BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1756
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
1756 (Bonilla)
As Amended March 29, 2016
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Education |6-0 |O'Donnell, Olsen, | |
| | |Kim, McCarty, | |
| | |Santiago, Thurmond | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |20-0 |Gonzalez, Bigelow, | |
| | |Bloom, Bonilla, | |
| | |Bonta, Calderon, | |
| | |Chang, Daly, Eggman, | |
| | |Gallagher, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, Roger | |
| | |Hernández, Holden, | |
| | |Jones, Obernolte, | |
| | |Quirk, Santiago, | |
| | |Wagner, Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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AB 1756
Page 2
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, the value of
four-year integrated programs of teacher preparation and
specifies that it is the intent of the Legislature that this
act not impose any additional restrictions on education
specialist instruction credential programs.
2)States that a postsecondary institution may offer a four-year
or five-year integrated program of professional preparation
that allows a student to earn a bachelor's degree and a
multiple or 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)Requires the CCTC to, 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.
4)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:
AB 1756
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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, creating summer
courses for students in integrated programs, and recruiting
individuals for participation as students in four-year
integrated programs of professional preparation.
5)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.
6)Requires the CCTC, in awarding grants pursuant to the program,
to 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.
7)Requires a postsecondary institution to, as a condition of the
receipt of a grant, provide to the commission program and
outcome data for at least three years after receiving the
grant, including 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
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information the commission may require for the purpose of
documenting the effect of the grant and identifying effective
practices in program design and implementation.
8)Makes the implementation of the program contingent upon
appropriation in the annual budget act or another statute.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, one-time General Fund costs of $10 million to provide
40 one-year grants to postsecondary institutions for the
development and transition to integrated teacher preparation
programs. One-time General Fund costs of $250,000 for the CCTC
to administer the program over a six year period. These costs
include workload related to development of the program and the
Request for Proposal, solicitation of grant applications, award
determinations, grant administration, technical support to
grantees, and reporting outcome data provided by grant
recipients and overall program results.
COMMENTS: 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
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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."
Budget Appropriation: The education budget trailer bill
includes $10 million for the purpose of providing 40 one-year
grants, as proposed by this measure.
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:
1)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."
2)Increased pressure on teacher preparation programs to address
subject-specific pedagogical knowledge at the expense of
critical aspects of preparation such as student teaching.
3)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
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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.
Analysis Prepared by:
Chelsea Kelley / ED. / (916) 319-2087 FN:
0003175