Below is a sample support letter for AB 2268.
Instructions: Please send all letters via email to Nichole Murillo, Office of Governor Gavin Newsom, at [email protected]. In addition, please CC: [email protected].
Date
The Honorable Gavin Newsom
Governor, State of California
1021 O Street, Suite 9000
Sacramento, CA 95814
AB 2268 (Muratsuchi): Transitional Kindergarten, ELPAC – REQUEST FOR SIGNATURE
Dear Governor Newsom,
[Your Organization or Name] respectfully requests your signature on AB 2268 (Muratsuchi), which would exempt Transitional Kindergarten (TK) students from the administration of the English Language Proficiency Assessment of California (ELPAC) commencing with the 2024-25 school year.
First, we would like to acknowledge your courageous leadership in pursuing a universal prekindergarten program for all four-year-olds in California through TK. Your vision will deliver on the promise that all children in our great state will have the opportunity to succeed in school and in life. However, the laudable policy of universal TK is having an unintended consequence that must be addressed.
Because law defines TK as the first year of a two-year kindergarten program, students in the program are subject to the ELPAC when their home language surveys signal that a language other than English is spoken at home and are subject to being identified as an English learner (EL) based on their ELPAC results. As California public schools serve an increasingly younger four-year-old population as we move toward full implementation of universal TK in 2025-26, the developmental appropriateness of the ELPAC is questionable.
When the ELPAC was developed and field tested in 2017, it was not developed nor tested with the younger TK population currently enrolled in California public schools. Therefore, administering it to current TK students could lead to potential misidentification of ELs, which could necessitate the provision of services and supports that are inappropriate and unnecessary for them. Finally, an assessment that was not designed for young four-year-olds is likely to be unreliable and yield invalid results, and yet it could have significant, harmful implications for the academic trajectories of our youngest learners.
Due to the negative impact that the ELPAC could have on TK students, we believe that this issue deserves urgent action. Ceasing the administration of a developmentally inappropriate assessment beginning in the 2024-25 school year will allow your State Board of Education, in collaboration with state educational leaders and experts, to explore viable and appropriate alternatives to identify and support our youngest ELs.
For these reasons, [Your Organization or Name] urges you to SIGN AB 2268.
Respectfully,
Your Name
Title
Organization