Kicking off the first State Board of Education meeting in 2024 on Jan. 18, the board moved ahead on items related to assessment, instructional materials, guidance for local educational agencies and more — with a particular focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM.

California Department of Education staff provided an update on the state’s artificial intelligence (AI) guidance and support for districts, including a practitioner’s perspective.

Use of AI in the K-12 sector has been hotly debated recently, with some concerned about students cheating on assignments and others excited about the prospect of improving lesson planning or allowing for more engaging learning opportunities. In May 2023, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology (OET) released a report (csba.pub/fed-ai-report) summarizing the prospects and risks for AI in teaching, learning, research and assessment.

In September 2023, the CDE released AI guidance for school districts (csba.pub/ai-guidance-cde), making California one of just two states to issue such guidance. The state AI guidance reiterates the need for compliance with current federal and state student privacy laws and was developed in alignment with the OET report.

Staff noted that as CDE continues to navigate the integration of AI into education and as federal policies are developed and shaped, the board will likely begin having more discussions surrounding how AI is used with respect to instructional materials, assessments and other areas within the SBE’s purview.

Among the other STEM-related items on the agenda, the board received the California Science Test Innovations Concept Paper. The paper describes the research conducted by the contractor and a proposal to include performance tasks embedded in learning (PTELs) that provide teachers and students authentic and engaging experiences through science exploration.

The CDE has worked with assessment contractor ETS (Educational Testing Service) since 2022 to conduct a review of existing performance tasks (PTs) and assemble a framework for their use in assessment systems. According to CDE staff, a set of features has been identified that can be clustered into three broad categories: California Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)-aligned, student-centered and instructionally relevant. Yet, while each feature contributes to the design of high-quality PTs, integrating all features into a single PTEL may not always be feasible.

Science educators and assessment experts identified several PTs they recommend be prioritized for implementation in the classroom and for summative assessment use. Assessments, they noted, should be authentic in highlighting and centering the key concepts, modes of inquiry and ways of learning in the discipline; have tasks that create opportunities to meaningfully engage with scientific phenomena by placing phenomena within contexts likely to be familiar to students; and more.

Moving forward on the 2025 K-8 mathematics instructional materials adoption process, the board approved the schedule of significant events, reviewer application, adoption notice, criteria map and standards maps.

Board Vice President Cynthia Glover Woods was among those who expressed some concern about the timeline, as students won’t see these new materials until at least the 2026–27 school year, and then teachers will need to undergo professional development, she said.

“As one of the [public] speakers said, children are in need now of strong mathematics instruction, and we sure don’t want to wait another three years for that to happen,” Glover Woods said. “I would ask that there at least be some thought and consideration as to how we might be able to mitigate this time frame and get materials in the hands of students sooner, or at least be sure our teachers have the supports they need to make sure students are getting that instruction that’s so necessary while we go through this very robust and important process.”

• Under Senate Bill 114, signed in July by Gov. Gavin Newsom, LEAs will be required to screen K-2 students for reading delays, including dyslexia, beginning in 2025–26. The board took action on two items in support of this work, including approving a Reading Difficulties Risk Screener Selection Panel (RDRSSP) Governing Policy and appointing experts to serve as panel members. The RDRSSP must evaluate and create a list of evidence-based, culturally, linguistically and developmentally appropriate screening instruments for LEA use by Dec. 31, 2024.
• The board approved revisions to the Local Indicator Self-Reflection Tool for Priority 6: School Climate that require LEAs to report disaggregated data by student groups identified in EC Section 52052 to the greatest extent feasible under the LEA’s chosen tool to measure school climate. LEAs use the self-reflection tools included in the California School Dashboard to report their progress on the local performance indicator.