the state board, to select a group of experts, as specified, to assist the Superintendent in developing the recommended revisions, and would require the recommended revisions to be based on the work of this group of experts. The bill would also require the Superintendent, before presenting his or her recommended revisions to the state board, to hold a minimum of 2 public hearings in order for the public to provide input on the recommended revisions. The bill would require the state board, by a specified date, to adopt, reject, or modify the recommended revisions. The bill would require the state board to take specified actions if it rejects the recommended revisions or if it modifies the recommended revisions. If the state board adopts either the Superintendent's recommended revisions or its own modified revisions to the World Language Content Standards, the bill would require the state board to consider adopting curriculum framework and evaluation criteria for instructional materials that are aligned to the revised World Language Content Standards and authorize the state board to adopt instructional materials for kindergarten and grades 1 to 8, inclusive, that are aligned to those standards.