On August 25, 2023 twelve Californians Together advocates testified before the California Practitioners Advisory Committee (CPAG) which advises the State Board on issues of accountability. Two items were on the agenda that we addressed: The revised LCAP template and the new performance rubrics for the English Learner Progress Indicator. Below is the testimony from two of our advocates that influenced the members of CPAG:
Good afternoon, My name is Corina Sapien and I am the Director of Family & Community Engagement in Morgan Hill Unified School District. I am here today representing Californians Together.
Thank you for the genuine efforts to address achievement and equity gaps for our English Learner and especially our LTEL students.
I am here to call your attention to an incongruence in the language on one of the items in the draft. On p. 30/31 Bullet 2 refers to “required metrics” for LEAs to monitor the effectiveness of identified actions, but bullet 1 states that LEAs are only “encouraged to identify metrics for specific student groups, as appropriate, including expected outcomes that address and reduce disparities in outcomes between student groups.”
In order for the two statements to be congruent, we recommend the wording in Bullet 1 be changed from “encouraged to identify” to “shall identify” so that it reads, “LEAs shall identify metrics for students groups,” which will then match with the second bullet that “requires” metrics be identified.
In these new LCAP requirements it is clear that the legislature emphasized the need to close gaps and disparities. The intent is not well represented with just encouragement and should require metrics to meet this important intent.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful consideration of this item.
Corina Sapien
ELLLI Advocate
Hello. Sally Fox, CABE recommends CPAG support maintenance of the “traditional” 5x5 performance matrix in lieu of changing to the so-called “balanced” matrix. The alternative “balanced” proposal would redefine cells where the school or LEA experienced a significant decline from year to year. Of particular concern is the cell where a school or LEA has a status of “Low” and “Significantly Declined” because such a performance or change shows the need for stronger focus on EL progress, which would be required under a traditional 5x5 matrix. Reclassifying this cell from red to orange would exempt the school/LEA from addressing this indicator in its LCAP. In fact, only 77 districts would be designated red with the “balanced” matrix - not even two districts per county. It is important to keep LEAs accountable with high expectations. Favor de aprobar la matriz “tradicional.” Please approve the traditional matrix.
Sally Fox
Education Policy Analyst
California Association for Bilingual Education