2005 California Education Code Sections 58902-58910 Article 2. Demonstration Elements

58902.  "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.
58902.5.  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.
58903.  (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.
58904.  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.
58905.  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.
58905.2.  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.
58905.5.  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.
58906.  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.
58906.5.  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.
58907.  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.
58908.  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.
58909.  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.
58910.  (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.