Article 2. Demonstration Elements of California Education Code >> Division 4. >> Title 2. >> Part 31. >> Chapter 9. >> Article 2.

"District" for the purposes of this article means any school district or consortium of school districts eligible to apply to participate in the demonstration of restructuring in education.

School district governing boards shall develop and implement policies and procedures pursuant to this chapter that support the schoolsite goals and objectives of the participating schools.

(a) Each school district, in developing and implementing policies and procedures pursuant to this chapter, shall consult with businesses, public institutions of higher education, public and private nonprofit social service and child development agencies, and other organizations, as appropriate, may apply for funds to conduct a demonstration of restructuring in education. Applicant school districts shall describe their efforts to consult with those entities as a condition for the submission of an application.
  (b) Each participating school district shall have maximum flexibility in the development and implementation of a demonstration of restructuring in education, in order to implement a local design to support and improve pupil learning.

Each applicant school district governing board shall develop policies and procedures to increase site-level decisionmaking at participating schools maintained by the school district, to enable all of the following:
  (a) Parents, community members representing the diverse racial, ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic backgrounds, the school pupil population, teachers of secondary school students, schoolsite administrators, the various categories of school employees, and other school staff to set goals, objectives, and expenditure priorities for improving instruction at that school, and to participate in decisionmaking about policies and procedures established pursuant to subdivision (b). It is the intent of the Legislature to ensure meaningful access by and participation of parents in the design and governance of a schoolsite, and, thus, school districts and the participating schools should develop policies and procedures to enable parents that traditionally have not participated in school governance to participate, and should consider providing training, accessible meeting times and locations, and other methods to encourage active participation.
  (b) Classroom teachers and school level administrators to design and implement policies and procedures consistent with the goals and objectives established pursuant to subdivision (a), which shall include, but need not be limited to, all of the following:
  (1) Selection and assignment of certificated and noncertificated school personnel in accordance with Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 45100) of Part 25.
  (2) Development and enrichment of subject matter offerings that build upon state-recommended frameworks and district adopted standards in order to provide a rigorous core curriculum for all pupils, including higher order thinking; design and implementation of diverse instructional approaches to respond to the variety of pupil learning needs; adaptation of curricular and instructional strategies specifically designed to meet the diverse needs of a multicultural and multilingual population; organization of the school for instruction; and selection of instructional materials.
  (3) Expenditure of funds for instruction, including, but not limited to, instructional materials, staff training, and personnel.

Each school included in the application shall design and implement policies and procedures that include all of the following core restructuring elements when applicable to elementary or secondary schools or both:
  (a) Curriculum, instruction, and assessment designed to meet individual pupil needs while assisting all pupils to meet high subject matter standards. Instructional strategies shall go beyond teacher lectures and may include cooperative and mastery learning as a school-wide strategy. Strategies should decrease teacher workloads and increase contact time between teachers and pupils. This may be accomplished, for example, by organizing teachers into teams in two or more subject areas in order to promote a rigorous core curriculum for all pupils, including reading and writing skills for their development and critical thinking skills in the core subject matter areas required for high school graduation. An expanded and enriched curriculum should be offered to all pupils within and across subject matter areas, for example, by organizing teachers into teams, or by promoting cross-discipline curriculum development and implementation on an articulated, multigrade basis. The curriculum and the instructional strategies to implement these objectives shall provide early and sustained opportunities for limited-English-proficient and non-English-speaking pupils to become proficient in all English language skills by using a variety of instructional methods. The school curriculum may also offer opportunities for pupils to become proficient in two or more languages. The testing of pupils in demonstration schools shall move away from reliance on multiple-choice testing to an authentic pupil performance based system that strives to provide a holistic assessment of each pupil's improvement and achievement. Greater emphasis shall be placed, for example, upon a pupil's writing as a better way of assessing thinking and problem solving skills. The curricular, instructional strategies, and assessment tools shall also provide for accelerating the achievement of pupils performing below their potential to levels beyond the overall rates of pupil improvement and achievement.
  (b) A plan for inclusion in appropriate curriculum programs new and expanded opportunities for 11th and 12th grade pupils to attend classes in colleges and universities, to enroll in specialized schools and programs, and to participate in internships or other field work with business, industry, schools, and community organizations. These opportunities shall be fostered and implemented in both the public and private sectors. No project shall receive funding if there is any indication that this component is designed or implemented in a fashion so that pupils are directed, rather than counseled, regarding these opportunities, or if the activities in any way foster the tracking of pupils.
  (c) Assess, and where necessary, redesign the roles and involvement of parents and all other persons who participate or work in the educational program at the school. Staff development, including leadership development, which emphasizes decisionmaking skills and organizational principles of teamwork and collaboration, shall be a critical component in reorganizing and restructuring the school for effective instruction.
  (1) Roles and responsibilities may be differentiated among all school personnel, particularly instructional personnel, in order to provide more effective instruction to pupils. The anticipated need to provide increased support and assistance to beginning teachers may be achieved, for example, by reducing their instructional or pupil loads to permit their observation of instructional approaches utilized by experienced and effective teachers, or to allow time for mentoring and peer assistant relationships among all teachers.
  (2) Meaningful roles and responsibilities for parents shall be included as a part of the project. In addition to assisting pupils at home and at school, parents shall be given greater amounts of information and authority to participate in the placement decisions for their children in specific classes or programs. Placement considerations may include schools within schools to expand program diversity, open enrollment among schools that have different programs and instructional emphases, and specialized high schools to enhance particular talents in pupils.
  (d) The use of technology shall be addressed, at a minimum, in the following dimensions:
  (1) Technology as an instructional methodology to assist and enhance pupil learning.
  (2) Teaching pupils how to use the technology.
  (3) Technology as an instrument to better manage information and to enhance the organizational and administrative functioning of the school.
  (e) Subject to the availability of separate funding pursuant to Section 58925.5, elementary school projects shall include a preschool program component such as the federal Headstart Program, or a program with similar goals operating as a state preschool program pursuant to the requirements of Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 8200) of Part 6, or which may require requests to waive provisions of the Education Code or state regulations pursuant to Sections 33050 and 33051. All children four years of age or older from low-income families shall be given the opportunity to attend a preschool program. Subject to the availability of separate funding pursuant to Section 58925.5, a restructuring proposal which involves a high school may include a schoolage parenting and infant development program operated pursuant to the requirements of Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 8200) of Part 6. It is the intent of the Legislature that applicant school districts and schools consider contracting with local community agencies that may offer state-subsidized child development, preschool or schoolage parenting and infant development, in order to provide linkages to existing child care and development programs and to avoid duplicating or fragmenting child development service delivery. The child care components authorized by this subdivision shall be deemed an expansion of existing state supported programs and an integral enhancement of the restructuring proposal. If separate funding pursuant to Section 58925.5 is made available for those purposes, the superintendent, subject to existing statutes and regulations, and a review of the quality of competing applications for preschool and schoolaged parent funding, shall give preference to high quality proposals that are included in a demonstration proposal in the approval of any expansion funding to demonstration district projects providing for one or both of these programs.

Schools included in the application shall specifically address the special needs of the cultural and linguistic diversity of the participating schools' pupil population through the development of policies and procedures to implement the core restructuring elements pursuant to Section 58905.

Each application may include, on behalf of a participating school, a request to waive any provision of the Education Code or regulation, provided the waiver request conforms to Section 44669 of Chapter 3 of Part 25. It is not the intent of the Legislature that the approval of those waivers jeopardize statutes and regulations established to ensure equal education opportunities for ethnic, linguistic minority, and handicapped pupils.

Demonstration grants shall be awarded in accordance with the following requirements and considerations:
  (a) Three categories shall be developed and utilized in which each category represents one of three types of schools, as determined by the achievement performance of pupils as reported by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, including predominantly high-performing pupils, predominantly moderately performing pupils, and predominantly low-performing pupils. The highest quality proposals from each category shall be funded in the following order:
  (1) Three proposals from the category representing predominantly low-performing pupils.
  (2) Two proposals from the category representing predominantly moderately performing pupils.
  (3) One proposal from the category representing predominantly high-performing pupils. This sequence shall be repeated until the State Board of Education determines either that the quality of proposals remaining to be funded does not warrant funding, or that available funding has been fully utilized, or both. If it is necessary to choose between proposals within the same category that are determined to be of equivalent quality, the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall recommend to the State Board of Education the funding of proposals in a manner that, to the maximum extent possible, contributes to an overall funding distribution that is representative of the diversity, on a statewide basis, of the racial and ethnic composition of the pupil population, the geographic location of schools, district size, and school configuration.
  (b) It is the intent of the Legislature that demonstration grants be awarded based on the quality and extensiveness of communitywide support for the submitted proposal and to proposals that design new or adapt current restructuring elements specifically to meet the needs of a diverse pupil population and that represent a significant departure in process, organization, or content from the ordinary school or classroom organization, assignment of school staff responsibilities, curriculum development, and instructional methods. The Legislature believes that communitywide support and schoolsite leadership can best be determined by a state-level selection process that includes an oral presentation given by the applicant to the advisory committee.
  (c) Consideration may be given to each school district that can demonstrate that the district has already achieved success in implementing any of the restructuring elements described.
  (d) Consideration also shall be given to each school district that proposes additional or alternative restructuring options of high quality which are consistent with the goals of this chapter.
  (e) Any school that receives demonstration program funding pursuant to this chapter shall use the funds solely to further the purposes of the demonstration program.

It is the intent of the Legislature that each school district that has an approved demonstration proposal which includes an element to provide preschool services pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section 58905 receive separate funding pursuant to Section 58925.5 in addition to the demonstration grant in an amount per child not less than that provided under the State Preschool Program and not more than that provided under the Headstart Program depending upon a determination by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, based upon the nature and scope of the proposed preschool program. It is further the intent of the Legislature that each applicant that has an approved demonstration proposal that includes an element to provide schoolage parenting and infant development services pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section 58905 shall receive, in addition to funding provided under the demonstration grant, separate funding pursuant to Section 58925.5 in an amount per pupil that is not less than that provided to existing schoolage parenting and infant development programs funded under Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 8200) of Part 6.

Each applicant school district shall establish and implement policies and procedures in order to improve pupil achievement in high-priority schools within the proposal. Applicant districts, as part of any demonstration proposal, may apply for the highest level of demonstration funding in order to provide for additional restructuring in demonstration schools defined as high-priority. It is the intent of the Legislature that in developing policies and procedures to assist all schools, applicant districts give consideration to all of the following:
  (a) Standards of expectations for pupil achievement that exceed districtwide standards of pupil achievement and state-recommended model curriculum standards.
  (b) Offering all pupils access to a rigorous, comprehensive core curriculum and advanced placement programs and classes which include critical thinking and higher level skills, including, at minimum, the elimination of tracking based upon pupil achievement.
  (c) Instructional strategies and supplementary assistance designed to assist all pupils to exceed districtwide standards of pupil achievement.
  (d) Staff development for school personnel designed to support curriculum and instruction necessary for pupils to exceed districtwide standards of pupil achievement and state-recommended model curriculum standards.
  (e) Monitoring and evaluation of school progress toward implementing the management, curriculum, and instruction necessary to support pupil achievement of districtwide standards and state-recommended model curriculum standards.
  (f) Coordinated services between schools and social services and health agencies including children's protective services, juvenile justice services, nonschool based preschool services, and health care services. It is the intent of the Legislature that this coordination be based upon joint planning among these agencies and comprehensive assessments of the need to: provide services; coordinate service delivery; fill gaps in existing services; and collaborate to address the provision of needed services.
  (g) Expanded schooldays and school years in order to provide opportunities for increased instructional time, tutoring by staff, pupils or volunteers, an environment conducive to learning before and after school and personalized instruction, mentoring, and information from other elementary or secondary students, college students, and adults.
  (h) Outside assistance as necessary to support effective management and teaching at the school; for example, assistance in planning, implementation, staff development, and assessment from universities, colleges, business and industry, county offices of education, or nonprofit agencies dedicated toward improved school functioning and higher pupil achievement.

Each applicant school district shall demonstrate how staff development consistent with Chapter 3.1 (commencing with Section 44670) of Part 25 will be made available to participating school personnel in order to support and assist the implementation of the restructuring elements specified in the district plan.

Each applicant school district shall demonstrate how parent education, information, and support will be provided for parents of all racial, ethnic, gender, or socioeconomic backgrounds to be involved in the development and implementation of the restructuring demonstration, and for each parent to be involved in decisionmaking and support for the education program of his or her child.

(a) Each school participating in the demonstration program shall prepare a school plan within a time period specified in the district proposal to the state. The plan shall indicate how the provision of educational instruction in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, as appropriate, shall be restructured.
  (b) It is the intent of the Legislature that the school plans prepared reflect the unique pupil and organizational characteristics of each school.
  (c) Each school plan shall be filed with the appropriate school district.