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AB-410 Teacher credentialing: beginning teacher induction programs: fees.(2017-2018)

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Date Published: 02/09/2017 09:00 PM
AB410:v99#DOCUMENT


CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 410

Introduced by Assembly Member Cervantes

February 09, 2017

An act to amend Section 44259 of the Education Code, relating to teacher credentialing.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 410, as introduced, Cervantes. Teacher credentialing: beginning teacher induction programs: fees.
Existing law prescribes the minimum requirements for a clear multiple or single subject teaching credential, including the completion of either a beginning teacher induction program approved by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing and the Superintendent of Public Instruction pursuant to the Marian Bergeson Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment System, an alternative program of beginning teacher induction that is provided by one or more local educational agencies and has been approved by the commission and the Superintendent on the basis of initial review and periodic evaluations of the program in relation to appropriate standards of credential program quality and effectiveness that have been adopted by the commission, the Superintendent, and the State Board of Education, as provided, or an alternative program of beginning teacher induction that is sponsored by a regionally accredited college or university, in cooperation with one or more local school districts, that addresses the individual professional needs of beginning teachers and meets the commission’s standards of induction, except as provided. Existing law also requires credentials for teaching specialties, including, but not limited to, bilingual education, early childhood education, and special education, to be based upon a baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution, completion of a program of professional preparation, and any other standards which the commission may establish.
This bill would, commencing with hiring for the 2017–18 school year, and each school year thereafter, prohibit a school district, county office of education, or charter school from charging a fee to a beginning teacher to participate in a beginning teacher induction program that is approved by the commission and the Superintendent, and would define a beginning teacher for purposes of that provision to include a teacher with a preliminary multiple or single subject teaching credential, or a preliminary education specialist credential. The bill also would prohibit a local educational agency from charging a fee to a beginning teacher to participate in an alternative program of beginning teacher induction program that it provides.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) All children deserve a highly qualified teacher.
(b) California faces a severe teacher shortage.
(c) The demand for new teachers is growing due to the inability to attract new teachers into the profession, the high attrition rate of new teachers, and the retirements of existing teachers.
(d) California has a 50 percent higher pupil-teacher ratio than any other state in the country at 24 to 1.
(e) It is estimated that California will need 60,000 additional teachers to maintain current pupil-teacher ratios.
(f) California will need an additional 135,000 teachers in order to return to prerecession pupil-teacher ratios of 16 to 1.
(g) According to the Learning Policy Institute, enrollment in teacher credentialing programs has dropped 76 percent between 2001 and 2014.
(h) Among new teachers, 40 percent leave the profession within the first five years, adding to the teacher shortage and reducing the benefits of the state’s investment in teacher preparation.
(i) Several reasons why new teachers leave the profession in California include the high cost and extended length of time that it takes to obtain a clear credential, the low salaries teachers make relative to their peers with similar levels of education, and the lack of ongoing mentoring and support.
(j) The California Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment System, which was established in 1992, has been shown to substantially increase new teacher retention to nearly 90 percent. In addition, the California Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment System has been shown to improve teacher effectiveness and pupil outcomes.
(k) There is a clear state interest in continuing the California Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment System as a proven means of effectively addressing the teacher shortage and improving teacher effectiveness and pupil outcomes.
(l) In 1998, California created its two-tiered teacher credentialing system and required that new teachers participate successfully in a beginning teacher support and assessment program in order to obtain a clear credential.
(m) Until 2009, the state provided $4,000 per participating teacher to beginning teacher support and assessment program providers as part of the Teacher Credentialing Block Grant.
(n) In order to receive state funding, a local educational agency was required to make a local in-kind contribution of $2,000 per participating teacher.
(o) In 2009, due to the Great Recession, the state gave increased flexibility to local educational agencies by allowing Teacher Credentialing Block Grant funds to be used for any educational purpose.
(p) In 2013, the state eliminated the majority of K–12 categorical programs, including the Teacher Credentialing Block Grant, with the establishment of the Local Control Funding Formula.
(q) Consequently, many providers across the state have shifted the cost of participation in beginning teacher support and assessment programs to new teachers.
(r) According to survey data collected by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing and outlined in its Report on New Teacher Induction, published in September 2015, nearly 12 percent of the providers that responded are charging fees of up to $3,350 per participant for enrollment in a beginning teacher support and assessment program.
(s) These large fees place a heavy financial burden on new teachers just starting their careers, especially because new teachers often have substantial student debt and make a low salary.
(t) This financial burden greatly reduces the chances that prospective teachers want to enter the teaching profession and that new teachers will stay in the profession.
(u) Eliminating this financial burden is an important recruitment and retention tool for addressing California’s severe teacher shortage.
(v) It is in the best interest of the State of California and its pupils to prohibit providers of beginning teacher support and assessment programs to charge teachers for participation.

SEC. 2.

 Section 44259 of the Education Code is amended to read:

44259.
 (a) Except as provided in subparagraphs (A) and (C) of paragraph (3) of subdivision (b), each program of professional preparation for multiple or single subject teaching credentials shall not include more than two years of full-time study of professional preparation.
(b) The minimum requirements for the preliminary multiple or single subject teaching credential are all of the following:
(1) A baccalaureate degree or higher degree from a regionally accredited institution of postsecondary education. Except as provided in subdivision (c) of Section 44227, the baccalaureate degree shall not be in professional education. The commission shall encourage accredited institutions to offer undergraduate minors in education and special education to students who intend to become teachers.
(2) Passage of the state basic skills proficiency test that is developed and administered by the commission pursuant to Section 44252.5.
(3) Satisfactory completion of a program of professional preparation that has been accredited by the Committee on Accreditation on the basis of standards of program quality and effectiveness that have been adopted by the commission. In accordance with the commission’s assessment and performance standards, each program shall include a teaching performance assessment as set forth in Section 44320.2 that is aligned with the California Standards for the Teaching Profession. The commission shall ensure that each candidate recommended for a credential or certificate has demonstrated satisfactory ability to assist pupils to meet or exceed academic content and performance standards for pupils adopted by the state board pursuant to Section 60605. Programs that meet this requirement for professional preparation shall include any of the following:
(A) Integrated programs of subject matter preparation and professional preparation pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 44259.1.
(B) Postbaccalaureate programs of professional preparation, pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section 44259.1.
(C) Internship programs of professional preparation, pursuant to Section 44321, Article 7.5 (commencing with Section 44325), Article 11 (commencing with Section 44380), and Article 3 (commencing with Section 44450) of Chapter 3.
(4) Study of alternative methods of developing English language skills, including the study of reading as described in subparagraphs (A) and (B), among all pupils, including those for whom English is a second language, in accordance with the commission’s standards of program quality and effectiveness. The study of reading shall meet the following requirements:
(A) Commencing January 1, 1997, satisfactory completion of comprehensive reading instruction that is research based and includes all of the following:
(i) The study of organized, systematic, explicit skills skills, including phonemic awareness, direct, systematic, explicit phonics, and decoding skills.
(ii) A strong literature, language, and comprehension component with a balance of oral and written language.
(iii) Ongoing diagnostic techniques that inform teaching and assessment.
(iv) Early intervention techniques.
(v) Guided practice in a clinical setting.
(B) For purposes of this section, “direct, systematic, explicit phonics” means phonemic awareness, spelling patterns, the direct instruction of sound/symbol codes and practice in connected text, and the relationship of direct, systematic, explicit phonics to the components set forth in clauses (i) to (v), inclusive, of subparagraph (A).
A program for the multiple subjects credential also shall include the study of integrated methods of teaching language arts.
(5) Completion of a subject matter program that has been approved by the commission on the basis of standards of program quality and effectiveness pursuant to Article 6 (commencing with Section 44310) or passage of a subject matter examination pursuant to Article 5 (commencing with Section 44280). The commission shall ensure that subject matter standards and examinations are aligned with the academic content and performance standards for pupils adopted by the state board pursuant to Section 60605.
(6) Demonstration of a knowledge of the principles and provisions of the Constitution of the United States pursuant to Section 44335.
(7) Commencing January 1, 2000, demonstration, in accordance with the commission’s standards of program quality and effectiveness, of basic competency in the use of computers in the classroom as determined by one of the following:
(A) Successful completion of a commission-approved program or course.
(B) Successful passage of an assessment that is developed, approved, and administered by the commission.
(c) The minimum requirements for the clear multiple or single subject teaching credential shall include all of the following requirements:
(1) Possession of a valid preliminary teaching credential, as prescribed in subdivision (b), possession of a valid equivalent credential or certificate, or completion of equivalent requirements as determined by the commission.
(2) Except as provided in paragraph (3), completion of a program of beginning teacher induction, including one of the following:
(A) (i) A program of beginning teacher support and assessment induction approved by the commission and the Superintendent pursuant to Section 44279.1, a provision of the Marian Bergeson Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment System. Superintendent.
(ii) (I) Commencing with hiring for the 2017–18 school year, and each school year thereafter, a school district, county office of education, or charter school shall not charge a fee to a beginning teacher to participate in a beginning teacher induction program.
(II) For purposes of subclause (I), a beginning teacher includes a teacher with a preliminary multiple or single subject teaching credential, or a preliminary education specialist credential.
(B) (i) An alternative program of beginning teacher induction that is provided by one or more local educational agencies and has been approved by the commission and the Superintendent on the basis of initial review and periodic evaluations of the program in relation to appropriate standards of credential program quality and effectiveness that have been adopted by the commission, the Superintendent, and the state board pursuant to this subdivision. The standards for alternative programs shall encourage innovation and experimentation in the continuous preparation and induction of beginning teachers. An alternative program of beginning teacher induction that has met state standards pursuant to this subdivision may apply for state funding pursuant to Sections 44279.1 and 44279.2.
(ii) A local educational agency shall not charge a fee to a beginning teacher to participate in an alternative program of beginning teacher induction that is provided pursuant to this subparagraph.
(C) An alternative program of beginning teacher induction that is sponsored by a regionally accredited college or university, in cooperation with one or more local school districts, that addresses the individual professional needs of beginning teachers and meets the commission’s standards of induction. The commission shall ensure that preparation and induction programs that qualify candidates for professional credentials extend and refine each beginning teacher’s professional skills in relation to the California Standards for the Teaching Profession and the academic content and performance standards for pupils adopted by the state board pursuant to Section 60605.
(3) (A) If a candidate satisfies the requirements of subdivision (b), including completion of an accredited internship program of professional preparation, and if that internship program fulfills induction standards and is approved as set forth in this subdivision, the commission shall determine that the candidate has fulfilled the requirements of paragraph (2).
(B) If an approved induction program is verified as unavailable to a beginning teacher, or if the beginning teacher is required under the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.) to complete subject matter coursework to be qualified for a teaching assignment, the commission shall accept completion of an approved clear credential program after completion of a baccalaureate degree at a regionally accredited institution as fulfilling the requirements of paragraph (2). The commission shall adopt regulations to implement this subparagraph.
(4) Experience that includes the application of knowledge and skills previously acquired in a preliminary credential program, in accordance with commission standards, that addresses the following:
(A) Health education, including study of nutrition, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and the physiological and sociological effects of abuse of alcohol, narcotics, and drugs and the use of tobacco. Training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation shall also meet the standards established by the American Heart Association or the American Red Cross.
(B) Field experience in methods of delivering appropriate educational services to pupils with exceptional needs in regular education educational programs.
(C) Advanced computer-based technology, including the uses of technology in educational settings.
(d) The commission shall develop and implement standards of program quality and effectiveness that provide for the areas of application listed in subparagraphs (A) to (C), inclusive, of paragraph (4) of subdivision (c), starting in professional preparation and continuing through induction.
(e) A credential that was issued before January 1, 1993, shall remain in force as long as it is valid under the laws and regulations that were in effect on the date it was issued. The commission shall not, by regulation, invalidate an otherwise valid credential, unless it issues to the holder of the credential, in substitution, a new credential authorized by another provision in this chapter that is no more restrictive than the credential for which it was substituted with respect to the kind of service authorized and the grades, classes, or types of schools in which it authorizes service.
(f) A credential program that is approved by the commission shall not deny an individual access to that program solely on the grounds that the individual obtained a teaching credential through completion of an internship program when that internship program has been accredited by the commission.
(g) Notwithstanding this section, persons who were performing teaching services as of January 1, 1999, pursuant to the language of this section that was in effect before that date, may continue to perform those services without complying with any requirements that may be added by the amendments adding this subdivision.
(h) Subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (4) of subdivision (b) do not apply to any person who, as of January 1, 1997, holds a multiple or single subject teaching credential, or to any person enrolled in a program of professional preparation for a multiple or single subject teaching credential as of January 1, 1997, who subsequently completes that program. It is the intent of the Legislature that the requirements of subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (4) of subdivision (b) be applied only to persons who enter a program of professional preparation on or after January 1, 1997.