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AB-2457 Instructional programs: Online Classroom Pilot Program.(2007-2008)

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AB2457:v98#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Assembly  April 23, 2008

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2007–2008 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 2457

Introduced  by  Assembly Member Walters

February 21, 2008

An act to add and repeal, Sections 51706, 51707, 51708, 51709, 51710, 51711, 51712, and 51713 to of, and to repeal Article 1.5 (commencing with Section 51705) of Chapter 5 of Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of, the Education Code, relating to instructional programs.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2457, as amended, Walters. Instructional programs: Online Classroom Pilot Program.
Statutory provisions that were repealed on January 1, 2007, established the Online Classroom Pilot Program to monitor and evaluate pupil participation in online asynchronous interactive instructional programs conducted over the Internet.
This bill would recast and reenact those provisions to establish a new Online Classroom Pilot Program. Under this program, the ratio of full-time equivalent teachers teaching through online instruction to pupils engaging in that instruction would be required to be substantially equivalent to the ratio of teachers to pupils in traditional in-classroom study of the same subject matter. The bill would provide that in order to operate an online course under these provisions commencing July 1, 2009, a schoolsite would be required to apply to the State Department of Education and the department would be required to approve a maximum of 50 schoolsites on a competitive basis, assigning priority to applicants that demonstrate how the provision of online instruction will mitigate a shortage of courses offered by the schoolsite that fulfill the prerequisites for admission to California public institutions of postsecondary education.
The bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to convene a working group contract with an independent evaluator to assess the academic benefits of pupil participation in online courses and comparisons of the performance of pupil participants in the online program with pupils of similar characteristics who are not participants. The bill would require the working group evaluator to prepare a final report that includes those assessments and submit that report to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature and to the Department of Finance by January 1, 2012. These provisions would become inoperative on July 1, 2012, and would be repealed on January 1, 2013.

Commencing July 1, 2011, this bill would require the Controller to review schoolsite online programs, including an examination of relevant program and fiscal records from all years of participation in the pilot program. The pilot program would be repealed on January 1, 2013.

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 51706 is added to the Education Code, to read:

51706.
 (a) The Online Classroom Pilot Program is hereby established for the purpose of monitoring and evaluating pupil participation in online asynchronous interactive instructional programs conducted over the Internet. The teacher of an online course shall be online and accessible to the pupil on a daily basis to respond to pupil queries, assign tasks, and dispense information. The online course shall be approved by the governing board of the school district.
(b) At each participating schoolsite, the ratio of full-time equivalent certificated teachers teaching through online instruction to pupils engaging in that instruction shall be substantially equivalent to the ratio of teachers to pupils in traditional in-classroom study of the same subject matter.
(c) A teacher may teach pupils in one or more online courses pursuant to this article only if the teacher concurrently teaches the same course to pupils in a traditional in-classroom setting in the providing school district or did so at any time within the immediately preceding two-year period. The subject matter content shall be the same for the online course as for the traditional in-classroom course.
(d) A teacher teaching in an online classroom program shall hold the appropriate subject matter credential.

SEC. 2.

 Section 51707 is added to the Education Code, to read:

51707.
 (a) To operate an online course pursuant to this article a schoolsite shall apply to the department, which shall approve schoolsites on a competitive basis. Applications shall address the manner in which the schoolsite will meet the standards and criteria developed pursuant to Section 51708.
(b) The department shall assign priority to applicants that demonstrate the manner in which the provision of online instruction pursuant to this article will mitigate a shortage of courses offered by the schoolsite that fulfill the prerequisites for admission to California public institutions of postsecondary education.
(c) The department may approve a maximum of 50 schoolsites to operate an online course pursuant to this article. A school district shall not have more than five schoolsites that operate an online course pursuant to this article. Each participating schoolsite may provide online courses to a total number of pupils not greater than 15 percent of the total enrollment of that schoolsite.
(d) Operation of an online course pursuant to this article may commence July 1, 2009.

SEC. 3.

 Section 51708 is added to the Education Code, to read:

51708.
 The department shall develop standards and criteria for determining all of the following:
(a) Test integrity.
(b) Evaluation of the online courses, including, but not limited to, a comparison with traditional in-classroom courses.
(c) A procedure for attaining informed consent from both the parent and pupil regarding course enrollment.
(d) The teacher selection process.
(e) Equity and access in terms of hardware or computer laboratories.
(f) Teacher training for online teaching.
(g) Teacher evaluation procedures.
(h) Criteria for asynchronous learning, including the type and frequency of the contact between pupil and teacher.
(i) A procedure for determining the appropriate placement of a pupil in an online course, including necessary pupil computer skills.
(j) The provision of onsite support for online pupils.
(k) Appropriate means of measuring pupil attendance in online courses.

SEC. 4.

 Section 51709 is added to the Education Code, to read:

51709.
 (a) A school district offering an online course may contract with another school district to provide the online course to pupils of the offering school district. Contract terms shall be determined by mutual agreement of the school districts. School districts that provide online courses pursuant to the contract shall contract directly with the school district of the schoolsite offering the online course and shall not enter into direct contracts with the pupils of the offering school district.
(b) Statewide testing results for online pupils shall be reported to the school district in which the pupil is enrolled for regular in-classroom courses.
(c) Only high schools are eligible to offer online instruction pursuant to this article. However, a school district may apply for a waiver from the State Board of Education to allow a middle school to offer an online course to its pupils, and the state board may grant the waiver.
(d) A pupil shall not be assigned to an online course pursuant to this article unless the pupil voluntarily elects to participate in the online course. The parent or guardian of the pupil shall provide written consent before the pupil may participate in an online course.
(e) The schoolsite that offers an online course, or contracts pursuant to subdivision (a) to provide an online course, shall comply with the standards and criteria developed pursuant to Section 51708.
(f) The school district of a schoolsite that offers online classroom programs pursuant to this article shall verify that online pupils take examinations by proctor or that other reliable methods are used to ensure test integrity and that there is a clear record of pupil work, using the same method of documentation and assessment as in a traditional in-classroom course.
(g) A school district of a schoolsite that offers online classroom programs pursuant to this article shall maintain records to verify the time that a pupil spends online and related activities in which a pupil is involved. The school district also shall maintain records verifying the time the instructor is online.

SEC. 5.

 Section 51710 is added to the Education Code, to read:
51710.

(a)If a pupil is participating part time in online instruction pursuant to this article, a day of attendance for apportionment purposes is 180 minutes of attendance in traditional in-classroom settings unless the pupil is participating in online instruction pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section 46300.

51710.
 (a) A schoolsite and school district that offers online classroom programs pursuant to this section shall measure pupil attendance in online courses in a manner that is in compliance with the standards and criteria developed pursuant to Section 51708.
(b) As a condition of receipt of funds pursuant to this article, a school district, on an annual basis, shall submit the online classroom program information specified in subdivision (f) of Section 51709, and information necessary for compliance with subdivision (a) of Section 51712, to the department. The department shall clearly describe in the application form the information required to be submitted pursuant to this subdivision. The costs of maintaining and submitting the required information shall be borne entirely by the participating school district from funds received pursuant to this article.

SEC. 6.

 Section 51711 is added to the Education Code, to read:

51711.
 (a) The purposes of online classroom programs conducted pursuant to this article include all of the following:
(1) Providing expanded educational opportunities for pupils attending schools with limited educational offerings.
(2) Reaching out to pupils in schools where advanced placement courses are not available.
(3) Providing quality educational services in courses for hard-to-staff subject areas in schools where a shortage of teachers make these classes unavailable.
(4) Ensuring that courses provided over the Internet are at least as challenging as courses provided in a traditional educational setting.
(5) Ensuring high teacher quality for online classroom purposes.
(6) Ensuring pupil testing integrity for online classroom purposes.
(7) Ensuring accountability for the purposes of verifying the active involvement of all pupils participating in courses provided over the Internet.
(b) For each online class provided pursuant to this article, the governing board of a school district shall make findings of compliance with this article, including, but not limited to, the teacher credential requirement and shall report those findings to the department.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, this article does not apply to online courses offered through a program administered by or coordinated through a California public institution of postsecondary education.

SEC. 7.

 Section 51712 is added to the Education Code, to read:

51712.
 (a) (1) The Superintendent shall convene a working group to assess both contract with an independent evaluator to assess all of the following:
(A) The academic benefits of pupil participation in online courses, including assessments of pupil performance before, during, and after participation in online courses, and comparisons of the performance of pupils who participate in the online program and pupils of similar characteristics who do not participate.
(B) The fiscal costs of offering instruction through online classroom programs and the adequacy of the program’s accountability provisions.
(C) Other relevant fiscal or programmatic aspects of the online program.
(2) The Superintendent may require participating schoolsites to provide information that is deemed necessary for the working group evaluator to make appropriate assessments.
(3) The working group evaluator shall prepare a final report that includes the assessments described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1) and submit that report to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature and to the Department of Finance by January 1, 2012.

(b)Commencing July 1, 2011, the Controller shall review the online programs operated pursuant to this article. These reviews shall include an examination of relevant program and fiscal records from all years of participation in the pilot program. It is the intent of the Legislature that the Controller give these reviews the highest priority.

(c)

(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, this article shall not be waived except as otherwise set forth in this article.

SEC. 8.

 Section 51713 is added to the Education Code, to read:
51713.

This article shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2013, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2013, deletes or extends that date.

51713.
 This article shall become inoperative on July 1, 2012, and as of January 1, 2013, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2013, deletes or extends the date on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.