Existing law requires each school district that has one or more pupils who are English learners, and, to the extent required by federal law, each county office of education and each charter school, to assess the English language development of each pupil in order to determine the pupil’s level of proficiency, as specified. Existing law requires the assessment for initial identification to be conducted upon the initial enrollment of a pupil, as provided. 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 those reclassification procedures to use multiple criteria in determining whether to reclassify a pupil as proficient in English, including, (1) an assessment of language proficiency using an objective assessment instrument, including the English language development test that is developed or acquired by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, (2) teacher evaluation, (3) parental opinion and consultation, and (4) a comparison of the performance of the pupil in basic skills against an empirically established range of performance in basic skills based upon the performance of English proficient pupils of the same age that demonstrates whether the pupil is sufficiently proficient in English to participate effectively in a curriculum designed for pupils of the same age whose native language is English.

This bill would make the provisions related to reclassification procedures inoperative on July 1, 2027, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2028.

This bill would require the state board, on or before January 1, 2028, to identify one or more appropriate instruments to be used for purposes of determining whether the English proficiency of a reclassified pupil is posing a barrier to the pupil’s academic success and appropriate interventions for pupils who need additional support for the English language to progress academically. Commencing with the 2027–28 school year, and subject to state and federal law regarding the privacy of pupil information, the bill would require the department to annually post on its internet website the reclassification rates of local educational agencies and statewide reclassification rates, as provided.

This bill, subject to an appropriation for these purposes, would require the department, (1) on or before June 30, 2028, to develop and post on its internet website alternative coursework and performance tasks for pupils who are English learners, have IEPs, and do not qualify to take the statewide alternate assessment for English language proficiency to demonstrate proficiency in each of the domains of the English language development assessment identified or developed by the Superintendent, and (2) to contract for an evaluation of the effects of the changes to the reclassification criteria and process required by the bill to be completed and sent to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature on or before January 1, 2032, as provided.