BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1
Author: Monning (D)
Amended: As introduced
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 8-1, 6/17/09
AYES: Romero, Alquist, Hancock, Liu, Maldonado, Padilla,
Simitian, Wyland
NOES: Huff
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 51-28, 4/13/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Teachers: program of professional growth:
conflict
resolution
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill authorizes an individual program of
professional growth for teachers to include courses in
negotiation, mediation and conflict resolution.
ANALYSIS : Existing law requires the Commission on
Teacher Credentialing to establish standards and procedures
for the issuance and renewal of teaching credentials.
Existing law expresses the Legislature's intent to
encourage teachers to engage in an individual program of
professional growth that extends a teacher's content
knowledge and teaching skills. Existing law provides that
an individualized program of professional growth may
CONTINUED
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consist of specified activities and courses.
This bill:
1. Authorizes an individual program of professional growth
to include courses in negotiation, mediation and
conflict resolution, including peer mediation training
and the theory and practice of nonviolence.
2. Specifies courses may include the following components:
A. Basic negotiation skills.
B. Communication skills, including cross-cultural
communication.
C. Basic mediation and peer mediation training.
D. Theory and practice of nonviolence and peace
building.
3. Specifies a teacher who elects to pursue a course in
negotiation, mediation and conflict resolution, may
introduce appropriate conflict resolution skills to
pupils through classroom instruction, including, but not
limited to, the core curriculum areas of reading,
writing, mathematics, history/social science, and
science.
Comments
Current efforts . All new teachers receive, as part of
their credential program, training in conflict resolution,
school safety, and cross-cultural awareness. The existing
standards for both multiple and single subject teacher
preparation programs require teacher candidates to have
"opportunities to learn and practice effective strategies
and techniques for crisis prevention, conflict management
and resolution in ways that contribute to respectful,
effective learning environments, including recognizing and
defusing situations that may lead to student conflict or
violence."
In addition to the training received in their teacher
credential program, principals receive, in the course of
their administrative credential preparation programs,
further training that relates to cross-cultural
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communication, creating safe and equitable school settings,
supporting the success of all students and all subgroups of
students, working with stakeholder groups, problem solving,
and conflict management. Programs that prepare pupil
personnel service providers (such as school counselors)
also require candidates to demonstrate knowledge and
understanding of school safety and violence prevention
including effectiveness in using "negotiation skills,
conflict management skills, and mediation skills to help
school staff communicate with difficult and or angry
parents, pupils, teachers and other school staff."
The state has provided support for school safety and
conflict resolution training through programs such as the
Administrator Training Program and the Carl Washington
School Safety and Violence Block Grant. The School Safety
Consolidated Competitive Grant program includes funding to
enable schools to initiate comprehensive programs that
teach students how to resolve disputes without resorting to
violence. These programs are included in the categorical
program flexibility (Tier III), allowing school districts
to use these program funds for any educational purpose.
Finally, the state's Health Education Content standards for
K-12 students require the curriculum to help students
develop effective communication and conflict resolution
skills and the History-Social Science Content standards
help students understand how historical events are shaped
by conflict.
What other states are doing . Other states, such as Ohio,
have implemented statewide dispute resolution and conflict
management programs that provide resources and training to
Ohio schools. North Carolina requires teacher training
programs to include coursework in management of student
behavior and effective communication techniques for
defusing and deescalating disruptive or dangerous behavior.
Some North Carolina schools have resource coordinators
that research and select conflict resolution educational
programs to incorporate into existing curriculum for
students at the school. Illinois requires schools to
provide instruction in violence prevention and conflict
resolution to students in grades 4 through 12.
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FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/18/09)
California Teachers Association
California Association of School Counselors
California Dispute Resolution Council
California Federation of Teachers
Civil Justice Association of California
OPPOSITION : (Verified 6/18/09)
Office of the Secretary of Education
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
conflict resolution represents a range of processes that
can be employed to reduce or eliminate conflict or to take
advantage of a mutual opportunity. Conflict resolution
processes include negotiation, basic and peer mediation,
arbitration, and diplomacy. Today's teachers often find
themselves confronting societal pressures and stresses
manifested in the classroom. Diversity in student
population, conflict at home, and bullying by peers
represent examples of conflict that directly or indirectly
confront teachers. Additionally, students face an array of
conflict and negotiations in virtually all of life's
arenas: home, school, employment, social groupings, etc.
Providing teachers with enhanced skills to address conflict
in the classroom or on the schoolyard as well as providing
the tools for the introduction of negotiation and mediation
skills to students through already established curriculum
will inure to the safety of our schools as well as to the
promotion of a culture of principled conflict resolution
practice.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The Governor's Office of the
Secretary of Education states: "Currently, the majority of
professional growth programs are provided by Institutions
of Higher Education (IHEs) that offer teacher credentialing
programs and those programs already address conflict
resolution practices in their curriculum. While the
professional growth programs suggested by your bill would
provide an opportunity for new and veteran teachers to
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enhance their skill sets, the current Commission on Teacher
Credentialing (CTC) standards for multiple and single
subject credentials provide a much more extensive outline
of what's needed to succeed in a K-12 classroom setting.
Since the IHEs serve as the primary professional growth and
teacher credential providers, it is appropriate that they
design their own delivery systems to support teacher
training and professional development.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Ammiano, Arambula, Beall, Block, Blumenfield,
Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Chesbro, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, Eng, Evans,
Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Hall, Hayashi,
Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jones, Krekorian, Lieu,
Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Monning, Nava, John A.
Perez, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas,
Saldana, Skinner, Solorio, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres,
Torrico, Yamada, Bass
NOES: Adams, Anderson, Bill Berryhill, Tom Berryhill,
Blakeslee, Conway, Cook, DeVore, Duvall, Emmerson,
Fletcher, Fuller, Gaines, Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman,
Jeffries, Knight, Logue, Miller, Nestande, Niello,
Nielsen, Silva, Smyth, Audra Strickland, Tran, Villines
NO VOTE RECORDED: Harkey
DLW:mw 6/18/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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