52053.
(a) The Immediate Intervention/Underperforming Schools Program is hereby established. By August 15, 1999, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, with the approval of the State Board of Education, shall invite schools that scored below the 50th percentile on the achievement tests administered pursuant to Section 60640 both in the spring of 1998 and in the spring of 1999 to participate in the Immediate Intervention/Underperforming Schools Program. A school invited to participate, may take any action not otherwise prohibited under state or federal law and that would not require reimbursement by the Commission on State Mandates to improve pupil performance.
(b) The total number of schools participating in the program in 1999 shall be 430. Unless subdivision (d) applies, schools that apply will be selected based on the order in which they apply within ranks of deciles, not to exceed 86 per decile, within the following grade level categories:
(1) No more than 301 elementary
schools.
(2) No more than 78 middle schools.
(3) No more than 52 high schools.
(c) The 86 schools selected within each decile range pursuant to subdivision (b) shall proportionately represent elementary, middle, and high schools and shall provide state wide proportionate geographic representation of urban and rural schools.
(d) If fewer than the number of schools in any grade level category apply, schools that scored below the 50th percentile in those grade level categories that did not apply for the program shall randomly be selected by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, with the approval of the State Board of Education, to participate based on their proportional representation in the state until the number of schools in each grade level category set forth in subdivision (b) is achieved.
(e) If more than the requisite number of schools apply for any grade level category, the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall select an array of schools that reflect a broad range of academic performance of schools that scored below the 50th percentile, until the number of schools in each grade level category set forth in subdivision (b) is achieved.
(f) A school selected to participate on or before September 1, 1999, shall be awarded a planning grant from funds appropriated pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 2 of the act adding this section in the amount of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000). A school selected to receive federal funds pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 2 of the act adding this section shall be awarded an implementation grant in an amount of at least fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) pursuant to Public Law 105-78.
(g) Schools receiving funding under paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 2 of the act adding this section shall comply with Public Law 105-78.
(h) By September 15, 2000, and each year thereafter, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, with the approval of the State Board of Education, shall identify schools that failed to meet their Academic Performance Index (API) growth targets and that have an API score below the 50th percentile in the previous school year relative to all other public elementary, middle or high schools. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall invite these schools to participate in the Immediate Intervention/Underperforming Schools Programs. A school invited to participate may take any action to improve pupil performance not otherwise prohibited under state or federal law and that would not require reimbursement by the Commission on State Mandates.
(i) The total number of schools selected for participation in the program shall be no more than the number that can be funded through the total appropriation for the planning grants referenced in subdivision (l) below.
(j) If fewer schools apply for participation than can be funded, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, with the approval of the State Board of Education, shall randomly select the balance of schools from schools eligible to participate that did not apply. Insofar as possible, the schools randomly selected should reflect a representative proportion of elementary, middle and high schools, as well as a broad range of academic achievement.
(k) If more schools apply for participation than can be funded, the schools shall be selected on the order in which they apply. Insofar as possible, the schools selected should reflect a representative proportion of elementary, middle and high schools, as well as a broad range of academic achievement.
(l) A school selected to participate on or before October 15, 2000, and each year thereafter, shall be awarded a planning grant from funds appropriated pursuant to this act of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000).
(m) Schools selected for participation in the program shall be notified by the Superintendent of Public Instruction no later than October 15 of each year.
52053.5.
(a) The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall develop, and the State Board of Education shall approve, the minimum qualifications for external evaluators that shall include, but may not be limited to, recent successful professional, managerial or governing board experience in improving school achievement, and the ability to assist the school to systematically align curriculum, instruction, and assessment. The external evaluators shall also have demonstrated experience in working with diverse populations. With the approval of the State Board of Education, the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall develop and disseminate an application process by which to establish a list of external evaluators that meet the minimum qualifications. The list of approved external evaluators may include private sector experts, institutions of higher education, county offices of education, and educational consortia.
(b) The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall develop, and the State Board of Education shall approve, the standards and criteria to be applied by external evaluators in carrying out their duties. The standards and criteria shall include, but are not limited to, the following areas:
(1) Governing board policies.
(2) Curriculum management.
(3) Fiscal management.
(4) Parental and community involvement.
(5) Personnel management.
(6) Facilities management.
52054.
(a) Commencing in the 2001-02 fiscal year, by November 15 of the year that the school is selected to participate, the governing board of a school district having jurisdiction over a school selected for participation in the program shall do one of the following:
- (1) Contract with an external evaluator
from the list of external evaluators and shall appoint a broad-based
school site and community team, consisting of a majority of nonschool site
personnel. In a school that has a limited-English-proficient
pupil population that constitutes at least 40 percent of the
total pupil population, an external evaluator shall have demonstrated
experience in working with a limited-English-proficient pupil
population. Not less than 20 percent of the members of the team
shall be parents or legal guardians of pupils in the school.
(2) Contract with an entity that has proven successful expertise specific to the challenges inherent in low-performing schools. These entities may include, but are not limited to, the following:
(A) Institutions of higher education.
(B) County offices of education.
(C) School district personnel.
(b) The selected external evaluator or entity shall solicit input from the parents and legal guardians of the pupils of the school. At a minimum, the evaluator or entity shall do all of the following:
(1) Inform the parents and
legal guardians, in writing, that the school has been selected
to participate in the Immediate Intervention/Underperforming Schools
Program due to its below average performance.
(2) Hold a public meeting at the school, in cooperation with the
principal, to which all parents and legal guardians of pupils
in the school receive a written invitation. The invitation to
the meeting may be combined with the written notice required by
paragraph (1).
(3) Solicit, at the public meeting, the recommendations and opinions
of the participating parents and legal guardians of pupils in
the school regarding actions that should be taken to improve the
performance of the school. These opinions and recommendations
shall be considered by the external evaluator or entity and the
community team in the development or modification of the action
plan pursuant to this section or 52054.3.
(4) Provide technical assistance to the school site.
(5) Notify all parents and legal guardians of pupils in the school
of their opportunity to provide written recommendations of actions
that should be taken to improve the performance of the school
which shall be considered by the external evaluator or entity
and the community team in the development or modification of the
action plan pursuant to this section or Section 52054.3. Notice
required by this subdivision may be combined with the written
notice required by paragraph (1).
- (c) By February 15 of the school year
in which the school is selected to participate, the selected
external evaluator or entity, in collaboration with the broad-based
school site and community team selected pursuant to subdivision
(a), shall complete a review of the school that identifies weaknesses
that contribute to the school's below average performance, make
recommendations for improvement, and begin to develop an action
plan to improve the academic performance of the pupils enrolled
at the school. The action plan shall include percentage growth
targets at least as high as the annual growth targets adopted
by the State Board of Education pursuant to Section 52052. The
action plan shall include an expenditure plan and shall be of
a scope that does not require expenditure of funds in excess
of those provided pursuant to this article or otherwise available
to the school. The action plan may not be of a scope that requires
reimbursement by the Commission on State Mandates for its implementation.
(d) At a minimum, the action plan shall do all of the following:
(1) Review and include the school and district conditions identified in the school accountability report card pursuant to Section 33126.
(2) Identify the current barriers at the school and district toward improvements in pupil achievement.
(3) Identify school wide and district wide strategies to remove these barriers.
(4) Review and include school and school district crime statistics, in accordance with Section 628.5 of the Penal Code.
(5) Examine and consider disaggregated data regarding pupil achievement and other indicators to consider whether all groups and types of pupils make adequate progress toward short-term growth targets and long-term performance goals. The disaggregated data to be included and considered by the plan shall, at a minimum, provide information regarding the achievement of English language learners, pupils with exceptional needs, pupils who qualify for free and reduced price meals, and pupils in numerically significant subgroups.
(6) Set short-term academic objectives pursuant to Section 52052 for a two-year period that will allow the school to make adequate progress toward the growth targets established for each participating school for pupil achievement as measured by all of the following to the extent that the data is available for the school:
(A) The achievement test administered pursuant to Section 60640.
(B) Graduation rates for grades 7 to 12, inclusive.
(C) Attendance rates for pupils and school personnel for elementary, middle, and secondary schools.
(D) Any other indicators approved by the State Board of Education.
(e) The school action plan shall focus
on improving pupil academic performance, improving the involvement
of parents and guardians, improving the effective and efficient
allocation of resources and management of the school, and identifying
and developing solutions that take into account the underlying
causes for low performance by pupils.
(f) The team, in the development of the action plan, shall consult
with the exclusive representatives of employee organizations,
where they exist.
(g) The school action plan may propose to increase the number
of instructional days offered at the school site and also may propose
to increase up to a full 12 months the amount of time for which
certificated employees are contracted, if all of the following
conditions are met:
(1) Provisions of the plan
proposed pursuant to this subdivision shall not violate current
applicable collective bargaining agreements.
(2) An agreement is reached with the exclusive representative
concerning staffing specifically to accommodate the extended school
year or 12-month contract.
(h) The team, in the development of the
action plan, shall consult with the exclusive representatives
of employee organizations, where they exist.
(i) Upon its completion, the action plan shall be submitted to
the governing board of the school districts for its approval at
a regularly scheduled public meeting. After the plan is approved,
but no later than May 15 of the year that follows the year the
school is selected to participate, the plan shall be submitted
to the Superintendent of Public Instruction with a request for
funding in the form prescribed by the Superintendent of Public
Instruction, who shall review the school action plan and recommend
approval or disapproval of the school's request for funding to
the State Board of Education.
(j) Not later than July 15 of the year next following the year
in which a school is selected for participation, the State Board
of Education shall review and approve or disapprove the school's
request for funding, based on the recommendation of the Superintendent
of Public Instruction. Within 30 days of the State Board of Education's
review, the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall notify
the affected school districts of the state of the board's action
regarding the request for funding. In conjunction with its approval
of a request for funding to implement a school's action plan,
the State Board of Education may, at the request of the governing
board of the school district or the county board of education
for a school under its jurisdiction, waive all or any part of
any provision of this code , or any regulation adopted by the
State Board of Education, controlling any of the programs listed
in clause (i) of subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of subdivision
(a) of Section 54761 and Section 64000 if the waiver does not
result in a decrease in the instructional time otherwise required
by law or regulation or an increase in state costs and is determined
to be consistent with subdivision (a) of Section 46300.
52054.3.
A school selected on or after September 2001 may elect to use an existing plan instead of the action plan required pursuant to Section 52054 if that plan meets the requirements specified pursuant to subdivisions (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), (h), and (i) of Section 52054. If an existing plan needs modification, the external evaluator or entity with which the school district contracts pursuant to Section 52054 shall provide technical assistance in making those modifications.
52054.5.
Subject to the appropriation of funds for this purpose in the Budget Act, a school whose application is approved shall receive a grant for implementing the program, in each subsequent fiscal year that it participates in the program, in an amount up to two hundred dollars ($200) per pupil enrolled in the school, with a minimum allocation of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) per school site. As a condition of receiving this funding, a participating school or the school district having jurisdiction over that school shall match the amount of state funding from any new or existing sources of funding. To help meet this matching requirement, a participating school and the governing board of the school district having jurisdiction over that school shall receive maximum flexibility in the expenditure of any new or existing categorical funds not otherwise prohibited by state or federal law and shall redirect for the purposes of their academic improvement plan new or existing categorical or general purpose funds.
52055.
The governing board of a school that fails to meet its annual short-term growth target within 12 months following receipt of funding pursuant to Section 52054.5 shall hold a public hearing at a regularly scheduled meeting to ensure that members of the school community are aware of the lack of progress. The governing board of the school district shall, upon consultation with the external evaluator and the school site and community team selected pursuant to Section 52054, choose from a range of interventions for the school, including reassignment of school personnel to the extent authorized by law, negotiation of site-specific amendments to collective bargaining agreements, or other changes deemed appropriate, in order to continue implementing the action plan approved pursuant to Section 51054, and to make progress toward meeting the school's growth target.
52055.5.
(a) Twenty-four months after receipt of funding pursuant to Section 52054.5, a school that has not met its growth targets each year, but demonstrates significant growth, as determined by the State Board of Education, shall continue to participate in the program for an additional year and to receive funding in the amount specified in Section 52054.5. Thirty-six months after receipt of funds pursuant to Section 52054.5, a school is no longer eligible to receive funding pursuant to that section.
(b) Twenty-four months after receipt of funding pursuant to Section 52054.5, a school that has not met its growth targets each year and has failed to show significant growth, as determined by the State Board of Education, shall be deemed a low-performing school. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall assume all the legal rights, duties, and powers of the governing board with respect to that school. The Superintendent of Public Instruction, in consultation with the State Board of Education and the governing board of the school district, shall reassign the principal of that school subject to the findings in subdivision (d). In addition to reassigning the principal, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, in consultation with the State Board of Education, shall, notwithstanding any other provision of law, do at least one of the following:
(1) Revise attendance options
for pupils to allow them to attend any public school in which
space is available. If additional attendance options are made
available, nothing in this option shall be construed to require
either the sending or receiving school district to incur additional
transportation costs.
(2) Allow parents to apply directly
to the State Board of Education for the establishment of a charter
school and allow parents to establish the charter school at the
existing school site.
(3) Under the supervision of the
Superintendent of Public Instruction, assign the management of
the school to a college, university, county office of education, or other appropriate educational institution. However, the Superintendent
of Public Instruction may not assume the management of the school.
(4) Reassign other certificated employees
of the school.
(5) Renegotiate a new collective
bargaining agreement at the expiration of the existing collective
bargaining agreement.
(6) Reorganize the school.
(7) Close the school.
(c) In addition to the actions listed in subdivision (b), the Superintendent of Public Instruction, in consultation with the State Board of Education, may take any other action considered necessary or desirable against the school district or the school district governing board, including appointment of a new superintendent or suspension of the authority of the governing board with respect to the school or schools identified pursuant to subdivision (b).
(d) Before the Superintendent of Public Instruction may take any action against a principal pursuant to subdivision (b), the Superintendent of Public Instruction or a designee of the superintendent shall hold a public hearing on the matter in the school district and make both of the following findings:
(1) A finding that the principal
had the authority to take specific enumerated actions that would
have helped the school meet its performance goals.
(2) A finding that the principal
failed to take specific enumerated actions pursuant to paragraph
(1).
(e) A school that has not met its growth targets within 36 months of receiving funding pursuant to Section 52054.5, but has shown significant growth, as determined by the State Board of Education, shall continue to be monitored by the Superintendent of Public Instruction until it meets its annual growth target or the state wide performance target. If, in any year between the third year of implementation funding and the first year the school meets its growth target, the school fails to make significant growth, as determined by the State Board of Education, that school shall be deemed a low-performing school and subject to the provisions of paragraphs (1) to (7), inclusive, of subdivision (b).
(f) An action taken pursuant to subdivision (b), (c), or (d) shall not increase local costs or require reimbursement by the Commission on State Mandates.
(g) An action taken pursuant to subdivision (b), (c), or (d) shall be accompanied by specific findings by the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the State Board of Education that the action is directly related to the identified causes for continued failure by a school to meet its performance goals.
52055.51.
(a) Instead of the actions specified in subdivision (c) of Section 52055.5, as that section read on January 1, 2001, and notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, with the approval of the State Board of Education, may require the district to enter into a contract with a school assistance and intervention team.
(b) Team members should possess a high degree of knowledge and skills in the areas of school leadership, curriculum, and instruction aligned to state academic content and performance standards, classroom management and discipline, academic assessment, parent-school relations, and evaluation and research-based reform strategies and have proven successful expertise specific to the challenges inherent in low-performing schools.
(c) The team shall provide intensive support and expertise to implement the school reform initiatives in the plan. Decisions about interventions shall be data driven. A school assistance and intervention team shall work with school staff, site planning teams, administrators, and district staff to improve pupil literacy and achievement by assessing the degree of implementation of the current action plan, refining and revising the action plan, and making recommendations to maximize the use of fiscal resources and personnel in achieving the goals of the plan. The district shall provide support and assistance to enhance the work of the team at the targeted school sites.
(d) Not later than 60 days after the school's API becomes public, the team must have completed an initial report. The report shall include recommendations for corrective actions chosen from a range of interventions, including the reallocation of district fiscal resources to ensure that appropriate resources are targeted to those specific interventions identified in the recommendations of the team for the targeted schools and other changes deemed appropriate to make progress toward meeting the schools growth target. Not later than 90 days after the API is made public, the governing board of the school district shall adopt the team's recommendations at a regularly scheduled meeting of the governing board. The governing board may not place the adoption on the consent calendar. The report shall be submitted to the Superintendent of Public Instruction and State Board of Education.
(e) No less than three times during the year, the school district and school site shall present the team with data regarding progress toward the goals established by the team's initial assessment. The data shall be presented to the governing board of the school district at a regularly scheduled meeting. The team shall, to the extent possible, utilize existing site data. The data shall also be provided to the Superintendent of Public Instruction and State Board of Education. Every effort shall be made to report this data in a manner that minimizes the length and complexity of the reporting requirement in order to maximize the focus on improving pupil literacy and achievement.
(f) An action taken pursuant to this paragraph shall not increase local costs or require reimbursement by the Commission on State Mandates.
52055.52.
Thirty-six months after the Superintendent of Public Instruction undertakes any of the actions in paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 52055.5, as amended by Senate Bill 1310 of the 2001-02 Regular Session, and subsequently, or requires a school to contract with a school assistance and intervention team pursuant to Section 52055.51, the school shall no longer be eligible to receive funding for purposes of this article.
