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AB-1756 Teacher credentialing: integrated programs of professional preparation.(2015-2016)



Current Version: 03/29/16 - Amended Assembly

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AB1756:v97#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Assembly  March 29, 2016
Amended  IN  Assembly  March 07, 2016

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2015–2016 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 1756

Introduced by Assembly Member Bonilla

February 02, 2016

An act to amend Section 44259.1 of the Education Code, relating to teacher credentialing.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 1756, as amended, Bonilla. Teacher credentialing: integrated programs of professional preparation.

Existing

(1) Existing law establishes minimum requirements for the issuance of a preliminary multiple or single subject teaching credential by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing. Among other requirements, existing law requires satisfactory completion of a program of professional preparation accredited by the Committee on Accreditation, but specifies that the program shall not include more than two 2 years of full-time study, except for certain programs, including for integrated programs of subject matter and professional preparation. Existing law requires an integrated program of professional preparation to enable candidates for teaching credentials to engage in professional preparation, concurrently with subject matter preparation, while completing baccalaureate degrees at regionally accredited postsecondary institutions, and to provide opportunities for candidates to complete intensive field experiences in public elementary and secondary schools early in the undergraduate sequence.
This bill would require those intensive field experiences to include student teaching.
This bill would authorize a postsecondary institution to offer a 4-year 4- or 5-year integrated program of professional preparation that allows a student to earn a baccalaureate degree and a preliminary multiple- multiple or single-subject single subject teaching credential, or an education specialist instruction credential authorizing the holder to teach special education, including student teaching requirements, concurrently and within 4 or 5 years of study.
This bill would require the commission, as part of its accreditation process, to collect specified information about integrated programs of professional preparation.
This bill would, contingent upon appropriation of funds in the annual Budget Act or another statute, require the commission to develop and implement a program to award 40 grants of $250,000 each to postsecondary institutions for the development of transition plans to guide the creation of 4-year integrated programs of professional preparation, as provided.
(2) Existing law requires that an integrated program of professional preparation offered by the California State University be designed to concurrently lead to a preliminary multiple subject or single subject teaching credential and a baccalaureate degree.
This bill would instead require that an integrated program of professional preparation offered by the California State University be designed to concurrently lead to a preliminary multiple subject or single subject teaching credential, or an education specialist instruction credential authorizing the holder to teach special education, and a baccalaureate degree.

This

(3) This bill would make findings and declarations relating to teachers and teacher credentialing.
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) In mid-October 2015, after the school year had begun, there were more than 3,900 open teaching positions available in California.
(b) During the last decade, enrollment in teacher credentialing programs has dropped more than 70 percent.
(c) Most students who would like to become teachers are required to pay for a fifth year of school in order to earn their teaching credentials.
(d) This fifth year in school costs these students an additional year of tuition and living expenses and delays their entrance into the workforce.
(e) These students must also complete their student teaching requirements, and, during the period of student teaching, they have no earning potential because they work full time without compensation.
(f) Ensuring that a student can earn a baccalaureate degree and teaching credential and complete the required student teaching within four years will decrease the amount of debt students must take on in order to complete their teacher training.
(g) Creating four-year, four-year integrated programs of professional preparation will support students in a sustainable manner and for decades into the future.

SEC. 2.

 It is the intent of the Legislature that this act not impose any additional restrictions on education specialist instruction credential programs.

SEC. 2.SEC. 3.

 Section 44259.1 of the Education Code is amended to read:

44259.1.
 (a) (1) An integrated program of professional preparation shall enable candidates for teaching credentials to engage in professional preparation, concurrently with subject matter preparation, while completing baccalaureate degrees at regionally accredited postsecondary educational institutions. An integrated program shall provide opportunities for candidates to complete intensive field experiences, including student teaching, in public elementary and secondary schools early in the undergraduate sequence. The development and implementation of an integrated program shall be based on intensive collaboration among subject matter departments and education units within postsecondary educational institutions and local public elementary and secondary school districts.
(2) A postsecondary institution may offer a four-year four- or five-year integrated program of professional preparation that allows a student to earn a baccalaureate degree and a preliminary multiple- multiple or single-subject single subject teaching credential, or an education specialist instruction credential authorizing the holder to teach special education, including student teaching requirements, concurrently and within four or five years of study.
(3) The commission shall encourage postsecondary educational institutions to offer integrated programs of professional preparation that follow the guidelines developed pursuant to this section. In approving integrated programs, the commission shall not compromise or reduce its standards of subject matter preparation pursuant to Article 6 (commencing with Section 44310) or its standards of professional preparation pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (b) of Section 44259.
(4) The commission shall, as part of its accreditation process, collect information about integrated programs of professional preparation, including which institutions offer integrated programs and the number and type of credentials the programs produce.
(b) (1) Commencing with the 2005–06 school year, an integrated program offered by the California State University shall be designed to concurrently lead to a preliminary multiple subject or single subject teaching credential, or an education specialist instruction credential authorizing the holder to teach special education, and a baccalaureate degree. Recommendation for each shall be contingent upon satisfactory completion of the requirements for each.
(2) By July 1, 2004, the Chancellor of the California State University, in consultation with California State University faculty members, shall develop a framework defining appropriate balance for an integrated program of general education, subject matter preparation, and professional education courses, for both lower division and upper division students, including an appropriate range of units to be taken in professional education courses. In developing the framework, the Chancellor of the California State University and California State University faculty members shall consult with the Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges on matters related to the effective and efficient use of, and appropriate role for, lower division coursework in an integrated program.
(c) (1) By January 1, 2005, the Chancellor of the California State University and the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges shall collaboratively ensure that both of the following occur:
(A) Lower division coursework completed by a community college student transferring to a California State University integrated program is articulated with the corresponding coursework of the California State University.
(B) The articulated community college lower division coursework is accepted as the equivalent to the coursework offered to students who enter that integrated program as freshman students.
(2) Commencing with the 2005–06 school year, each campus of the California State University shall invite the community colleges in its region that send significant numbers of transfer students to that campus to enter into articulation agreements. These articulation agreements shall be based on a fully transferable education curriculum that is developed pursuant to the framework developed under paragraph (2) of subdivision (b). Approval of one or more of the articulation agreements will enable the coursework of a community college student to be accepted as the equivalent to the coursework offered to students who enter that integrated program as freshman students.
(d) A postbaccalaureate program of professional preparation shall enable candidates for teaching credentials to commence and complete professional preparation after they have completed baccalaureate degrees at regionally accredited institutions. The development and implementation of a postbaccalaureate program of professional preparation shall be based on intensive collaboration among the postsecondary educational institution and local public elementary and secondary school districts.
(e) The commission shall develop and implement a program to award 40 one-year grants of two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) each to postsecondary institutions for the development of transition plans to guide the creation of four-year integrated programs of professional preparation.
(1) A postsecondary institution awarded a grant under this subdivision may use the transition plan to create a new four-year integrated program of professional preparation or to adapt an existing integrated program of professional preparation.
(2) A postsecondary institution awarded a grant under this section subdivision may partner with a California Community College to create a four-year integrated program of professional preparation.
(3) A postsecondary institution awarded a grant under this section subdivision may use grant funds for any proper purpose in support of planning for a four-year integrated program of professional preparation, including, but not limited to to, any of the following:
(A) To provide faculty release time to redesign existing courses.
(B) To provide program coordinators to assist in collaboration with subject-matter professors and pedagogy professors.
(C) To create summer courses for students in a four-year integrated program of professional preparation.
(D) To recruit individuals for participation as students in four-year integrated programs of professional preparation.
(4) In awarding grants pursuant to the program, the commission shall grant priority to proposals for the establishment of four-year integrated programs of professional preparation designed to produce teachers with either an education specialist instruction credential authorizing the holder to teach special education or a single subject area credential in a subject with chronic shortages of qualified teachers.
(5) As a condition of the receipt of a grant, a postsecondary institution shall provide to the commission program and outcome data for at least three years after receiving the grant. The information shall include program design and features, the number of graduates, the number and type of credentials earned, the time taken to earn a degree and credential, and any other information the commission may require for the purpose of documenting the effect of the grant and identifying effective practices in program design and implementation.

(4)

(6) The commission may reserve some of the 40 grants to provide a second grant to some or all of the postsecondary institutions awarded grants pursuant to this subdivision for the subsequent fiscal year.

(5)

(7) The requirements of this subdivision are contingent upon the appropriation of funds for the purposes of this subdivision in the annual Budget Act or another statute.