Chapter 7. California Education Information System of California Education Code >> Division 1. >> Title 1. >> Part 7. >> Chapter 7.

(a) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this chapter to make complete, current, and reliable information relating to education available to the Legislature and to all public educational agencies in California at maximum efficiency and economy through statewide compatibility in the development and application of information systems and electronic data-processing techniques insofar as they relate to data required in reports to the department.
  (b) It is the further intent of the Legislature to recognize the importance, and enhance the stature, of the education profession throughout the state.
  (c) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
  (1) According to recent studies, there is a shortage of qualified teachers, particularly in the areas of special education, English language acquisition and development, mathematics, and science, throughout California.
  (2) In order for California to remain competitive in the global economy, the Legislature recognizes the necessity of continuing to support the recruitment of individuals to the teaching profession and effective teacher preparation and professional development programs. The Legislature also recognizes the importance of quality instruction to the academic achievement of pupils and of providing each pupil in the public schools with instruction by a highly qualified teacher.
  (3) State and local policymakers, local educational agencies, teachers, parents, and pupils all need reliable information regarding participation in the teacher workforce, teacher movement between schools and school districts, the departure of teachers from the workforce before retirement, the appropriateness of teacher assignments, and the effectiveness of teacher credentialing, preparation, induction, recruitment, and support, and would benefit from the availability of more extensive information regarding the teaching profession.
  (4) Data regarding the teacher workforce is currently collected and maintained by numerous state and local educational agencies. In order for the Legislature to fulfill its intent in enacting this chapter, it is necessary to integrate the data collected by those existing data systems to provide an understanding of the teacher workforce in the state and the effectiveness of teacher preparation programs. For purposes of integrating data regarding the teacher workforce in the state, Item 6110-001-0890 of Section 2.00 of the Budget Act of 2005 (Chapter 38 of the Statutes of 2005) appropriated funds for the department to contract for a teacher data system feasibility study to determine the feasibility of converting existing data systems into an integrated, comprehensive, longitudinally linked teacher information system that can yield high-quality program evaluations.
  (5) It is important that policymakers and teacher candidates have access to information on the quality of teacher preparation programs. It is also the intent of the Legislature that the quality indicators include the extent to which teachers are prepared to work effectively with all pupils, including, but not necessarily limited to, English language learners, special education pupils, and socioeconomically disadvantaged pupils.
  (6) It is the intent of the Legislature that, as the California Education Information System is implemented over time, access to public information already available on various measures of the quality of teacher preparation programs be available in electronic format and be accessible to the extent practicable through downloadable pages and reports accessible to the public in a consolidated manner.
  (d) It is the intent of the Legislature that the vital goals described in this section be accomplished through the establishment of a comprehensive state education data information system in the department that includes information regarding the teacher workforce.

(a) There has been developed by the department the California Education Information System, hereinafter in this chapter called "the system." The function of the system is to establish, conduct, and by continuous concern keep up to date a basic, integrated, statewide information system for education.
  (b) The system includes both of the following:
  (1) The California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System pursuant to Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 60900) of Part 33, which maintains pupil data regarding demographic, program participation, enrollment, and statewide assessments, in addition to data contained in the California Basic Educational Data System, including certificated staff information collected through the Professional Assignment Information Form prepared by the department.
  (2) The California Longitudinal Teacher Integrated Data Education System developed pursuant to Section 10601.5, which enables analysis of workforce trends, evaluation of teacher preparation programs, and the monitoring of teacher assignments. The California Longitudinal Teacher Integrated Data Education System shall maintain data regarding the certificated workforce that is not maintained in the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System and consolidate data that is collected by state agencies and local educational agencies.
  (c) Data elements and codes included in the system shall be maintained in compliance with all of the following:
  (1) Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 49060) of Part 27 and any regulations adopted pursuant thereto.
  (2) Section 49602.
  (3) Section 56347.
  (4) The Information Practices Act of 1977 (Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 1798) of Title 1.8 of Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code).
  (5) The federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1232g) and any federal regulations adopted pursuant thereto.
  (6) Any other applicable federal or state law that can be interpreted as protecting the privacy and confidentiality of individual pupils or certificated personnel.
  (d) The department shall adopt regulations to implement this section.

(a) The department, in collaboration with the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, shall contract for the development of a teacher data system to be known as the California Longitudinal Teacher Integrated Data Education System that is based on the results of the teacher data system feasibility study conducted pursuant to Item 6110-001-0890 of Section 2.00 of the Budget Act of 2005 (Chapter 38 of the Statutes of 2005). The purpose of the California Longitudinal Teacher Integrated Data Education System is to streamline processes, improve the efficiency of data collection by the department, the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, and the Employment Development Department, and improve the quality of data collected from local educational agencies and teacher preparation programs. The California Longitudinal Teacher Integrated Data Education System shall be developed and implemented in accordance with all state rules and regulations governing information technology projects.
  (b) The California Longitudinal Teacher Integrated Data Education System shall serve as the central state repository of information regarding the teacher workforce in the state for purposes of developing and reviewing state policy, identifying workforce trends, and identifying future needs regarding the teaching workforce. It also shall serve to provide high-quality program evaluations, including evaluation of the effectiveness of teacher preparation and induction, and to help improve professional development programs. Additionally, it shall promote the efficient monitoring of teacher assignments as required by state and federal law.
  (c) The California Longitudinal Teacher Integrated Data Education System shall not include the names, social security numbers, home addresses, telephone numbers, or e-mail addresses of individual teachers.
  (d) Data in the California Longitudinal Teacher Integrated Data Education System shall not be used in violation of any federal or state law that is intended to protect an individual's right to privacy or the confidentiality of an individual's personal information.
  (e) The system shall be used to accomplish all of the following goals:
  (1) Provide a means to evaluate all of the following:
  (A) The effectiveness of teacher preparation programs, including, but not limited to, traditional fifth-year programs, university internship programs, and district-sponsored internship programs.
  (B) Teacher workforce issues, including mobility, retention, and attrition.
  (2) Streamline and improve the effectiveness and timeliness of assignment monitoring as required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.) and by state law.
  (3) Enable local educational agencies to monitor teacher assignments on demand.
  (f) For purposes of implementing this chapter, including the legislative intent expressed in subdivision (b) of Section 10600, the system shall include all of the following information:
  (1) Age profiles of teachers in the workforce.
  (2) Projections of the number of retirees in the education system over the next 10 years throughout the state.
  (3) Identification of subject matter fields that have the severest shortage of teachers.
  (4) Geographic distribution of teachers by credential type.
  (5) Present patterns of in-service education for teachers.
  (g) The Commission on Teacher Credentialing and accredited teacher preparation programs shall participate in the system by providing available data regarding enrollment in credential programs, credentials issued in each specialization, and certificated persons in each specialty who are not employed in education, and by collaborating with the department in the design and preparation of periodic reports of teacher supply and demand in each specialty and in each geographic region of the state.
  (h) The California Longitudinal Teacher Integrated Data Education System shall do all of the following:
  (1) Utilize and maximize use of existing teacher databases.
  (2) Maintain longitudinally linked data without including the names of teachers.
  (3) Comply with all state and federal confidentiality and privacy laws.
  (i) The Superintendent shall convene a working group to provide advice and guidance on the development and implementation of the system. The group shall include, but is not limited to, representatives from the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, the Department of Finance, the Legislative Analyst's Office, the Employment Development Department, the president of the state board or his or her designee, and representatives of local educational agencies, postsecondary educational institutions, researchers, teachers, administrators, and parents.
  (j) The operation of the California Longitudinal Teacher Integrated Data Education System is contingent upon the appropriation of funds for purposes of this section in the annual Budget Act or other legislation.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, data in the California Education Information System, solely or in conjunction with data from any other data system, may be used by local educational agencies for purposes of evaluating teachers and administrators and making employment decisions, only if these decisions comply with Chapter 10.7 (commencing with Section 3540) of Division 4 of Title 1 of the Government Code.

In maintaining the system, the department shall:
  (a) Consult and cooperate with school districts, county superintendents, advisory committees on integrated data processing, task forces for implementing the utilization of a statewide information system, intergovernmental boards on electronic data processing and state electronic data processing policy committees created by statute or by executive order of the Governor.
  (b) Cooperate with the Educational Management and Evaluation Commission in all matters relating to program budgeting.

The department may consult and cooperate with public and private agencies and with educators and information specialists at the district, county, regional, state, and national levels. The department may enter into nonexclusive licenses with public and private agencies within or outside of the state to permit the use of the copyrighted system and may contract with such agencies to perform any of the functions set forth in this article.

School districts maintaining kindergarten or any grade of grades 1 through 12, county superintendents of schools, and the department shall:
  (a) Cooperate and consult in the joint conduct of the system.
  (b) Coordinate information-processing activities to preclude duplication of the developmental and operational aspects of the system.
  (c) Conduct educational information-processing activities in accordance with regulations of the State Board of Education adopted pursuant to this chapter.

The department shall, among other things:
  (a) Develop for statewide educational use standards for:
  (1) Coding structures.
  (2) Common data base.
  (3) File layout and design.
  (4) Flow charts.
  (5) Identification of data items.
  (6) Input documentation and formats.
  (7) Output report formats, including those required by local, county, state, and federal agencies.
  (8) Procedural manuals.
  (9) Terminology.
  (10) Other relevant material.
  (b) Make available, without charge, to school districts, county superintendents, and other public agencies the system components, described in subdivision (a), as they are completed.
  (c) Identify centers to develop or demonstrate the appropriate use of the system and the system's procedures, those districts, county superintendents, and other public agencies that are successfully using the various components of the system.
  (d) Establish safeguards to assure only appropriate access to confidential information.
  (e) Disseminate information about the system, and its use and availability.
  (f) Adopt regulations to implement this chapter.

The regulations adopted pursuant to Section 10606 shall, among other things:
  (a) Require that the department and school districts use the system's standard terminology and formats specified in Section 10606 as the basis for all reports and other data specified in this code and related administrative codes.
  (b) Provide departmental coordination in order to preclude costly duplication of the developmental and operational aspects of materials, equipment, programming, systems and procedures.
  (c) Recognize that wise and appropriate use of automatic data-processing technology need not be restricted by school district or other boundaries.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a school district or county office of education shall not be required to comply with a requirement in any other section of this code that information be reported to the State Department of Education with regard to information that is reported to the department under the CBEDS report. For purposes of this section, "CBEDS report" means the report that is transmitted by public educational agencies to the State Department of Education for purposes of the California Basic Education Data System and includes the information reported under this chapter, and other information relating to school staff and pupil enrollment. However, the Legislature recognizes that there are circumstances when more timely information is necessary prior to the annual CBEDS collection. Under this condition, the State Department of Education may require the districts and county offices of education to provide the necessary information.

The department may accept federal or other funds for the purpose of financing activities pursuant to this article. School districts and county offices of education may assign to the department funds or other resources which may be identified in their budgets for planning, developing, or coordinating activities related to this article.

The State Board of Education shall make recommendations to the Legislature as the state board deems appropriate concerning appropriate or necessary legislation related to this article.