BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 916
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB
916 (Allen)
As Amended August 15, 2016
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE: 39-0
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Education |7-0 |O'Donnell, Olsen, | |
| | |Kim, McCarty, | |
| | |Santiago, Thurmond, | |
| | |Weber | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |20-0 |Gonzalez, Bigelow, | |
| | |Bloom, Bonilla, | |
| | |Bonta, Calderon, | |
| | |Chang, Daly, Eggman, | |
| | |Gallagher, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, Holden, | |
| | |Jones, Obernolte, | |
| | |Quirk, Santiago, | |
| | |Wagner, Weber, Wood, | |
| | |McCarty | |
| | | | |
SB 916
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| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Authorizes single subject teaching credentials in
dance and theatre. Specifically, this bill:
1)Adds single subject teaching credentials in dance and theatre
to the current list of 13 single subject teaching credentials.
2)States that a person issued a single subject teaching
credential in physical education or dance before the
establishment of single subject teaching credentials in dance
and theatre is authorized to teach dance or theatre,
respectively.
3)States that a person pursuing a single subject teaching
credential in physical education or English before the
establishment of a single subject teaching credential in dance
and theatre shall not become subject to additional
requirements as a result of this bill.
4)States that nothing in the act shall be construed to prohibit
a school district from employing a person who holds a single
subject teaching credential in another subject with an
authorization to teach theatre from teaching theatre, or a
person who holds a single subject teaching credential in
another subject with an authorization to teach dance from
teaching dance.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, one-time administrative costs to the California
Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) in the range of
$400,000 to $500,000 (Test Development and Administration
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Account (TDAA)) to develop credential standards and develop both
the dance and theatre exams for certification. The TDAA
currently has a reserve of $2.9 million.
COMMENTS:
Need for the bill. The author's office states: "In order to
teach dance, a teacher must obtain a credential in physical
education, even though the standards for teaching dance are
separate from the standards for teaching physical education.
Similarly, to teach theatre, an instructor must obtain an
English credential, even though an English credential provides
no training in theatre instruction. Dance and theatre are the
only two subject areas with discrete subject standards that are
not taught under their own single-subject credential."
The author's office reports that dance and theatre undergraduate
majors are numerous in California, with 73 public and private
colleges and universities offering dance majors, and 131
colleges offering theatre majors. The author notes that
students who earn degrees in dance or theatre are unable to
teach in their respective fields unless they earn a credential
in physical education or English.
Proponents of the establishment of these credentials argue that
1) the current system reflects a lack of alignment between the
preparation teachers must undergo and the content which they
expect to teach, and 2) that this system dissuades individuals
wishing to teach dance and theatre from entering the teaching
profession, due both to misaligned preparation requirements and
the possibility of being assigned to teach outside of their
intended subject area.
History of dance and theatre credentials in California.
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According to the California Alliance for Arts Education, in the
1960's teaching credentials in dance and theatre were authorized
under the Fisher Act of 1961.
The elimination of these credentials was a result of the Teacher
Preparation and Licensing Law of 1970, known as the Ryan Act,
which removed the "s" from the word "arts." The effect of this
omission (which is believed to have been unintentional) is that
the authorization in current law has since been interpreted to
authorize credentials only in visual art (and music under
separate authorization). As a result, for over forty years
California has authorized single subject credentials in music
and visual arts, but no single subject credentials specific to
dance or theatre. As noted above, under current law individuals
seeking to teach dance and theatre must earn physical education
and English credentials, respectively.
Over the years there have been a number of legislative attempts
to establish single subject credentials in dance and theatre.
According to the California Alliance for Arts Education, in the
early 1990's Senator Patrick Johnston authored two bills to
establish these credentials, but these were withdrawn for lack
of support. In the late 1990's Assemblymember Susan Davis
authored two bills to establish these credentials but they were
vetoed or withdrawn under threat of veto. The CTC has also
attempted to address this issue. In 2013, the Teacher Advisory
Panel (TAP) to the CTC recommended the establishment of single
subject credentials in dance and theatre, and staff developed a
proposal to create a Visual and Performing Arts credential with
concentrations in dance, theatre, music, and visual arts. This
proposal did not move forward due to stakeholder concerns.
The primary objections raised to the establishment of these
credentials have been that 1) the establishment of these
credentials represents an unnecessary, and potentially
precedent-setting, proliferation of credential types, 2) more
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narrow credentials may make holders less employable, and 3) more
narrow credentials may make it more difficult for districts,
particularly smaller districts which have small enrollments in
these subjects, to hire qualified teachers.
Alignment between dance and theatre content standards and
credentialing requirements. Current law authorizes the
establishment of content standards in visual and performing
arts, English language arts, and physical education. The CTC
aligns its subject matter preparation requirements to the
state's content standards.
While credentialing requirements place dance and theatre in
physical education and English subjects, the state's academic
content standards in those subjects are found in the Visual and
Performing Arts (VAPA) standards, which cover music, dance,
theatre, and visual arts. This means that while all four of the
VAPA disciplines have discrete content standards, two of them
have single subject credentials aligned to the standards, and
two do not. It also means that teachers undergoing preparation
for dance and theatre must be prepared in content standards
which are different from those specific to the subject they
intend to teach.
The 2013 TAP report to the CTC illustrated the preparation
alignment issues in dance and theatre. For dance, the TAP noted
that the VAPA framework directs teachers to instruct students on
the concepts of time, space, force/energy use, costume, setting,
music/rhythm, choreography and cultural context, and that in
order to master these concepts students "must be engaged with a
wide range of materials and be given ample opportunity to
develop and apply their dance concepts, artistic skills,
aesthetic sense, and vocabulary." The TAP noted that, in
contrast, the physical education framework directs teachers to
instruct students on "understanding and mastering the movements
needed to perform physical activities and acquiring the
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knowledge base and habits needed to maintain physical fitness
and health." The TAP concluded that the frameworks "clearly
emphasize different bodies of knowledge and different
applications, each with distinct intellectual and disciplinary
roots."
Similarly, the TAP noted that while both the theatre standards
and the (2007) English language arts standards emphasize the
interpretation and understanding of text and its
historical/cultural/social context, the VAPA standards for
theatre include a number of additional concepts not found in the
English/language arts standards, including "the vocabulary of
theatre (acting values, style, genre and theme), the historical
and cultural roles of the theatre, the social, cultural,
political and artistic contexts that produced genres of and key
works in theatre, elements of interpretation and dramatic
performance techniques, knowledge of the technical aspects of
theatrical productions in multiple media, and knowledge of the
key roles in theatrical productions (director, actor, stage
manager, costume designer, etc.)." The TAP also noted that the
theatre standards include a heavier emphasis on multiple media
for the theatre arts (stage, film/video, electronic media) than
is included the English/language arts standards.
Future of the existing authorization. While the bill adds the
authority for the CTC to issue single subject credentials in
dance and theatre, it does not appear to expressly prohibit the
continued use of the existing credentials to teach dance and
theatre courses. Maintaining this pathway would allow teachers
to decide between obtaining a broader or more narrow
authorization, and would give districts the same choice in
hiring. The continuation of this option was recommended in the
2013 TAP report to the CTC.
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Analysis Prepared by:
Tanya Lieberman / ED. / (916) 319-2087 FN: 0004060