AB1121 - Early literacy: professional development: instructional materials.

Amended IN Assembly April 02, 2025 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION Assembly Bill No. 1121 Introduced by Assembly Member Blanca Rubio (Coauthors: Senators Allen and Weber Pierson) February 20, 2025 An act to amend Sections 60200 and 60210 of, to add Section 60207.5 to, and to add Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 44755) to Part 25 of Division 3 of Title 2 of, the Education Code, relating to early literacy. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1121, as amended, Blanca Rubio. Early literacy: professional development: instructional materials. (1) Existing law requires the State Department of Education to issue a request for proposals to contract for the development of standards for professional development for educators and instructional leaders. Existing law requires the standards to serve as guidelines for providers of professional development activities and authorizes them to be used to facilitate coordination among existing professional development programs. This bill, among other things, would require the department, on or before August 31, 2026, to develop a list of recommended professional development and training programs that meet specified requirements relating to effective means of teaching literacy and evidence-based means of teaching foundational reading skills, as described, and to submit the list to the State Board of Education for approval, as provided. The bill would require the state board, on or before January 1, 2027, to approve a list of those recommended professional development and training programs. The bill would require the department to make the list of those approved professional development and training programs available on its internet website and to update the list as necessary. The bill, commencing September 1, 2027, would require school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to ensure participation in, and would require all applicable personnel, as defined, to satisfactorily complete by no later than August 31, 2029, an approved professional development and training program that is listed on the department’s internet website, except as specified. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law requires the state board to adopt basic instructional materials for use in kindergarten and grades 1 to 8, inclusive, for governing boards, subject to specified provisions, including, among others, that the state board adopt at least 5 basic instructional materials for all applicable grade levels in each of the specified subject areas, including, among others, language arts, including, but not limited to, spelling, reading, and English language development. In reviewing and adopting or recommending for adoption submitted basic instructional materials, existing law requires the state board to use specified criteria, and to ensure that, in its judgment, the submitted basic instructional materials meet that criteria, including, among others, that the instructional materials are aligned to the content standards adopted by the state board in the subject area and the grade level or levels for which they are submitted. Notwithstanding any other law, existing law authorizes a local educational agency to use instructional materials that are aligned with the academic content standards previously adopted by the state board. This bill would revise and recast provisions relating to adoption of instructional materials for English language arts, English language development, and reading by, among other things, requiring the state board, on or before January 1, 2027, to adopt basic instructional materials, as defined, for transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, and grades 1 to 8, inclusive, in English language arts, English language development, and reading. The bill would require the state board to, among other things, ensure that all basic instructional materials adopted pursuant to these provisions are aligned to the most recently adopted academic content standards and curriculum frameworks and adhere to effective means of teaching literacy and evidence-based means of teaching foundational reading skills. The bill would require the department to publish the complete list of the state board’s adopted basic instructional materials on the department’s internet website and to distribute the complete list to all local educational agencies, as specified. Upon the state board’s adoption of those basic instructional materials, the bill would require all basic instructional materials in English language arts, English language development, and reading for transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, and any of grades 1 to 8, inclusive, adopted by each school district, county office of education, and charter school to, among other requirements, adhere to specified evaluation criteria, and would prohibit those local educational agencies from adopting basic instructional materials in English language arts, English language development, or reading that have not been adopted by the state board unless the local educational agency is granted a waiver from the state board, as specified. On or before December 31, 2028, the bill would require each local educational agency to provide to the department, and the department to develop, maintain, and annually update, a current list of basic instructional materials in English language arts, English language development, and reading, adopted by each local educational agency that is publicly accessible on the department’s internet website. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) This bill would make Legislative findings and declarations relating to these provisions, conforming changes, and other nonsubstantive changes. (4) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YES Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) California is facing a literacy crisis. Far too many children are not reading on at grade level by the end of third grade 3 and will not complete elementary school with the literacy skills and language development they need to succeed academically in middle school and high school. The vast majority of children falling behind are economically disadvantaged, disproportionately Black and Latino, and English learners. Ensuring access to high-quality literacy and reading instruction is a fundamental civil right and a moral imperative that the state must act upon immediately. (b) There are over 1,600,000 pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 3, inclusive, in California and 63 percent are from low-income families. Seventy-five percent of pupils from low-income families are Black or Latino, and 34 percent are English learners. There are stark contrasts in achievement scores on statewide assessments: 3 in 10 third grade 3 pupils from low-income families are on grade level in English language arts, compared to 6 in 10 of their higher income peers. For low-income Black pupils, English learners, and pupils with disabilities, the gaps widen with only 2 in 10 pupils in each respective group on grade level. (c) California lags behind other states in reading outcomes. The state has one of the widest proficiency gap nationally in fourth-grade grade 4 reading between low-income and non-low-income pupils, and one of the widest gaps between English learners and non-English learners and between Black and White pupils. Over the last 20 years, these proficiency gaps have persisted and, in some cases, widened for California’s fourth-grade grade 4 pupils. (d) This is particularly concerning given that low-income pupils who are not proficient readers by the end of third grade 3 are eight times less likely to graduate high school. By third grade, grade 3, pupils move from learning to read to reading to learn, and those who are not on grade level rarely catch up. (e) With approximately 28 percent of adults not literate, California has one of the lowest adult literacy rates in the nation. Adults with limited literacy lack the skills to effectively navigate daily life. They are more at risk for remaining in poverty, less likely to be employable, more socially isolated, and less likely to live healthy lives. There is also a significant economic cost: eradicating illiteracy in California would increase the state’s gross domestic product by three hundred sixty billion dollars ($360,000,000,000). (f) A focus on literacy in the early years is essential because it supports critical brain development, helps children build strong language and communication skills, and fosters cognitive growth. Early literacy also reduces learning disparities and promotes social and emotional development. (g) Decades of interdisciplinary research demonstrate strong evidence about how pupils develop literacy skills. Fundamentally, research shows that children learning to read develop those skills through the same neurological processes regardless of their native language. Instruction that balances an emphasis on language development with foundational literacy skills—explicit and systematic instruction in phonological and phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, and writing—has proven benefits for all pupils. (h) California has taken actions in recent years that are aligned with effective, evidence-based means of teaching literacy, including passing legislation to mandate early universal screening for reading difficulties and strengthening literacy teaching standards for teacher preparation programs so that new teachers are trained in evidence-based instructional strategies for teaching literacy. The state has also set out guidance in the English Language Arts/English Language Development (ELA/ELD) Framework and the English Learner Roadmap about supporting the needs of all pupils in California schools as they learn to read. Unfortunately, however, too many pupils in California are still not being taught to read using evidence-based materials, and not all current elementary teachers have received the necessary evidence-based training to teach reading effectively. (i) California must take stronger measures to address inequities and ensure that all pupils are proficient, skilled readers by the end of elementary school and that they are equipped to succeed in middle school, high school, and beyond. Those measures include enacting policies to ensure all classroom instructional materials used to teach children to read are evidence based and that current reading teachers receive training on evidence-based means of teaching literacy effectively. (j) California’s children must be equipped with the skills necessary to become productive members of our society, and of these skills literacy is among the most important. SEC. 2. Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 44755) is added to Part 25 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Education Code, to read: CHAPTER 3.5. Professional Development for Evidence-Based Literacy Instruction 44755. For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions apply: (a) “Applicable personnel” includes all of the following: (1) Any certificated teacher, or teacher with a provisional or emergency credential, who provides reading instruction to pupils enrolled in transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, or any of grades 1 to 5, inclusive. (2) Any reading specialist, literacy specialist, reading coach, literacy coach, teacher on special assignment, education specialist, or bilingual teacher who provides reading instruction, or who supports any teacher who provides reading instruction, to pupils enrolled in transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, or any of grades 1 to 5, inclusive. (3) Any school, charter school, school district, or county office of education administrator who oversees schools that provide reading instruction to pupils enrolled in transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, or any of grades 1 to 5, inclusive. (b) “Local educational agency” means a school district, county office of education, or charter school. 44756. (a) On or before August 31, 2026, the department shall develop and submit a list of recommended professional development and training programs that meet the requirements of subdivision (b) for approval by the state board pursuant to subdivision (c). (b) In recommending the list of professional development and training programs pursuant to subdivision (a), the department shall establish criteria for selection of those programs that does all of the following: (1) Ensures that programs provide training aligned to effective means of teaching literacy and evidence-based means of teaching foundational reading skills, as described in paragraph (4) of subdivision (b) of Section 44259. 44259, excluding subparagraph (C) of that paragraph. (2) Ensures that programs are aligned to the current English Language Arts/English Language Development (ELA/ELD) Framework adopted by the state board and the program guidelines for dyslexia developed pursuant to Section 56335. (3) Ensures that programs include effective instructional strategies for each of the components of effective means of teaching literacy and evidence-based means of teaching foundational reading skills, as described in paragraph (4) of subdivision (b) of Section 44259, excluding subparagraph (C) of that paragraph, and that each component is sufficiently covered. (4) Ensures that programs include instructional strategies in word recognition skills that prioritize the use of phonics to decode words first and use word meanings and context to confirm reading accuracy. (5) Ensures that programs are interactive, provide adequate time to master the concepts being taught, and include periodic checks to demonstrate mastery of the concepts. The programs shall be at least 30 hours in duration and may exceed that minimum hour requirement. (6) Ensures that programs offer virtual options in both synchronous and asynchronous formats in addition to in-person trainings in order to ensure maximum access to the programs across the state. (c) (1) On or before January 1, 2027, the state board shall approve a list of recommended professional development and training programs in accordance with this section. (2) The state board shall state the reasons for disapproving any recommended professional development and training program submitted pursuant to this section. (d) At the request of the state bo [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]