Education Code § 99351

99351.

(a) The California Education Learning Laboratory is hereby established as a program under the Government Operations Agency. The purpose of the learning lab is to increase learning outcomes and close equity and achievement gaps using the science of human learning and adaptive learning technologies in STEM disciplines and other disciplines.

(b) (1) In administering this chapter, the agency shall issue calls for, evaluate, and annually award grants to competitive grant proposals from intersegmental faculty teams that apply principles of the science of human learning and adaptive learning technologies in STEM disciplines and other disciplines, based on, but not limited to, all of the following criteria:

(A) The potential for reducing achievement and equity gaps in the particular discipline or subject area that is the subject of the call for proposals.

(B) The depth and breadth of expertise in the discipline or subject area described in subparagraph (A) .

(C) The prospects for increasing equity and accessibility in STEM disciplines and other subject areas that show high initial failure or dropout rates.

(D) The potential to incorporate real-time learning outcome data to improve the curriculum.

(E) The potential to use a common technology platform to deliver the course or course series.

(F) The representation of each public postsecondary segment on the proposal’s faculty team.

(G) The inclusion of career education and workforce pathways in the proposal.

(H) Opportunities to leverage nonstate funding.

(I) The quality of the concrete metrics and goals identified in the proposal.

(2) The agency shall monitor the progress of proposals awarded grants pursuant to this chapter.

(3) (A) The agency shall recruit an expert selection committee to score and recommend proposals to the agency.

(B) Members of the selection committee described in subparagraph (A) shall not have a financial interest in any contract, including any recommendation to award grants made by the selection committee described in subparagraph (A) .

(C) The selection committee shall comply with the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act (Article 9 (commencing with Section 11120) of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code), except during the deliberative process as it relates to scoring, reviewing, and ranking proposals, and the making of final recommendations to the agency.

(c) The agency shall create, and post on its internet website, the guidelines for awarding grants described in subdivision (b). The guidelines shall include, but are not limited to, all of the following:

(1) A competitive and merit-based application process that allows faculty from public postsecondary educational institutions to submit proposals. For the first three years that proposals are accepted, the agency shall select STEM disciplines from which to award proposals. The agency may limit the number of proposals submitted by a public postsecondary educational institution or solicit proposals by invitation only for limited calls for proposal.

(2) A peer-reviewed proposal selection process.

(3) Eligibility requirements, which shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:

(A) A minimum number of public postsecondary segments shall be represented by each proposal’s intersegmental faculty team members.

(B) A minimum number of faculty team members shall commit to teaching or evaluating codeveloped or jointly redesigned curriculum during the grant period.

(C) A proposal may include faculty from independent institutions of higher education, as defined in Section 66010, or nonfaculty, as appropriate.

(4) Requirements regarding the use of awarded grants, including, but not limited to, a cap on indirect cost rates.

(5) Requirements regarding the use and sharing of research data and findings.

(6) Requirements for the protection of privacy and personal information.

(d) (1) The agency may, in addition to the grants awarded pursuant to this section, do both of the following:

(A) Award learning lab grants for professional development to faculty, including, but not limited to, grants to adopt a successful course or course series developed or redesigned through the learning lab.

(B) Curate a “best of” resource library of curricular and pedagogical assets, including from grants that have demonstrated successful outcomes.

(2) The agency shall create, and post on its internet website, guidelines for awarding grants pursuant to this chapter.

(e) The agency shall solicit public, nonprofit, and private sector input on any additional guidelines for awarding grants pursuant to this article.

(f) The agency shall establish terms and conditions that require learning lab courses and course series, and technology and technology platforms developed or redesigned with learning lab grants, to be available as open education resources.

(g) (1) The agency shall annually submit a report to the Legislature that summarizes the grants awarded pursuant to this chapter. The report shall include evaluations of completed proposal projects. Multiple project evaluations may be submitted in one report.

(2) A written report submitted pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.

(h) The agency may receive nonstate funds to support the operations of the learning lab, to make additional funds available for purposes of this chapter, or to increase the amount of grants previously awarded to a learning lab proposal.

(i) (1) The agency may use up to 5 percent of any amount appropriated to the agency for the learning lab for the administrative costs of implementing this chapter.

(2) The evaluation of a project for purposes of the report described in subdivision (g) is not an administrative cost for purposes of this subdivision.

(3) The curation of the resource library described in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (d) is not an administrative cost for purposes of this subdivision.

(j) Notwithstanding the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340), Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 11370), Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 11400), and Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 11500) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code), the agency may implement or interpret this chapter without taking any regulatory action.

(k) The agency may enter into an agreement with an entity, or with a nonprofit or not-for-profit organization, or a consortium of those organizations, for purposes of administering or jointly administering this chapter.