Bill Text: CA AB409 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Pupil assessment: dual language immersion programs.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2011-08-25 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB409 Detail]

Download: California-2011-AB409-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 409	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 14, 2011

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Alejo

                        FEBRUARY 14, 2011

    An act to amend Section 30.5 of the Education Code,
relating to bilingual education.   An act to add Section
60640.1 to the Education Code, relating to pupil assessment. 


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 409, as amended, Alejo.  Bilingual education. 
 Pupil assessment: dual language immersion programs.  
   Existing law, the Leroy Greene California Assessment of Academic
Achievement Act (hereafter the Greene Act), requires the
Superintendent of Public Instruction to design and implement a
statewide pupil assessment program and requires school districts,
charter schools, and county offices of education to administer to
each of its pupils in grades 2 to 11, inclusive, certain achievement
tests, including a standards-based achievement test pursuant to the
Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program.  
   Existing law authorizes a school district, at its option, to
administer to pupils with limited English proficiency who are
enrolled in any of grades 2 to 11, inclusive, a second achievement
test in their primary language.  
   This bill would authorize the State Department of Education to
make these primary language assessments available to school districts
and charter schools to assess their nonlimited-English-proficient
pupils who are enrolled in a dual language immersion program and
would require a school district or charter school that chooses to
administer a primary language assessment pursuant to this authority
to do so at its own expense.  
   Existing law establishes English as the basic language of
instruction in all schools. Existing law defines bilingual education
as a system of instruction which builds upon the language skills of a
pupil whose primary language is neither English nor derived from
English.  
   This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to those
provisions relating to bilingual education. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  no
  yes  . State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION 1.    Section 60640.1 is added to the 
 Education Code   , to read:  
   60640.1.  The department may make a primary language assessment
developed pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (3) of
subdivision (f) of Section 60640 available to school districts and
charter schools to assess their nonlimited-English-proficient pupils,
as defined in Section 60643, who are enrolled in a dual language
immersion program that includes the primary language of the
assessment. A school district or charter school that chooses to
administer a primary language assessment pursuant to this section
shall do so at its own expense.  
  SECTION 1.    Section 30.5 of the Education Code
is amended to read:
   30.5.  (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, bilingual
education means a system of instruction that builds upon the language
skills of a pupil whose primary language is neither English nor
derived from English. For purposes of this section:
   (1) "Primary language" means a language, other than English or a
language derived from English, which is the language the pupil first
learned.
   (2) "Derived from English" means a dialect, idiom, or language
derived from English. Both of the following shall be construed as
being derived from English:
   (A) A dialect, idiom, or language that has linguistic roots
connected to English.
   (B) A dialect, idiom, or language that has a syntax distinct from
English, and can be traced linguistically as derived from English.
   (b) A school district shall not utilize, as part of a bilingual
education program, state funds or resources for the purpose of
recognition of, or instruction in, a dialect, idiom, or language
derived from English.