BILL NUMBER: SB 112 CHAPTERED 09/07/07 CHAPTER 191 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 7, 2007 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 7, 2007 PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 27, 2007 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY JULY 12, 2007 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 30, 2007 AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 24, 2007 AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 26, 2007 INTRODUCED BY Senator Scott (Coauthors: Senators Romero and Vincent) JANUARY 22, 2007 An act to amend Sections 44279.1 and 44830 of the Education Code, relating to teachers. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 112, Scott. Teachers. (1) Existing law establishes the voluntary California Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment System, also known as the Marian Bergeson Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment System, that includes providing an effective transition into the teaching career for first- and 2nd-year teachers, and ensuring that an individual induction plan is in place for each participating teacher. For purposes of this system, the term "beginning teacher" is defined as a teacher with a valid California credential or an intern participating in the program established who is serving in the first year or 2nd year of service. This bill would exclude from the definition of "beginning teacher" a teacher with a life credential, a clear credential, or a professional clear teaching credential who returns to serve in a certificated teaching position. (2) Existing law prohibits the governing board of a school district from initially hiring, on a permanent, temporary, or substitute basis, a certificated person unless that person has demonstrated basic skills proficiency or is exempted from the requirement. Among others exempted from that prohibition are (a) a certificated person who has been employed in a position requiring certification in any school district within 39 months prior to employment with the district, (b) a retired certificated employee who has taught 15 years or more in a California public school and meets specified requirements, (c) a certificated person who has not been employed in a position requiring certification in any school district within 39 months prior to employment but has passed a basic skills proficiency examination developed and administered by the school district offering that person employment, if he or she will take the state basic skills proficiency test within one year of the date of his or her employment, and (d) a certificated person who is employed for purposes of the class size reduction program if he or she has been employed in a position requiring certification in any school district within 39 months prior to employment with the district or if he or she has not been employed in a position requiring certification in any school district within 39 months prior to employment for purposes of the class size reduction program if he or she will take the state basic skills proficiency test within one calendar year of the date of his or her employment. This bill would delete the specific exemptions described above and instead exempt a person who (1) has passed the state basic skills proficiency examination at least once, (2) achieved a passing score on the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) General Test, the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) Reasoning Test, or the ACT Plus Writing test, or (3) possessed a credential before the enactment of the statute that made the test a requirement. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 44279.1 of the Education Code is amended to read: 44279.1. (a) The Legislature finds and declares that the beginning years of the career of a teacher are a critical time in which it is necessary that intensive professional development and assessment occur. The Legislature recognizes that the public invests heavily in the preparation of prospective teachers, and that more than one-half of all new teachers leave some California school districts after one or two years in the classroom. Intensive professional development and assessment are necessary to build on the preparation that precedes initial certification, to transform academic preparation into practical success in the classroom, to retain greater numbers of capable beginning teachers, and to remove novices who show little promise as teachers. It is the intent of the Legislature that the commission and the Superintendent develop and implement policies to govern the support and assessment of beginning teachers, as a condition for the professional certification of those teachers in the future. (b) There is hereby established the California Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment System, to be administered jointly by the commission and the Superintendent. In administering the system, the commission and the Superintendent shall approve the most cost-effective programs of support and assessment. The commission and the Superintendent also shall ensure that programs meet the Standards of Quality and Effectiveness for Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment Programs adopted by the commission in 1997 and that local programs support beginning teachers in meeting the competencies described in the California Standards for the Teaching Profession adopted by the commission in January 1997. The system shall do all of the following: (1) Provide an effective transition into the teaching career for first-year and second-year teachers in California. (2) Improve the educational performance of pupils through improved training, information, and assistance for new teachers. (3) Enable beginning teachers to be effective in teaching pupils who are culturally, linguistically, and academically diverse. (4) Ensure the professional success and retention of new teachers. (5) Ensure that a support provider provides intensive individualized support and assistance to each participating beginning teacher. (6) Improve the rigor and consistency of individual teacher performance assessments and the usefulness of assessment results to teachers and decisionmakers. (7) Establish an effective, coherent system of performance assessments that are based on the California Standards for the Teaching Profession adopted by the commission in January 1997. (8) Examine alternative ways in which the general public and the educational profession may be assured that new teachers who remain in teaching have attained acceptable levels of professional competence. (9) Ensure that an individual induction plan is in place for each participating beginning teacher and is based on an ongoing assessment of the development of the beginning teacher. (10) Ensure continuous program improvement through ongoing research, development, and evaluation. (c) Participation in the system shall be voluntary for teachers, school districts, and county offices of education and participation by certificated employees shall not be made a condition of employment. The commission and the Superintendent shall adopt and implement criteria and standards for participation in the system, including criteria regarding the eligibility of teachers and standards of local program quality and intensity for schools, school districts, county offices of education, colleges, universities, and other educational and professional organizations. The criteria and standards shall be consistent with the purposes of the system. (d) (1) For purposes of this article, unless the context otherwise requires, "beginning teacher" means a teacher with a valid California credential, as defined in Section 44259, or an intern participating in the program established pursuant to Article 11 (commencing with Section 44380), who is serving in the first year or second year of service. (2) For purposes of this article, "beginning teacher" does not include a teacher with a life credential, a clear credential, or a professional clear teaching credential who returns to serve in a certificated teaching position. (e) Subject to verification and approval by an induction program director, a beginning teacher shall not be required to demonstrate that an induction standard has been met, or complete an element of an approved induction program designed to assist a candidate in mastering a given standard, if the candidate previously met the induction standard while participating in a commission-approved preparation program. (f) For a beginning teacher who holds a professional clear teaching credential that is subject to the requirements of subdivisions (b) and (c) of Section 44277, participation in the program, at the discretion of the teacher, may serve as part or all of the individual program of professional growth. (g) The Superintendent and the commission shall disseminate the California Standards for the Teaching Profession adopted by the commission in January 1997 to colleges, universities, school districts, county offices of education, and professional associations, who shall be encouraged to use the standards in efforts to improve teacher preparation and support programs. Performance assessments developed under this article shall be designed to provide useful, helpful feedback to beginning teachers and their support providers. That information shall not be used for employment-related evaluations, as a condition of employment, or as a basis for terminating employment. (h) It is the intent of the Legislature that the commission and the Superintendent establish a statewide teacher induction program that supports locally designed, high-quality induction programs that provide individualized support and formative assessment for all participating beginning teachers as defined in subdivision (d). At the discretion of the local beginning teacher support and assessment system teacher induction program, funds allocated to a program on the basis of eligible beginning teachers may be used to provide support, assistance, and preparation services to other credential candidates who are in their first or second year of employment as a classroom teacher. (i) This article shall be known, and may be cited, as the Marian Bergeson Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment System. SEC. 2. Section 44830 of the Education Code is amended to read: 44830. (a) The governing board of a school district shall employ for positions requiring certification qualifications, only persons who possess the qualifications therefor prescribed by law. It is contrary to the public policy of this state for any person or persons charged, by the governing boards, with the responsibility of recommending persons for employment by the boards to refuse or to fail to do so for reasons of race, color, religious creed, sex, or national origin of the applicants for that employment. (b) A school district governing board shall not initially hire on a permanent, temporary, or substitute basis a certificated person seeking employment in the capacity designated in his or her credential, unless that person has demonstrated basic skills proficiency as provided in Section 44252.5 or is exempted from the requirement by subdivision (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), (h), (i), (j), (k), (), or (m). (1) The governing board of a school district, with the authorization of the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, may administer the state basic skills proficiency test required under Sections 44252 and 44252.5. (2) The Superintendent, in conjunction with the commission and local governing boards, shall take steps necessary to ensure the effective implementation of this subdivision. It is the intent of the Legislature that in effectively implementing this subdivision, school district governing boards shall direct superintendents of schools to prepare for emergencies by developing a pool of qualified emergency substitute teachers. This preparation shall include public notice of the test requirements and of the dates and locations of administrations of the tests. District governing boards shall make special efforts to encourage individuals who are known to be qualified in other respects as substitutes to take the state basic skills proficiency test at its earliest administration. (3) Demonstration of proficiency in reading, writing, and mathematics by any person pursuant to Section 44252 satisfies the requirements of this subdivision. (c) A certificated person is not required to take the state basic skills proficiency examination if he or she has taken and passed it at least once, achieved a passing score on any of the tests specified in subdivision (d) of Section 44252, or possessed a credential before the enactment of the statute that made the test a requirement. (d) This section does not require a person employed solely for purposes of teaching adults in an apprenticeship program, approved by the Apprenticeship Standards Division of the Department of Industrial Relations, to pass the state proficiency assessment instrument as a condition of employment. (e) This section does not require the holder of a child care permit or a permit authorizing service in a development center for the handicapped to take the state basic skills proficiency test, so long as the holder of the permit is not required to have a baccalaureate degree. (f) This section does not require the holder of a credential issued by the commission who seeks an additional credential or authorization to teach, to take the state basic skills proficiency test. (g) This section does not require the holder of a credential to provide service in the health profession to take the state basic skills proficiency test, if that person does not teach in the public schools. (h) If the state basic skills proficiency test is not administered at the time of hiring, the holder of a vocational designated subject credential who has not already taken and passed the state basic skills proficiency test may be hired on the condition that he or she will take the test at its next local administration. (i) If the holder of a vocational designated subject credential does not pass a proficiency assessment in basic skills pursuant to this section, he or she shall be given one year in which to retake and pass the proficiency assessment in basic skills. If at the expiration of the one-year period he or she has not passed the proficiency assessment in basic skills, he or she shall be subject to dismissal under procedures established in Article 3 (commencing with Section 44930). (j) This section does not require the holder of a vocational designated subject credential to pass the state basic skills proficiency test as a condition of employment. The governing board of each school district, or each governing board of a consortium of school districts, or each governing board involved in a joint powers agreement, which employs the holder of a vocational designated subject credential shall establish its own basic skills proficiency for these credentials and shall arrange for those individuals to be assessed. The basic skills proficiency criteria established by the governing board shall be at least equivalent to the test required by the district, or in the case of a consortium or a joint powers agreement, by any of the participating districts, for graduation from high school. The governing board or boards may charge a fee to individuals being tested to cover the costs of the test, including the costs of developing, administering, and grading the test. (k) This section does not require the holder of an adult education designated subject credential for other than academic subjects, who is employed in an instructional setting for 20 hours or less per week, to pass the state proficiency assessment as a condition of employment. () This section does not require certificated personnel employed under a foreign exchange program to take the state basic skills proficiency test. The maximum period of exemption under this subdivision shall be one year. (m) Notwithstanding any other law, a school district may hire a certificated teacher who has not taken the state basic skills proficiency test if that person has not yet been afforded the opportunity to take the test. The person shall take the test at the earliest opportunity and may remain employed by the school district pending the receipt of his or her test results.