BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 933
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|Author: |Allen |
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|Version: |February 2, 2016 Hearing |
| |Date: March 16, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Lenin Del Castillo |
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Subject: Teachers: California Teacher Corps Act of 2016:
teacher residency programs
SUMMARY
This bill establishes the California Teacher Corps program that
would provide matching grants to local school districts to
create or expand teacher residency programs in which the funds
can be used to pay for master teacher stipends, stipends and
tuition for residents, and costs of mentoring and induction.
BACKGROUND
The 2013-14 Budget Act implemented the Local Control Funding
Formula (LCFF) and permanently consolidated the vast majority of
categorical programs, including the Beginner Teacher Support and
Assessment Program (an induction program of mentorship and
support for new teachers) and the Professional Development Block
Grant (which supported professional development activities such
as teacher recruitment and retention incentives) into a single
source of funding along with revenue limit apportionments. The
statutory and programmatic requirements for almost all of these
categorical programs were also eliminated, leaving any related
activities left to local districts' discretion. While school
districts may choose to undertake these activities with their
LCFF entitlements, the state has provided funding specifically
for teacher support activities. For example, as part of the
2015-16 Budget Act, the state provided $490 million in one-time
Proposition 98 funds for the educator effectiveness block grant,
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which school districts can use for a variety of teacher-related
purposes, such as professional development and beginning teacher
support and mentoring.
Existing law authorizes the Commission on Teacher Credentialing
to issue intern credentials as an alternate route to earning a
teaching credential. This credential is valid for a period of
two years and authorizes the holder to teach in a self-contained
classroom while completing their teacher preparation course
work. Approved intern programs are sponsored by colleges,
universities, school districts, or county offices of education.
To qualify, an individual must possess a bachelor's degree,
satisfy the basic skills requirements, meet subject matter
competence, and obtain character and identification clearance.
University intern programs are cooperative teaching, counseling,
school psychology, and administrative programs between a
university and an employing school district that are
administered by the university. District intern programs are
for teachers only and are administered by employing school
districts
whose programs may or may not involve university course work.
Completion of an intern program results in the issuance of a
preliminary or clear credential.
(Education Code § 44325, et seq.)
ANALYSIS
This bill:
1) Establishes the California Teacher Corps Act of 2016.
2) Makes various findings and declarations, as specified,
including:
a) The shortage of qualified teachers in
California is reaching critical levels in a number of
teaching areas.
b) Education experts agree that shortages
of effective teachers in high-poverty schools and in
specific teaching fields create a need for
high-quality teachers who will enter, stay in, and be
effective in, these areas.
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c) At least 30 percent of new teachers
leave the profession in the first five years, and the
proportions are generally higher in low-income
communities.
3) Makes the following definitions:
a) Experienced mentor teacher: teacher
who meets specified requirements, including at least
three years' teaching experience and a clear teaching
credential in the field in which he or she will be
mentoring, has taught in a high-need school, receives
specific training for the mentor teacher role, and
engages in ongoing professional learning and
networking with other mentors.
b) High-need local educational agency
(LEA): an LEA that is determined by the
Superintendent of Public Instruction to be among the
highest 40 percent of LEAs in the state in terms of
the percentage of unduplicated pupils, as specified.
c) High-need consortium of LEAs: two or
more LEAs, at least 50 percent of which are high-need
LEAs.
d) LEA: a school district, county office
of education, charter school, or charter management
organization.
e) Teacher residency program: a
school-based teacher preparation program that is
accredited by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing
and in which a prospective teacher does all of the
following:
i) Teaches at least one-half
time alongside a teacher of record, who is
designated as the mentor teacher, for at least
one full academic year while engaging in initial
preparation coursework.
ii) Receives instruction in specified
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areas, including the teaching of the content area
in which the teacher will become certified to
teach and the management of the classroom
environment.
iii) Receives tuition assistance that
eliminates training costs and provides a living
stipend.
iv) Attains a preliminary teaching
credential upon completion of the program.
v) Receives mentoring and
induction support following the completion of the
initial credential program necessary to obtain a
clear credential and ongoing professional
development and networking opportunities during
his or her first years of teaching.
vi) Has the option of completing a master's
degree before completion of the program.
4) Provides that a teacher residency program does all of the
following:
a) Seeks out academically able individuals
who expand the racial, ethnic, gender, and linguistic
diversity of the teaching force and meet hiring needs
of the local educational agency (LEA) for teachers in
difficult-to-fill content areas and hard-to-staff
schools. Admissions priorities are developed in
concert with the hiring objectives of the LEA, which
commits to hire graduates from the teacher residency
program who obtain a preliminary teaching credential,
pass the program's Teacher Performance Assessment if
that is a condition for receiving a license, and meet
the standards set for hiring.
b) Allows residents to learn to teach in
the same LEA, in which they will work, learning the
instructional initiatives and curriculum of the LEA.
c) Groups teacher candidates in cohorts to
facilitate professional collaboration among residents,
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and places them in teaching schools or professional
development programs that are organized to support a
high-quality teacher learning experience in a
supportive work environment.
d) Assigns a high priority to the
recruiting of mid-career professionals, military
veterans, and recent college graduates as prospective
participants in the teacher residency program.
e) Builds coursework for residents and
mentors around the classroom experience in ways that
are aligned to pupil needs.
f) Offers structured feedback and coaching
systems organized around the California Standards for
the Teaching Profession to ensure that participants
engage in a meaningful classroom teaching experience.
g) Ensures that candidates are prepared to
pass a teacher performance assessment if that is
required by the state as a condition of the initial
license.
h) Maintains a program evaluation system
that focuses on continual improvement for residents,
mentors, teacher education faculty, and the teacher
residency program itself.
i) Is developed collaboratively with
teacher representatives with the LEA.
5) Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction, from
funds made available for purposes of this chapter, to make
grants to high-need LEAs or high-need consortium of LEAs to
assist those agencies to establish and maintain teacher
residency programs. Provides that these LEAs shall work
with one or more teacher preparation institutions, and may
work with other community partners or nonprofit
organizations to develop and implement teacher residency
programs of preparation and mentoring for prospective
teachers who will be supported through teacher residency
program funds and subsequently employed by the sponsoring
LEA.
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6) Requires that to be eligible to participate in a teacher
residency program, a prospective participant must become
enrolled simultaneously in a teacher credentialing program
in a university or college or other eligible institution
that satisfies either of the following conditions:
a) It has entered into a written agreement
relating to that program with the high-need local
educational agency (LEA) or high-need consortium of
LEAs that is the recipient of a grant under this
chapter.
b) It has been determined to meet
professional preparation requirements, as specified,
by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing.
7) Requires a participant in a teacher residency program,
under the supervision of an experienced mentor teacher, to
complete not fewer than nine months of teaching a class or
set of classes in a school chosen by the high-need LEA that
is the recipient of a grant.
8) Requires a participant to agree in writing to be placed,
after successfully completing the initial year of
preparation, as a teacher of record in a school within the
high-need LEA.
9) Requires the placement to be for a period of at least four
school years, as specified. Provides that once a
participant is licensed, he or she shall be eligible to be
hired as a teacher in a high-need, underserved area or in a
high-need subject area.
10) Provides that a participant who fails to complete the
period of placement, or the first four school years of the
placement if the period is more than four school years, is
required to pay back the cost of the training on a pro rata
basis, relative to the amount of time served in proportion
to the total pledged.
11) Provides that if a participant is unable to complete an
academic year of teaching, that academic year may still be
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counted toward the required four complete and consecutive
academic years if any specified conditions occur, including
whether the participant has completed at least one-half of
the academic year or the employer deems the participant to
have fulfilled his or her contract requirements for the
academic year for the purposes of salary increases, tenure,
and retirement.
12) Provides that the grants provided shall be for a period of
no less than three school years, and may be in an annual
amount of up to thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) per
resident of the jurisdiction of the LEA, as matched by that
LEA, or a total of two million dollars ($2,000,000) over
three school years, as matched by that LEA, whichever is
less.
13) Provides that these funds may be applied to expenditures
for master teachers' stipends, stipends and tuition for
residents, teacher residency program management, and costs
of mentoring and induction following initial preparation.
14) Provides that the Superintendent of Public Instruction may
make an unspecified number of grants each fiscal year,
commencing with the 2017-18 fiscal year.
15) Prohibits a high-need local educational agency (LEA) or
consortium of LEAs from receiving more than one grant in
any fiscal year.
16) Requires a high-need LEA or consortium of LEAs to submit an
application at a time, in a manner, and containing
information prescribed by the Superintendent of Public
Instruction (SPI).
17) Requires the SPI to award grants on a competitive basis.
18) Requires the SPI to reserve up to three percent of the
funds appropriated for an evaluation of the program to
determine its effectiveness in recruiting and retaining
high-quality teachers in high-need teaching fields and
high-need schools.
19) Requires grant recipients to provide matching funds in an
amount equal to fifty percent of the funds provided to the
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LEA which may be provided by community partners,
institutions of higher education, or others.
20) Provides that this program shall not be implemented unless
funding for its purposes is provided in the annual budget
or another statute.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill. According to the author's office,
"California is ranked last in student-to-teacher ratios of
the 50 states in the country. The state would need 100,000
additional teachers just to increase that ratio to the
national average. At the same time, several other factors
have exacerbated the teacher shortage, including the
retirement of a large number of teachers, a decade of
teacher layoffs, and a decline in enrollment for teacher
credentialing programs. This decimated teaching pool has
created a teacher shortage that threatens to leave our
classrooms empty."
Additionally, the author's office notes that "research
indicates underprepared teachers are more likely to leave
the profession in the first five years, experiencing
frustration and a lack of job satisfaction. Studies show
teachers in residency programs are 50 percent more likely
to stay in the profession. Teacher training and mentorship
is particularly crucial to meeting the needs of a student
population that is increasingly diverse ethnically,
culturally, and socioeconomically."
SB 933 is part of a legislative package along with SB 915
(Liu) and SB 62 (Pavley) to help address the looming
teacher shortage. Specifically, SB 933 is intended to
address the demand for trained and credentialed teachers by
providing local school districts funds to recruit, train,
mentor, and retain teachers through residency programs.
The author believes this will also help ensure that a new
generation of teachers will be trained for success and
establish a pipeline for those teachers to serve in high
need districts where the teacher shortage is most severe.
2) Teacher shortage. The Learning Policy Institute (LPI)
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recently released a report, "Addressing California's
Emerging Teacher Shortage: An Analysis of Sources and
Solutions." In this report, the LPI included the following
summary: "After many years of teacher layoffs in
California, school districts around the state are hiring
again. With the influx of new K-12 funding, districts are
looking to lower student-teacher ratios and reinstate
classes and programs that were reduced or eliminated during
the Great Recession. However, mounting evidence indicates
that teacher supply has not kept pace with the increased
demand." The report included the following findings:
a) Enrollment in educator preparation programs has
dropped by more than 70 percent over the last decade.
b) In 2014-15, provisional and short-term permits
nearly tripled from the number issued two years
earlier, growing from about 850 to more than 2,400.
c) The number teachers hired on substandard permits
and credentials nearly doubled in the last two years,
to more than 7,700 comprising a third of all the new
credentials issued in 2014-15.
d) Estimated teacher hires for the 2015-16 school
year increased by 25 percent from the previous year
while enrollment in the University of California (UC)
and the California State University (CSU) teacher
education programs increased by only about 3.8
percent.
3) Learning Policy Institute (LPI) recommendations. The LPI
report offered several policy recommendations for
consideration. These recommendations include the
establishment of incentives to attract diverse, talented
individuals to teach in high-need locations and fields.
This can be accomplished through programs that provide
funding for candidates who prepare and teach in such
schools and subject areas, e.g. the Assumption Program of
Loans for Education, which is the focus of SB 62 (Pavley).
The report also recommends the creation of more innovative
pipelines into teaching, such as high school career
pathways or teacher preparation models that encourage and
support young people and others to go into teaching in
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their own communities. Additionally, the report indicates
that programs which allow novice teachers to teach in
classrooms under the direction of a mentor teacher are
linked to successful teachers who stay in the profession.
The LPI notes several findings regarding the teacher
residency model and the long-term benefits for school
districts and the students they serve. Specifically,
"initial research suggests that residencies bring greater
gender and racial
diversity in the teaching workforce" and that "rigorous
studies of teacher residency programs have found
significantly higher retention rates for graduates of these
programs."
4) Legislative Analyst Office (LAO) assessment. As part of
its Proposition 98 Education Analysis for the 2016-17
Governor's Budget released in February 2016, the LAO
includes a section on teacher workforce trends in which it
examines evidence for teacher shortages in specific areas,
identifies and assesses past policy responses to these
shortages, and raises issues for the Legislature to
consider going forward in terms of new policy responses.
In the report, the LAO indicates that the statewide teacher
market will help alleviate existing shortages over time and
that the shortages may decrease without direct state
action. However, the LAO notes there are perennial
staffing difficulties in specific areas, such as special
education, math, and science, for which they encourage the
Legislature to address with narrowly tailored policies
rather than with broad statewide policies. At the same
time, the report indicates that "teacher induction programs
have repeatedly been shown to significantly increase the
retention of new teachers."
5) Differences between teacher residencies and internships.
Teacher intern credentials authorize the credential holder
to be the teacher of record in a classroom while completing
and paying for his or her teacher preparation course work.
To qualify, an individual must possess a bachelor's degree,
satisfy the basic skills requirements, meet subject matter
competence, and obtain character and identification
clearance. Completion of an intern program results in the
issuance of a preliminary or clear credential.
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While teacher residency programs have many similarities,
there are several noteworthy differences. Typically, there
is up to a full-year of teaching alongside an expert mentor
teacher rather than being the teacher of record. There is
also added financial incentive for candidates under teacher
residency programs. This bill would allow the grants to be
used for a resident's tuition at his or her teacher
preparation program, unlike the existing intern model
whereby the teacher is responsible.
6) Funding priority. The bill currently requires the
Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI), in
administering the teacher residency program, to award the
grants on a competitive basis. However, it does not
prescribe any priority criteria so it is unclear what the
SPI would use in awarding the grants. To address this
issue, at the request of the author, staff recommends an
amendment to provide preference to applicants based upon
the amount of federal Title II (Part A) funds received per
pupil received by the applicant LEA. The author's office
indicates that this amendment would prioritize schools with
high needs, given the priority that Title II provides for
those with high poverty but also addresses the size of a
school. At the same time, it would allow all local
educational agencies (LEAs) to apply for a grant and ensure
a robust pool of applicants. Lastly, using this criteria
could point to existing Title II funds as a basis for a
matching grant.
As conforming amendments, at the request of the author,
staff also recommends to amend the definition of "high-need
LEA" by eliminating the 40 percent threshold for
unduplicated pupils and also eliminate the requirement that
a "high-need" consortium of LEAs consist of at least 50
percent of high-need LEAs.
7) Related legislation.
SB 62 (Pavley) makes various programmatic changes and
issues additional warrants for the existing Assumption
Program of Loans for Education. This bill is currently
pending in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
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SB 915 (Liu) re-stablishes the California Center on
Teaching Careers (Cal Teach) for the purpose of recruiting
qualified individuals into the teaching profession. This
bill passed this Committee on March 9, 2016, and is
currently pending in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
SUPPORT
California Association of Suburban School Districts
California Catholic Conference, Inc.
Common Sense Kids Action
EdVoice
Future is Now
Public Advocates
StudentsFirst
Students Matter
Superintendent of Public Instruction
OPPOSITION
None received.
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