BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 751|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 751
Author: Romero (D), et al
Amended: 6/24/09
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 7-0, 4/15/09
AYES: Romero, Huff, Hancock, Liu, Maldonado, Padilla,
Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Alquist, Simitian
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SENATE FLOOR : 36-0, 5/18/09 (Consent)
AYES: Aanestad, Alquist, Ashburn, Benoit, Calderon,
Cogdill, Corbett, Correa, Cox, Denham, DeSaulnier,
Ducheny, Dutton, Hancock, Harman, Hollingsworth, Huff,
Kehoe, Leno, Liu, Lowenthal, Maldonado, Negrete McLeod,
Oropeza, Padilla, Pavley, Runner, Simitian, Steinberg,
Strickland, Walters, Wiggins, Wolk, Wright, Wyland, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Cedillo, Florez, Romero, Vacancy
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-0, 8/27/09 (Consent) - See last page
for vote
SUBJECT : Teacher credentials
SOURCE : Commission on Teacher Credentialing
DIGEST : This bill (1) streamlines the credential
application process for out-of-state teachers who were
CONTINUED
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prepared outside the United States and (2) establishes
requirements for local education agencies that provide test
preparation courses for teachers seeking a subsequent
credential.
Assembly Amendments made revision to the legislative
funding and declaration section only.
ANALYSIS : Existing law authorizes the Commission on
Teacher Credentialing (CTC) to issue preliminary and clear
teaching credentials to teachers prepared in countries
other than the United States who meet specified criteria
including the possession of a baccalaureate or higher
degree determined to be equivalent to a degree offered by a
regionally accredited institution in the United States and
completion of a professional preparation program approved
by a government agency in the country where the program was
completed.
Existing law (SB 1209, [Scott], Chapter 517, 2006)
established credential requirements for out-of-state
teachers that are consistent with requirements for
candidates prepared in California, including possession of
a valid elementary, secondary, or special education
teaching credential, possession of a baccalaureate degree
from a regionally accredited institution of higher
education, completion of a teacher preparation program,
training to teach English language learners, and other
requirements as specified.
Existing law requires candidates earning a single subject
teaching credential to demonstrate subject matter knowledge
either by completion of a baccalaureate subject matter
program approved by the CTC or by passage of a subject
matter examination in the subject area to be taught and
further establishes this requirement as a prerequisite for
a teaching assignment.
Existing law requires the CTC to select, administer, and
interpret subject matter examinations. The CTC has adopted
a series of subject matter examinations for prospective
teachers who choose to meet the subject matter competence
requirement by examination called the California Subject
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Examinations for Teachers (CSET).
This bill:
1. Requires the CTC to issue a multiple subject, single
subject, or education specialist teaching credential to
a teacher prepared in a country other than the United
States who has earned a valid corresponding elementary,
secondary, or special education teaching credential in
another state and meets requirements for out-of-state
credential applicants.
2. Specifies that a corresponding elementary, secondary, or
special education teaching credential earned in another
state satisfies the teacher preparation program
requirements for out-of-country teachers.
3. Requires a school district, county office of education,
or charter school that provides examination preparation
courses that prepare credentialed teachers to take a
subject matter examination to do all of the following:
(1) Ensure that the program meets the domains for
subject matter understanding and skill adopted by
the CTC in the content area (i.e. ensure that the
course content is aligned to the CSET.
(2) Provide general information to teacher
participants, on the requirements for adding a new
credential type that may include, but need not be
limited to, credential information available on the
Internet website of the CTC.
4. Authorizes a school district, county office of
education, or charter school that provides intensive
examination preparation courses to contract with other
entities to provide the courses.
Comments
Out-of-country prepared teachers . California's credential
application process for teachers prepared in countries
outside the United States requires applicants to obtain a
foreign transcript evaluation (which can cost $200 or more)
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to determine that the university or college degree earned
in the foreign country is equivalent to degrees earned by
candidates who are prepared in the United States.
Currently, this process applies both to individuals who
come to California directly from their home country and to
teachers who first earn a credential in another state and
underwent a transcript evaluation to satisfy requirements
in that state. Requiring out-of-state teachers who
completed their teacher training outside the U.S. to
undergo a second transcript evaluation creates an
inequitable and costly barrier to the California teaching
credential.
According to the CTC, requirements for teachers prepared
outside the United States are comparable from state to
state: (1) states require a foreign transcript evaluation
to verify the candidate holds a Bachelor's degree or higher
that is equivalent to one earned in the United States and
has completed a teacher preparation program, (2) candidates
must have received or be qualified to receive a full
credential in the country in which there were prepared, and
(3) candidates to meet subject matter competence
requirements in order to earn a full, non-provisional
credential.
By correcting an inequity in the current application
process, for this subset of out-of-state teachers, SB 751
could increase the pipeline of fully prepared teachers into
California while assuring that teachers who received their
teacher training in another country possess the training
and knowledge necessary to teach in California classrooms.
Test preparation . For several years, California has had a
chronic and persistent shortage of qualified teachers in
certain subjects including mathematics, science, and
foreign languages. When schools are unable to recruit
fully qualified teachers, they often hire underprepared
teachers or assign teachers with a credential in one
content area to teach "out of field" one of these subjects.
The Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning (CFTL)
has reported that while the number of underprepared
teachers has declined on a statewide basis from 14 percent
in 2000-01 to five percent in 2007-08, the number of
underprepared teachers, including out of field teachers,
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tend to be concentrated in schools and communities that
serve the most economically disadvantaged students. In its
2008 report on California's Teaching Force, the CFTL
reported that students in the lowest achieving schools are
14 times more likely to have more than one underprepared
teacher than students in higher achieving schools.
The Credential Counselors and Analysts of California
indicate that a number of universities and local education
agencies offer test preparation programs to enable
underprepared or out of field teachers to meet state
requirements for content knowledge of the subjects they
teach. To the extent that local education agencies make
test preparation courses available, this bill could make it
easier for out of field teachers to demonstrate the subject
matter knowledge required for a subsequent credential and
help schools address local teacher shortages.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/28/09)
Commission on Teacher Credentialing (source)
California Federation of Teachers
California School Boards Association
California Teachers Association
Los Angeles County Office of Education
San Francisco Unified School District
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,
Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon,
DeVore, Duvall, Emmerson, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong,
Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore,
Hagman, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman,
Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Krekorian, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie
Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande,
Niello, Nielsen, John A. Perez, V. Manuel Perez,
Portantino, Ruskin, Salas, Silva, Skinner, Smyth,
Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres,
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Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada
NO VOTE RECORDED: Evans, Fuentes, Hall, Saldana, Bass,
Vacancy
DLWL:do 8/28/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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