BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1756
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Date of Hearing: March 16, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Patrick O'Donnell, Chair
AB 1756
(Bonilla) - As Amended March 7, 2016
SUBJECT: Teacher credentialing: integrated programs of
professional preparation
SUMMARY: Establishes a grant program at the California
Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CCTC) to provide funding to
postsecondary institutions to establish or expand integrated
credentialing programs, which allow candidates to earn teaching
credentials while completing their undergraduate degrees.
Specifically, this bill:
1.Makes findings and declarations relative to the current
shortage of qualified teachers in California and the value of
four-year integrated programs of teacher preparation.
2.States that a postsecondary institution may offer a four-year
integrated program of professional preparation that allows a
student to earn a bachelor's degree and a multiple or single
subject teaching credential, including student teaching
requirements, concurrently and within four years of study.
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3.Requires the CCTC to develop and implement a program to award
40 one year grants of $250,000 to postsecondary institutions
for the development of transition plans to guide the creation
of four year integrated programs of teacher preparation.
States that an institution may:
a) use the plan to create a new four year program or to
adapt an existing integrated program
b) partner with a California community college to create
such a program
c) use funds for any proper purpose in support of planning
for an integrated program, including providing faculty
release time to redesign existing courses, providing
program coordinators to assist in collaboration with
subject matter and pedagogy professors, and creating summer
courses for students in integrated programs.
1.Permits the CCTC to reserve some of the 40 grants to provide a
second grant to some or all of the postsecondary institutions
awarded grants for the subsequent fiscal year.
2.Makes the implementation of the program contingent upon
appropriation in the annual budget act or another statute.
EXISTING LAW:
1.Establishes minimum requirements for teacher preparation
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programs leading to multiple and single subject teaching
credentials, including a baccalaureate degree, passage of a
basic skills test, completion of a teacher preparation
program, study of methods of English language development and
reading, completion of a subject matter program, demonstration
of knowledge of the U.S. Constitution, and basic use of
computers in education.
2.Authorizes integrated (also known as blended) programs of
teacher preparation, in which credential candidates may earn a
teaching credential while completing their undergraduate
degree. Requires the CCTC to encourage postsecondary
institutions to offer integrated programs.
3.Requires the Chancellor of the California State University
(CSU), in consultation with CSU faculty members, to develop a
framework defining appropriate balance for an integrated
program of general education, subject matter preparation, and
professional education courses.
4.Requires the Chancellor of the CSU and the Chancellor of the
California Community Colleges to ensure that coursework
completed by a community college student transferring to an
integrated program is articulated with the corresponding
coursework of the CSU.
5.Limits the duration of teacher preparation programs to two
years.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS:
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Need for the bill. The author states: "There are not enough
qualified teachers to fill the demand in California. In 2015,
there were more than 3,900 open teaching positions available in
mid-October. Meanwhile, enrollment in teacher credential
programs dropped by more than 70% in the last decade.
AB 1756 will play a role in solving the teacher shortage.
Increasing the availability of four-year integrated teacher
preparation programs will get fully qualified teachers into the
classroom more quickly while also making the profession more
appealing to high school students who do not want to or cannot
pay for more than four years of higher education. Earning their
degree and credential in four years saves new teachers one full
year of tuition costs as well as living expenses. In addition,
student teachers have no earning potential as they work full
time with no compensation while student teaching. Providing
grants or loan forgiveness only helps a limited number of
students and during recessions, these programs are often the
first to be cut. Funding the creation of embedded
degree/credential programs will support students in a
sustainable manner and for decades into the future."
What are integrated/blended programs? For nearly 30 years, the
Ryan Act of 1970 prohibited the completion of teacher
preparation during the undergraduate experience, requiring
instead a "fifth year" of preparation as the primary route to
certification. The intent of this separation was to ensure that
teachers had robust subject matter preparation. According to
the CCTC, some unintended consequences of this policy were:
the "siloing" of subject matter and pedagogy, reflected
in students who learn subject matter in isolation from
considerations about how it is taught, and in the absence
of any "logical connection or incentive for collaboration
between the two different faculties."
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increased pressure on teacher preparation programs to
address subject-specific pedagogical knowledge at the
expense of critical aspects of preparation such as student
teaching
the absence of opportunities for credential candidates
to develop cross-disciplinary understanding, a cornerstone
of contemporary content standards, such as the Common Core
State Standards (as well as, staff notes, the Next
Generation Science Standards and integrated English
Language Arts/English Language Development state standards)
In 1998, SB 2042 (Alpert, Chapter 548, Statutes of 1998)
authorized "integrated" programs of teacher preparation, which
would allow students working toward their baccalaureate degree
to also earn a teaching credential. These programs also became
known as blended programs. In addition to offering an efficient
route to certification at a time when state incentives to reduce
class size in primary grades had created an acute teacher
shortage, the authorization of integrated programs was intended
to address some of the concerns noted above. At the time this
policy was implemented, state ($350,000 in the 1998-99 state
budget) and some federal funding was available to foster
integrated programs.
Barriers to establishing integrated programs. In the years
since SB 2042 was enacted a number of barriers to the
development of integrated programs have been identified.
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According to the CCTC, they include:
Dual program approval process. The CCTC requirement
that institutions have a Commission-approved subject matter
program in each content area along with a Commission
approved teacher preparation program used to pose a barrier
to establishing programs. According to the CCTC, this
issue has been resolved.
Collaboration. Integrated programs require
collaboration between Arts and Sciences faculty and
Education faculty, and the CCTC notes that this poses
challenges and does not happen overnight. A 2004 CCTC
report noted concerns about program quality, in particular
programs which appeared to simply "stack" subject matter
and pedagogy on top of each other.
Fitting in the required coursework. A frequently cited
barrier to the expansion of integrated programs is the
difficulty students have fitting both sets of requirements
into their course schedules.
Concerns about "crowding out" coursework and tight
scheduling. The CCTC notes that some Arts and Sciences
faculty expressed concerns about teacher preparation
courses leaving insufficient room for subject matter
coursework.
Issues outside of programs. The CCTC notes that
credential candidates perceived a disadvantage to
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integrated programs because "5th year" graduates start on
the salary schedule with more postsecondary credits and are
therefore in a in a higher paid column (though staff notes
that compared to integrated program graduates traditional
program candidates 1) forgo a year's salary during their
preparation, 2) must pay additional tuition for this year
of preparation, 3) may need to incur debt for living
expenses during their fifth year, and 4) forgo the
opportunity to earn a year of service credit in CalSTRS).
Bachelor's +30 units requirement (repealed). A repealed
requirement that teachers have 30 units after their
bachelor's degree to obtain a clear credential was a
barrier for some teachers.
The author notes that a misreading of current law appears to be
an additional barrier to the establishment of integrated
programs, and this bill addresses this by restating the
authorization for institutions to offer programs of concurrent
undergraduate and teacher preparation.
This clarification refers to programs of a four-year duration,
but some integrated programs are five years in length, and the
typical time to undergraduate degree at CSU (where most
integrated programs are located) is currently greater than four
years. Accordingly, staff recommends that the bill be amended
to specify "four or five years."
Clarify that integrated programs and this grant program may
grant special education credentials. While current law appears
to only authorize integrated programs to offer multiple and
single subject credentials, it is clear that some programs do
offer education specialist credentials (special education). To
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clarify this point, and to authorize grant recipients to offer
these credentials, staff recommends that the bill be amended to
specify that special education credentials may be granted
through integrated programs, including those established through
this grant program. Staff also recommends that, to meet the
author's intent, the bill be amended to allow grant funds to be
expended on the recruitment of teachers into integrated
programs.
Prioritize acute shortage areas. While the current teacher
shortage is widespread, certain types of qualifications are in
especially short supply. Those include special education, math
and science. In its analysis of this year's proposed budget,
the Legislative Analyst's Office noted that "research over many
years has found substantial evidence of specific market
shortages. The California Department of Education has identified
shortages of special education, science, and math nearly every
year since 1990-91," and that special education is commonly
viewed as the most acute shortage area. Indeed, the Chairperson
of the CCTC has recently characterized the shortage in the
teacher pipeline in special education, math, and science as a
"five alarm fire."
Yet a 2004 CCTC report found that 98% of enrollment in
integrated programs was in multiple subject (elementary)
preparation programs, with only 1% of enrollment seeking single
subject credentials (such as math and science), and less than 1%
seeking special education credentials.
Establishing truly integrated credential programs means
overcoming many of the barriers listed above, and barriers such
as the disconnect between subject matter and pedagogy faculty
may be particularly challenging in single subject areas. This,
in concert with the overall shortage in the STEM student
pipeline, has likely contributed to the paucity of programs in
the critical shortage areas of math and science.
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Consistent with a recommendation from the LAO to "narrowly
tailor any new policies to addressing California's perennial
staffing difficulties in specific subjects areas (special
education and STEM)," staff recommends that this bill be amended
to require the CCTC to grant priority, in making grants through
the program, to proposals for the establishment of programs
designed to produce credentialed teachers in "special education
and single subject areas with chronic shortages."
No data on integrated programs. The CCTC does not routinely
collect information on which institutions offer integrated
programs, nor how many credential holders they graduate.
Because these credential candidates earn the same credential as
traditionally prepared teachers, they are not tracked
separately. This means that the state has little information on
the availability or outcomes of these programs, even though they
are accredited by the state. The state would also have no
baseline data to judge the impact of the grant program proposed
by this bill.
The CCTC collects information about other alternatives to the
traditional 5th year credentialing route, such university and
district internship programs, including the number and types of
credential holders they graduate. Staff recommends that this
bill be amended to require CCTC, as part of its accreditation
process, to collect at least basic information about these
programs, including 1) which institutions offer integrated
programs (as defined in statute), and 2) the number and type of
credentials they produce. Staff further recommends that the
bill be amended to require, as a condition of the receipt of a
grant proposed by the bill, postsecondary institutions to
provide program and outcome data to the Commission for at least
three years after receiving a grant, such as programmatic
features, the number of graduates and credentials earned, time
to degree/credential, and other information the Commission may
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require for the purpose of documenting the effect of the grant
and identifying effective practices in program design and
implementation.
A "common trunk" of preparation in special and general
education. In response to the 2015 report, "One System:
Reforming Education to Serve ALL Students," authored by the
California Statewide Task Force on Special Education, the CCTC,
the State Board of Education, and the California Department of
Education have recently held stakeholder meetings on special
education teacher preparation and credentialing. Among a number
of issues discussed in these meetings, many stakeholders
expressed concern over the dual problems that special education
credential holders do not have sufficient background in the
general education curriculum, and that general education
teachers do not have sufficient training to meet the needs of
special education students. A solution has come to be known as
a "common trunk" of preparation, in which candidates for
credentials in both general and special education receive
preparation in meeting the needs of all students.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California Catholic Conference, Inc.
Opposition
AB 1756
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None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Tanya Lieberman / ED. / (916) 319-2087