English learners: reclassification.

(1) Existing law required the State Department of Education, by January 1, 2014, to review and analyze the criteria, policies, and practices that a sampling of school districts that represent the geographic, socioeconomic, and demographic diversity of school districts in the state use to reclassify English learners and recommend to the Legislature and the State Board of Education any guideline, regulatory, or statutory changes that the department determines are necessary to identify when English learners are prepared for the successful transition to classrooms and curricula that require English proficiency. Existing law requires the governing board of each school district to adopt a local control and accountability plan and requires a local control and accountability plan to include, among other things, a description of the annual goals to be achieved for each state priority, as specified, for all pupils and certain subgroups of pupils. This bill would instead require the department, by January 1, 2017, to contract with an outside research organization to perform the above-mentioned review and analysis, and would include in that review and analysis the criteria, policies, and practices that the specified school districts use to meet the state priorities identified in the local control and accountability plans provision. The bill would instead require the department to recommend to the Legislature any policy changes that the department determines are necessary to identify when English learners are prepared for the successful transition to classrooms and curricula that require English proficiency and how implementation of the state priorities identified in the local control and accountability plans provision support that transition. The bill would require the department to examine, as part of this review and analysis, the extent to which school districts are following the regulations for implementation of the local control and accountability plans, and information on English learner achievement as described in local control and accountability plans. (2) Existing law required the department, by January 1, 2014, to issue a report on its findings, research, analysis, recommendations, and best practices, and requires the department, by January 1, 2017, to issue an updated report that reflects any changes in analysis and recommendations as a result of the adoption by the state board of the common core standards and related English language development standards. This bill would change the issue date of this report to January 1, 2017, would change the issue date of the updated report to January 1, 2018, and would require the department to identify in that report any pupil outcome measures related to meeting the state priorities in the local control and accountability plans provision, as related to the education of English learners. This bill would also make nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.