BILL ANALYSIS
AB 148
Page 1
Date of Hearing: March 18, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
AB 148 (Coto) - As Amended: March 10, 2009
SUBJECT : Commission on Teacher Credentialing: study on
transformational leadership.
SUMMARY : Requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing
(CTC) to conduct a study to recommend more effective paths to
transformational leadership through the administrative services
credential process on the part of school principals and leaders.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Directs the CTC to conduct a one-year study inclusive of
recent research and successful professional development
practices to recommend more effective paths to
transformational leadership through the administrative
services credential process on the part of school principals
and leaders, and should define how the transformational
leadership philosophies, knowledge, values, skills, behaviors
and competencies can be added as part of the initial
preliminary and/or professional clear credential process and
as an authorization added to an administrative services
credential for those already credentialed.
2)Requires the study to do all of the following:
a) Determine whether the commission should recommend to
credentialing programs to add an authorization in
transformational leadership to administrative services
credentials.
b) Determine how to amend the existing administrative
services credential requirements to include demonstration
that the standards for transformational leadership have
been met.
c) Examine the standards for school leadership to determine
whether they include the requisite standards for
transformational leadership or should be revised to add
standards or delete less critical standards.
d) Recommend the means by which a person seeking to obtain
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an administrative services credential or transformational
leadership authorization can demonstrate mastery of the
standards necessary to serve as transformational leaders in
schools.
3)Authorizes the study to include recommendations for leadership
coaching, leadership induction, networking and seminars, data
tracking, and the relationship between preliminary and
professional clear administrative services credentialing in
terms of transformational leadership.
4)Defines "transformational leadership" as the body of knowledge
and set of skills needed to transform an organization.
5)Requires the study to be conducted between July 1, 2010, and
June 30, 2011; the CTC to report its findings to the
Legislature by no later than December 31, 2011; and repeals
this code section on January 1, 2012.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires candidates for the preliminary administrative
services credential to meet the following requirements:
a) A valid teaching or services credential;
b) Three years of successful fulltime teaching in the
classroom or three years of experience in the person's
service credential area;
c) Completion of a program of professional preparation in
administrative services, or a one year internship in an
equivalent program; and,
d) Current employment in an administrative position.
(Education Code Section 44270)
2)Requires candidates for the professional administrative
services credential to meet the following requirements:
a) A valid preliminary administrative services credential;
b) Two years of successful administrative experience; and,
c) Completion of a program of advanced professional
preparation in administrative services. (Education Code
Section 44270.1)
3)Establishes the Administrator Training Program and expresses
Legislative intent to provide site and central district
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administrator's ongoing opportunities to improve their
management and leadership skills; and, requires the
Superintendent of Public Instruction to award grants through
the Administrator Training Program for training in the
following area, among others:
a) Extension of the leadership knowledge, skills, and
abilities acquired in the preliminary administrative
preparation program that are designed to strengthen the
ability of school administrators to effectively and
efficiently lead an organization and build the capacity of
staff to enhance the academic performance of all pupils,
including special emphasis on providing additional support
to pupils identified as English language learners and
individuals with exceptional needs. (Education Code Section
44681 and 44511)
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the CTC, the cost of the study
would be minor and absorbable, and could be completed within the
Commission's normal workload.
COMMENTS : AB 148 directs the CTC to undertake a year long
study, from July 2010 through June 2011, of the relationship
between transformational change and the administrative services
credentialing process. Further, the bill requires the CTC to
report to the Legislature by December 2011, with recommendations
and proposed action as a result of the study.
The Standards of Quality and Effectiveness for Administrative
Services Credentials, as adopted by the CTC in 2003, include
several areas where administrative services credential
candidates must develop their leadership capacity as it relates
to being an instructional leader, managing a team of educators,
developing community leadership roles, and effectively leading
in a diverse work environment, among other things. There are a
few standards that specifically touch on leadership as it
relates to this bill. For example, Standard 3 on the
Development of Professional Perspectives requires Administrative
Service Credential programs to "develop each candidate's
understanding of how successful resource management affects
successful instructional leadership." Standard 6 is titled
Opportunities to Learn Instructional Leadership and focuses on
"The program provides an opportunity for the candidate to learn
about political, societal, economic, legal and cultural
influences on schools. By augmenting the candidate's knowledge
of these interconnections, the program develops the candidate's
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ability to understand, respond to, and influence the larger
political, social, economic, legal and cultural context of
schools and leadership."
While the current standards address the importance of an
administrator's understanding the importance of instructional
leadership and the way leadership can create cultural changes in
schools, the author thinks that administrators should receive
training specifically in the area of transformational leadership
to promote school reform.
In recent years the education community in California has
discussed the importance reforming California's schools and
often the center of that discussion revolves around the notion
that school reform is clearly a result of strong leadership from
principals and administrators. Some of California's most
improved schools have been a direct result of transformational
change inspired by the school's principal. Results from these
traditionally low achieving schools, suddenly making large gains
in student achievement, are often directly correlated with
strong leadership from principals who are able to make
transformational changes in the school's culture. Some question
whether principals with these unique leadership qualities can be
taught these skills or whether these skills are inherent to the
individual person. The study proposed by AB 148 could
potentially help answer that question by outlining the possible
ways that administrative services credential candidates can
demonstrate these skills prior to obtaining their credential.
According to the author, the purpose of AB 148 is to ensure that
school principals and other school leaders possess the
knowledge, skills and values to facilitate the fundamental
change called for in California's public schools. The bill is
prompted by a commitment to the Multiple Pathways approach to
creating students post-secondary readiness. It includes 1)
Preparation of students for postsecondary education and career,
2) Connecting academics to real-world applications, 3) Leading
students to the full range of postsecondary opportunities, and
4) Improving student achievement. The bill calls for the
Commission on Teacher Credentialing to complete a study to
determine means for administrative services candidates to
possess knowledge and skills and be able to demonstrate mastery
of transformational change as part of the administrative
services credentialing process. The bill also calls upon the
CTC to make recommendations regarding possible changes to the
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administrative credentialing curriculum, and/or propose a
supplementary authorization, and/or create a new and specific
transformational leadership administrative credential.
According to the author, California and the world have ample
evidence of the difficulty in bringing about long term,
sustained, systemic change and improvement to California's
schools. This difficulty is especially true at the middle and
high school levels. Part of the difficulty in bringing about
change is that school leaders very often do not possess the
knowledge, values or skills required to bring about change.
Principals and school leaders wind up in the unenviable position
of being asked to move bureaucracies which are incredibly
difficult to change without knowledge and skills in
organizational change. One could make a case that it is a 'set
up' - asking a leader to do something he/she is totally
unprepared to do. Not surprisingly, few schools, especially few
middle and high schools, have brought about sustained change and
improvement.
According to the CTC's analysis of the bill, "The Commission
periodically reviews the structure and standards related to
specific credential types. The requirement in AB 148, that the
Commission examine current program standards and opportunities
for current and future school administrators to develop skills
as leaders in an era of needed change, is in line with the types
of questions and issues discussed as a part of the Commission's
credential review process." In addition, the CTC will be
examining the administrative services credential this fall at
their annual symposium, which could lead to discussions in the
future regarding the structure of the credential process.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Chelsea Kelley / ED. / (916) 319-2087