37252.7.
(a) The Legislature finds and declares that the Gevirtz Research Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara has collaboratively developed, and is in the process of researching over a three-year period of time, the following three supplemental programs in the Santa Barbara School Districts: the Gevirtz Homework Project, the Academic Mentor Program, and the Gevirtz Summer School Program. The supplemental programs are designed to improve pupil achievement within the context of their school and community needs.(b) Subject to an appropriation being made for purposes of this section, the State Department of Education shall accept applications by school districts and charter schools for the establishment of pilot projects to implement supplementary intervention programs in the nature of those being developed and researched at the Gevirtz Research Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Because the research on supplementary programs is sparse, the school districts and charter schools shall make reasonable efforts to identify a range of promising practices that have empirically validated indicators of success to date in meeting the needs of the identified population and that adapt those promising practices to local needs. The department shall select five applicant school districts or charter schools maintaining any of grades 4 to 6, inclusive, to establish pilot projects pursuant to this section. The selected districts or charter schools shall reflect the geographic, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity of the communities in the state.
(c) School districts or charter schools that elect to establish pilot projects shall utilize existing supplemental instruction funds, as set forth in Section 37252.5, to fund their projects.
(d) The selected districts or charter schools shall implement pilot projects by selecting one or more research-based supplementary instruction programs having some empirical evidence of success. Programs may include those designed and being researched by the Gevirtz Research Center, or other promising practices, including, but not limited to, any of the following:
(1) Onsite after school homework centers designed to engage children in assigned homework and the development of study skills.
(2) Mentoring programs designed to match young people with caring adult mentors who serve as positive role models and provide academic support.
(3) Summer school programs established to provide motivational, extended learning experiences with clear achievement goals for pupils.
(e) School districts, with the assistance of the Gevirtz Research Center, are encouraged to identify programs with empirical evidence of potential to meet the needs of the identified population in local schools.
(f) Subject to an appropriation being made for purposes of this section, programs selected and implemented to provide supplementary instruction shall be pilot projects and shall be evaluated for their effectiveness through the State Department of Education.
(g) Upon appropriation in the annual Budget Act, or an appropriation contained in any measure for the purposes of this section, the State Department of Education shall allocate funds to the Gevirtz Research Center for all of the following:
(1) To provide consultation to selected school districts and charter schools in the selection and implementation of research-based supplementary instruction programs, as described in subdivision (d), to best meet the needs of the identified population.
(2) Convene annual meetings of leading state educational stakeholders and national experts to analyze problems, challenges, and strategies in identifying, implementing, and evaluating intervention programs in an integrated and timely manner responsive to current state policy mandates for improving pupil achievement.
(3) Review literature and identify the effects of supplementary instructional programs.
(4) Disseminate information relating to annual meetings, literature reviews, and identification of effective supplementary programs.
(h) The State Department of Education shall conduct an evaluation of the pilot projects established pursuant to this section and report its findings to the Legislature by December 1, 2002.
(i) This section shall become inoperative on September 1, 2004, and, as of January 1, 2005, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute that is enacted before January 1, 2005, deletes or extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.