BILL NUMBER: AB 351 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 934
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 12, 1997
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 12, 1997
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 11, 1997
PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 8, 1997
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 27, 1997
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 4, 1997
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 9, 1997
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 24, 1997
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 2, 1997
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 16, 1997
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 31, 1997
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Scott
(Coauthor: Senator Vasconcellos)
FEBRUARY 19, 1997
An act to amend Section 44300 of, and to add Article 5.6
(commencing with Section 44305) to Chapter 2 of Part 25 of, the
Education Code, relating to teacher credentialing.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 351, Scott. Teacher credentialing.
Existing law authorizes the Commission on Teacher Credentialing
(commission) to issue or renew emergency teaching or specialist
permits provided certain conditions are met. Existing law requires a
person holding an emergency teaching or specialist permit to attend
an orientation to the curriculum and to techniques of instruction and
classroom management, and to teach only with the assistance and
guidance of a certificated employee of the district who has completed
at least 3 years of full-time teaching experience or the equivalent
thereof. Existing law requires the commission to issue district
intern certificates authorizing persons employed by any school
district that maintains kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive,
or that maintains classes in bilingual education to provide classroom
instruction to pupils in those grades and classes. Existing law,
the Teacher Education Internship Act of 1967, authorizes a school
district, in cooperation with an approved college or university to
establish a teacher education internship program.
This bill would establish the Pre-Internship Teaching Program, and
authorize the commission as resources, as specified, are available
to school districts, to issue a pre-intern teaching certificate
instead of an emergency multiple subjects permit to an individual who
meets the minimum requirements set by the commission. The bill
would authorize the commission, when resources remain after funding
pre-interns pursuing a multiple subject emergency credential, to
issue a pre-intern teaching certificate instead of an emergency
single subject permit to an individual who is employed by a school
district approved by the commission and meets the minimum
requirements set by the commission. A pre-intern teaching
certificate would be valid for one year and would be renewable, as
specified. The minimum requirements for the pre-intern teaching
certificate would be required to include a baccalaureate or higher
degree, as specified, passage of the basic skills proficiency test,
and a specified number of units in the subject to be taught.
This bill would require the commission to establish criteria for
the approval of pre-internship teaching programs, as specified. This
bill would require the commission to evaluate the Pre-Internship
Teaching Program, as specified, and report its findings to the
Legislature and the Legislative Analyst by October 1, 2001.
This bill would provide that funding for administering the
Pre-Internship Teaching Program by the commission is contingent upon
an appropriation in the annual Budget Act or other act. The bill
would state the intent of the Legislature that specified federal
funding provided to the State Department of Education and the
Commission on Teacher Credentialing be adjusted to provide direct
funding for the Commission on Teacher Credentialing for the purposes
of the Pre-Internship Teaching Program and the California
Paraprofessional Teacher Training Program. The bill would declare
that the State Department of Education shall be held harmless for any
fiscal penalty exacted by the federal government for the
expenditures made by local education agencies or for state operations
if funds are provided for this program from the federal Goals 2000:
Educate America Act (P.L. 103-227) and the program does not meet the
requirements of that federal act.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(1) Approximately 100,000 teachers are employed in the elementary
schools of the state.
(2) Approximately 1,100 of these teachers are in paid internships
and receive systematic support and training as they advance toward
full certification.
(3) In the 1995-96 school year, over 6,400 elementary teachers
held emergency permits only. Most of these teachers have little
experience and no preparation for their teaching responsibilities.
(4) As a result of the implementation of the Class Size Reduction
program in the 1996-97 school year, the number of teachers with
emergency permits in elementary classrooms is expected to reach 8,000
or more.
(5) Most of the unprepared and untrained teachers with emergency
permits are employed in urban schools where pupils need the best
trained and most effective teachers.
(6) As a general rule, teachers with emergency permits get very
little training or support from the schools that employ them, in part
because there are no resources directed to help this group of
teachers. As a consequence, between 35 percent and 40 percent of all
teachers with emergency permits in both elementary and secondary
schools do not teach beyond the first year.
(b) The Legislature recognizes that the success of programs like
the Class Size Reduction Program in the primary grades is dependent
on the quality of the teachers who work in the schools.
(c) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature that all of the
following occur:
(1) The commission examine the feasibility of better preparing and
retaining pre-interns by providing them with early, focused, and
intensive preparation in the subject matter they are assigned to
teach and development in classroom management, pupil discipline, and
basic instruction methodologies, and by assisting pre-interns to
progress into a teacher internship program as expeditiously as
possible.
(2) The innovation of replacing the emergency permit system with
intensive pre-intern preparation and development be implemented
through a process involving the granting of competitive grants to
school districts.
(3) Regular reports be provided to the Legislature regarding the
impact of the Pre-Internship Teaching Program, including a final
report regarding whether the program should be continued, modified,
or discontinued.
(d) Further, the Legislature recognizes that the success of a
local program to assist in the development of unprepared and
untrained teachers requires the cooperation and participation of
governing boards, school administrators and the elected
representatives of teachers.
(e) Therefore, it is also the intent of the Legislature that
representatives of school boards, school administrators, and
classroom teachers participate in the development and implementation
of any program created to assist in the development of unprepared and
untrained teachers.
SEC. 2. Section 44300 of the Education Code is amended to read:
44300. (a) Commencing January 1, 1990, the commission may issue
or renew emergency teaching or specialist permits in accordance with
regulations adopted by the commission corresponding to the credential
types specified in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of subdivision (b)
of Section 44225, provided that all of the following conditions are
met:
(1) The applicant possesses a baccalaureate degree conferred by a
regionally accredited institution of higher education and has
fulfilled the subject matter requirements of Section 44301.
(2) The applicant passes the state basic skills proficiency test
as provided for in Section 44252.
(3) The commission approves the justification for the emergency
permit submitted by the school district in which the applicant is to
be employed. The justification shall include all of the following:
(A) Documentation that the district has made a diligent search
for, but has been unable to recruit, a sufficient number of
certificated teachers, including teacher candidates pursuing full
certification through internship, district internship, or other
alternative routes established by the commission.
(B) A declaration of need for fully qualified educators based on
the documentation set forth in subparagraph (A) and made in the form
of a motion adopted by the governing board of the district or the
county board of education at a regularly scheduled meeting of the
governing board or the county board of education. The motion may not
be part of the consent agenda and shall be entered in the minutes of
the meeting.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that all of the following
occur:
(1) The commission shall issue pre-intern certificates in place of
emergency teaching permits as sufficient resources are made
available to school districts to provide services pursuant to Article
5.6 (commencing with Section 44305) to pre-interns pursuing multiple
subject or single subject teaching credentials.
(2) If the examination of the Pre-internship Teaching Program
required by this chapter demonstrates that the program should
continue because it has been successful in better preparing and
retaining pre-intern teachers than the emergency permit system,
sufficient resources to fully fund the Pre-Internship Teaching
Program shall be appropriated by July 2002. For purposes of this
paragraph, two thousand dollars ($2,000) in state funding per
pre-intern shall be deemed to be sufficient resources.
(3) The commission shall continue to issue emergency teaching
permits to individuals employed by school districts defined in
regulations as remote from regionally accredited institutions of
higher education.
(c) Commencing January 1, 1990, the commission may issue and
reissue emergency permits corresponding to the credential types
specified in paragraph (4) of subdivision (b) of Section 44225. The
commission shall establish appropriate standards for each type of
emergency permit specified in paragraph (4) of subdivision (b) of
Section 44225.
(d) The exclusive representative of certificated employees, if
any, as provided under Chapter 10.7 (commencing with Section 3540) of
Division 4 of Title 1 of the Government Code, may submit a written
statement to the commission agreeing or disagreeing with the
justification submitted to the commission pursuant to paragraph (3)
of subdivision (a).
(e) Commencing January 1, 1990, a person holding an emergency
teaching or specialist permit shall attend an orientation to the
curriculum and to techniques of instruction and classroom management,
and shall teach only with the assistance and guidance of a
certificated employee of the district who has completed at least
three years of full-time teaching experience, or the equivalent
thereof. It is the intent of the Legislature to encourage districts
to provide directed teaching experience to new emergency
permitholders with no prior teaching experience.
(f) The holder of an emergency permit shall participate in ongoing
training, coursework, or seminars designed to prepare the individual
to become a fully credentialed teacher or other educator in the
subject area or areas in which he or she is assigned to teach or
serve. The employing agency shall verify that employees applying to
renew their emergency permits are meeting these ongoing training
requirements.
(g) Emergency permits for pupil personnel services shall not be
valid for the purpose of determining pupil eligibility for placement
in any special education class or program.
(h) This section shall not apply to the issuance of an emergency
substitute teaching permit, or of an emergency permit to a teacher
who has consented to teach temporarily outside of his or her field of
certification, for which the commission shall establish minimum
requirements.
SEC. 3. Article 5.6 (commencing with Section 44305) is added to
Chapter 2 of Part 25 of the Education Code, to read:
Article 5.6. California Pre-Internship Teaching Program
44305. (a) As resources are available to school districts to
provide services to any pre-intern pursuant to this article, the
commission may issue a pre-intern teaching certificate instead of an
emergency multiple subjects permit to an individual employed by a
school district approved by the commission who meets the minimum
requirements set by the commission. When resources remain after
funding pre-interns pursuing multiple subject emergency permits, the
commission may issue a pre-intern teaching certificate instead of an
emergency single subject permit to an individual employed by a school
district approved by the commission who meets the minimum
requirements set by the commission. In implementing the
Pre-Internship Teaching Program, the commission shall consult with
representatives of the State Department of Education, classroom
teachers, school administrators, other school employees, parents,
school board members, and institutions of higher education.
(b) The pre-intern teaching certificate issued by the commission
shall be valid for one year, but may be renewed for one additional
year if the holder takes the appropriate subject matter examination
required under Section 44282. A pre-intern teacher who passes the
subject matter examination in the first or second year of his or her
pre-intern teaching shall enroll in a district or university teaching
internship or other approved university teaching credential program.
A pre-intern teaching certificate may be renewed for a third year
if the employing school district, the cooperating college or
university, and the pre-intern support the application for renewal.
(c) The minimum requirements for the pre-intern teaching
certificate established by the commission shall include all of the
following:
(1) A baccalaureate or higher degree conferred by a regionally
accredited institution of higher education.
(2) Passage of the basic skills proficiency test as provided for
in Section 44252.
(3) The number of units, as set by the commission, in the subject
to be taught.
(d) The commission shall establish criteria for the approval of
pre-intern teaching programs. The criteria shall include, but is not
limited to, all of the following:
(1) Demonstrated need, as indicated by the percentage of teachers
in the district that have not completed basic credential requirements
pursuant to state law.
(2) The quality of the preparation, support, and assistance to be
provided to teaching pre-interns.
(3) Cost effectiveness, including the number of pre-interns to be
served.
(4) Collaboration between district administrators and experienced
teachers with permanent status in the development of the plan.
(5) District and college or university collaboration to ensure
availability of courses needed by pre-intern teachers.
(6) Pre-intern preparation content, including lesson planning,
classroom management and organization, and a schedule for delivering
the preparation, with a focus on beginning the preparation before or
during the first semester of the pre-internship.
(7) The role of personnel, including experienced teachers with
permanent status, in the delivery of pre-intern preparation and
support.
(8) That no later than the second year of employment the program
for each pre-intern shall reflect the California Standards for the
Teaching Profession jointly developed by the commission and the State
Department of Education.
(9) Approval of the district plan by the governing board of the
school district.
(e) In establishing criteria for review of pre-intern teaching
programs pursuant to subdivision (d), the commission shall make every
effort to recognize effective district programs for the support and
development of emergency permit teachers in operation before July 1,
1998, as meeting the pre-intern teaching program criteria.
(f) A school district may apply to the commission for funding
under this article. Based on the criteria in subdivision (d),
developed pursuant to the consultation process required by
subdivision (a), the commission shall determine which applicants are
approved for funding. If funds are provided for this act from the
federal Goals 2000: Educate America Act (P.L. 103-227), the
commission shall transmit a list of approved applicants to the State
Department of Education which shall award grants in a timely manner
exclusively to those school districts that the commission has
approved for funding, in the amounts listed, with no school district
receiving more than two thousand dollars ($2,000) per pre-intern
employed by the school district.
44306. The commission shall submit an interim report to the
Legislature and the Legislative Analyst no later than October 1,
2000, and a final report no later than October 1, 2001, to include
the following information regarding the Pre-Internship Teaching
Program:
(1) The number of participating school districts and pre-intern
teachers served.
(2) The impact of the program on decreasing the number of
emergency permits issued.
(3) The retention rates of pre-intern teachers, as compared to the
retention rates of emergency permitholders.
(4) The success rates of pre-intern teachers, by year of
participation in the program, in meeting requirements for subject
matter knowledge required by law.
(5) Assessments by pre-interns of the effectiveness of the
pre-intern preparation, support and assistance provided.
(6) A description of in-kind contributions to the pre-intern
teaching program provided by participating school districts.
(7) Recommendations regarding whether the Pre-Internship Teaching
Program should be continued, modified, or discontinued, including
reasons for those recommendations.
44307. This article shall be known and may be cited as the
Pre-Internship Teaching Program.
44307.5. The commission shall not require any school district to
provide pre-internship services to any individual holding an
emergency substitute teaching permit, any teacher who has completed
most of the requirements for a preliminary teaching credential, or
any teacher who holds a limited assignment emergency permit as a
result of consenting to teach temporarily outside of his or her field
of certification.
44308. (a) Funding for the purposes of administering the program
established pursuant to this article is contingent upon an
appropriation in the Budget Act or other act when specified.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that federal funding
provided to the State Department of Education and the Commission on
Teacher Credentialing in Item 6110-001-0890 and 6360-001-0407 be
adjusted to provide direct funding for the Commission on Teacher
Credentialing for the purposes of the Pre-Internship Teaching Program
and the California Paraprofessional Teacher Training Program. The
Department of Finance shall make any such adjustments using authority
of Section 1.50 of the Budget Act of 1997.
(c) If funds are provided for this act from the federal Goals
2000: Educate America Act (P.L. 103-227) and if the provisions of
this article do not meet the requirements of that federal act, the
State Department of Education shall be held harmless for any fiscal
penalty exacted by the federal government for the expenditures made
by local education agencies or for state operations.