60900-60901
EDUCATION CODE
SECTION 60900-60901
60900. (a) The department shall contract for the development of proposals which will provide for the retention and analysis of longitudinal pupil achievement data on the tests administered pursuant to Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 60600), Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 60810), and Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 60850). The longitudinal data shall be known as the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System. (b) The proposals developed pursuant to subdivision (a) shall evaluate and determine whether it would be most effective, from both a fiscal and a technological perspective, for the state to own the system. The proposals shall additionally evaluate and determine the most effective means of housing the system. (c) The California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System shall be developed and implemented in accordance with all state rules and regulations governing information technology projects. (d) The system or systems developed pursuant to this section shall be used to accomplish all of the following goals: (1) To provide school districts and the department access to data necessary to comply with federal reporting requirements delineated in the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.). (2) To provide a better means of evaluating educational progress and investments over time. (3) To provide local educational agencies information that can be used to improve pupil achievement. (4) To provide an efficient, flexible, and secure means of maintaining longitudinal statewide pupil level data. (5) To facilitate the ability of the state to publicly report data, as specified in Section 6401(e)(2)(D) of the federal America COMPETES Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 9871) and as required by the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). (6) To ensure that any data access provided to researchers, as required pursuant to the federal Race to the Top regulations and guidelines is provided, only to the extent that the data access is in compliance with the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1232g). (e) In order to comply with federal law as delineated in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.), the local educational agency shall retain individual pupil records for each test taker, including all of the following: (1) All demographic data collected from the STAR Program test, high school exit examination, and English language development tests. (2) Pupil achievement data from assessments administered pursuant to the STAR Program, high school exit examination, and English language development testing programs. To the extent feasible, data should include subscore data within each content area. (3) A unique pupil identification number to be identical to the pupil identifier developed pursuant to the California School Information Services, which shall be retained by each local educational agency and used to ensure the accuracy of information on the header sheets of the STAR Program tests, high school exit examination, and the English language development test. (4) All data necessary to compile reports required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.), including, but not limited to, dropout and graduation rates. (5) Other data elements deemed necessary by the Superintendent, with approval of the state board, to comply with the federal reporting requirements delineated in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.), and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5), after review and comment by the advisory board convened pursuant to subdivision (h). Prior to the implementation of this paragraph with respect to adding data elements to the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System for the purpose of complying with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5), the department and the appropriate postsecondary education agencies shall submit an expenditure plan to the Department of Finance detailing any administrative costs to the department and costs to any local educational agency, if applicable. The Department of Finance shall provide to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee a copy of the expenditure plan within 10 days of receipt of the expenditure plan from the department. (6) To enable the department, the University of California, the California State University, and the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, to meet the requirements prescribed by the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5), these entities shall be authorized to obtain quarterly wage data, commencing July 1, 2010, on students who have attended their respective systems, to assess the impact of education on the employment and earnings of those students, to conduct the annual analysis of district-level and individual district or postsecondary education system performance in achieving priority educational outcomes, and to submit the required reports to the Legislature and the Governor. The information shall be provided to the extent permitted by federal statutes and regulations. (f) The California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System shall have all of the following characteristics: (1) The ability to sort by demographic element collected from the STAR Program tests, high school exit examination, and English language development test. (2) The capability to be expanded to include pupil achievement data from multiple years. (3) The capability to monitor pupil achievement on the STAR Program tests, high school exit examination, and English language development test from year to year and school to school. (4) The capacity to provide data to the state and local educational agencies upon their request. (g) Data elements and codes included in the system shall comply with Sections 49061 to 49079, inclusive, and Sections 49602 and 56347, with Sections 430 to 438, inclusive, of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations, with the Information Practices Act of 1977 (Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 1798) of Title 1.8 of Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code), and with the federal Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1232g), Section 1242h of Title 20 of the United States Code, and related federal regulations. (h) The department shall convene an advisory board consisting of representatives from the state board, the Secretary for Education, the Department of Finance, the State Privacy Ombudsman, the Legislative Analyst's Office, representatives of parent groups, school districts, and local educational agencies, and education researchers to establish privacy and access protocols, provide general guidance, and make recommendations relative to data elements. The department is encouraged to seek representation broadly reflective of the general public of California. (i) Subject to funding being provided in the annual Budget Act, the department shall contract with a consultant for independent project oversight. The Director of Finance shall review the request for proposals for the contract. The consultant hired to conduct the independent project oversight shall twice annually submit a written report to the Superintendent, the state board, the advisory board, the Director of Finance, the Legislative Analyst, and the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature. The report shall include an evaluation of the extent to which the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System is meeting the goals described in subdivision (d) and recommendations to improve the data system in ensuring the privacy of individual pupil information and providing the data needed by the state and school districts. (j) This section shall be implemented using federal funds received pursuant to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.), which are appropriated for purposes of this section in Item 6110-113-0890 of Section 2.00 of the Budget Act of 2002 (Chapter 379 of the Statutes of 2002). The release of these funds is contingent on approval of an expenditure plan by the Department of Finance. (k) For purposes of this chapter, a local educational agency shall include a county office of education, a school district, or charter school. 60901. (a) Contingent upon the receipt of federal funds for this purpose, the department, in consultation with the Department of Finance and the Legislative Analyst's Office, shall prepare the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System established pursuant to Section 60900 to include data on a quarterly rate of pupil attendance. Preparation shall include all of the following: (1) The addition of fields to facilitate the transfer of data. (2) System development activities including any business rules and definitions that would be needed to improve the quality and consistency of the data. (3) Processes for the transfer of data from local educational agencies. (4) Consultation with organizations representing school, district, and county education administrators, classified and certified staff, and parents in order to develop the criteria and frequency of reports on pupil attendance data and other indicators as may be submitted by local educational agencies. (b) The system shall support local educational agencies in their efforts to identify and support pupils at risk of dropping out and shall be capable of issuing to local educational agencies periodic reports that include, but may not be limited to, district, school, class, and individual pupil reports on both of the following: (1) Rates of absence. (2) Chronic absentees. (c) (1) For purposes of this section, "chronic absentee" means a pupil who is absent on 10 percent or more of the schooldays in the school year when the total number of days a pupil is absent is divided by the total number of days the pupil is enrolled and school was actually taught in the regular day schools of the district, exclusive of Saturdays and Sundays. (2) Once available, chronic absentee rates shall be incorporated into the annual report on dropouts required pursuant to Section 48070.6. (d) It is the intent of the Legislature to support the development of early warning systems to enable the identification and support of individual pupils who are at risk of academic failure or dropping out of school. The systems shall encompass the following characteristics: (1) The utilization of highly predictive indicators, including attendance, course grades or completion, performance on assessments of pupil achievement, suspensions, and expulsions. (2) A thorough validation process to ensure the predictive reliability of the systems. (3) Periodic reports that inform principals, teachers, and parents in a manner that enables timely identification and support of individual pupils who are at risk of academic failure or dropping out. (e) When the system established pursuant to Section 60900 is prepared to accept data on a quarterly rate of pupil attendance, a local educational agency may submit data to the department on a quarterly rate of pupil attendance and other indicators as identified by the department. It is the intent of the Legislature that schools identified on the list of persistently lowest-achieving schools will fully utilize the early warning systems described in subdivision (d). (f) A local educational agency that reports attendance data for pupils to the system established pursuant to Section 60900 may request, and the department shall provide, the early warning report described in subdivision (d) up to four times each school year. (g) The department shall notify local educational agencies that reporting pupil attendance and chronic absentee data pursuant to this section is voluntary. The notice shall include a description of the benefits of reporting pupil attendance and chronic absentee data in fostering the development of effective supports and interventions for at-risk pupils. (h) This section shall not be implemented unless federal funds are appropriated specifically for the purposes of this section.