BILL NUMBER: AB 1756 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 7, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Bonilla
FEBRUARY 2, 2016
An act to amend Section 44259.1 of the Education Code, relating to
teacher credentialing.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1756, as amended, Bonilla. Teacher credentialing: integrated
programs of professional preparation: field experiences:
student teaching. preparation.
Existing law establishes minimum requirements for the issuance of
a preliminary multiple or single subject teaching credential by the
Commission on Teacher Credentialing. Among other requirements,
existing law requires satisfactory completion of a program of
professional preparation accredited by the Committee on
Accreditation, but specifies that the program shall not include more
than two years of full-time study, except for certain programs,
including for integrated programs of subject matter and professional
preparation. Existing law requires an integrated program of
professional preparation to enable candidates for teaching
credentials to engage in professional preparation, concurrently with
subject matter preparation, while completing baccalaureate degrees at
regionally accredited postsecondary institutions, and to provide
opportunities for candidates to complete intensive field experiences
in public elementary and secondary schools early in the undergraduate
sequence.
This bill would require those intensive field experiences to
include student teaching.
This bill would authorize a postsecondary institution to offer a
4-year integrated program of professional preparation that allows a
student to earn a baccalaureate degree and a preliminary multiple- or
single-subject teaching credential, including student teaching
requirements, concurrently and within 4 years of study.
This bill would, contingent upon appropriation of funds in the
annual Budget Act or another statute, require the commission to
develop and implement a program to award 40 grants of $250,000 each
to postsecondary institutions for the development of transition plans
to guide the creation of 4-year integrated programs of professional
preparation, as provided.
This bill would make findings and declarations relating to
teachers and teacher credentialing.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all
of the following:
(a) In mid-October 2015, after the school year had begun, there
were more than 3,900 open teaching positions available in California.
(b) During the last decade, enrollment in teacher credentialing
programs has dropped more than 70 percent.
(c) Most students who would like to become teachers are required
to pay for a fifth year of school in order to earn their teaching
credentials.
(d) This fifth year in school costs these students an additional
year of tuition and living expenses and delays their entrance into
the workforce.
(e) These students must also complete their student teaching
requirements, and, during the period of student teaching, they have
no earning potential because they work full time without
compensation.
(f) Ensuring that a student can earn a baccalaureate degree and
teaching credential and complete the required student teaching within
four years will decrease the amount of debt students must take on in
order to complete their teacher training.
(g) Creating four-year, integrated programs of professional
preparation will support students in a sustainable manner and for
decades into the future.
SECTION 1. SEC. 2. Section 44259.1
of the Education Code is amended to read:
44259.1. (a) (1) An integrated program of professional
preparation shall enable candidates for teaching credentials to
engage in professional preparation, concurrently with subject matter
preparation, while completing baccalaureate degrees at regionally
accredited postsecondary educational institutions. An integrated
program shall provide opportunities for candidates to complete
intensive field experiences, including student teaching, in public
elementary and secondary schools early in the undergraduate sequence.
The development and implementation of an integrated program shall be
based on intensive collaboration among subject matter departments
and education units within postsecondary educational institutions and
local public elementary and secondary school districts.
(2) A postsecondary institution may offer a four-year integrated
program of professional preparation that allows a student to earn a
baccalaureate degree and a preliminary multiple- or single-subject
teaching credential, including student teaching requirements,
concurrently and within four years of study.
(2)
(3) The commission shall encourage postsecondary
educational institutions to offer integrated programs of professional
preparation that follow the guidelines developed pursuant to this
section. In approving integrated programs, the commission shall not
compromise or reduce its standards of subject matter preparation
pursuant to Article 6 (commencing with Section 44310) or its
standards of professional preparation pursuant to paragraph (3) of
subdivision (b) of Section 44259.
(b) (1) Commencing with the 2005-06 school year, an integrated
program offered by the California State University shall be designed
to concurrently lead to a preliminary multiple subject or single
subject teaching credential, and a baccalaureate degree.
Recommendation for each shall be contingent upon satisfactory
completion of the requirements for each.
(2) By July 1, 2004, the Chancellor of the California State
University, in consultation with California State University faculty
members, shall develop a framework defining appropriate balance for
an integrated program of general education, subject matter
preparation, and professional education courses, for both lower
division and upper division students, including an appropriate range
of units to be taken in professional education courses. In developing
the framework, the Chancellor of the California State University and
California State University faculty members shall consult with the
Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges on matters
related to the effective and efficient use of, and appropriate role
for, lower division coursework in an integrated program.
(c) (1) By January 1, 2005, the Chancellor of the California State
University and the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges
shall collaboratively ensure that both of the following occur:
(A) Lower division coursework completed by a community college
student transferring to a California State University integrated
program is articulated with the corresponding coursework of the
California State University.
(B) The articulated community college lower division coursework is
accepted as the equivalent to the coursework offered to students who
enter that integrated program as freshman students.
(2) Commencing with the 2005-06 school year, each campus of the
California State University shall invite the community colleges in
its region that send significant numbers of transfer students to that
campus to enter into articulation agreements. These articulation
agreements shall be based on a fully transferable education
curriculum that is developed pursuant to the framework developed
under paragraph (2) of subdivision (b). Approval of one or more of
the articulation agreements will enable the coursework of a community
college student to be accepted as the equivalent to the coursework
offered to students who enter that integrated program as freshman
students.
(d) A postbaccalaureate program of professional preparation shall
enable candidates for teaching credentials to commence and complete
professional preparation after they have completed baccalaureate
degrees at regionally accredited institutions. The development and
implementation of a postbaccalaureate program of professional
preparation shall be based on intensive collaboration among the
postsecondary educational institution and local public elementary and
secondary school districts.
(e) The commission shall develop and implement a program to award
40 one-year grants of two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000)
each to postsecondary institutions for the development of transition
plans to guide the creation four-year integrated programs of
professional preparation.
(1) A postsecondary institution awarded a grant under this
subdivision may use the transition plan to create a new four-year
integrated program of professional preparation or to adapt an
existing integrated program of professional preparation.
(2) A postsecondary institution awarded a grant under this section
may partner with a California Community College to create a
four-year integrated program of professional preparation.
(3) A postsecondary institution awarded a grant under this section
may use grant funds for any proper purpose in support of planning
for a four-year integrated program of professional preparation,
including, but not limited to any of the following:
(A) To provide faculty release time to redesign existing courses.
(B) To provide program coordinators to assist in collaboration
with subject-matter professors and pedagogy professors.
(C) To create summer courses for students in a four-year
integrated program of professional preparation.
(4) The commission may reserve some of the 40 grants to provide a
second grant to some or all of the postsecondary institutions awarded
grants pursuant to this subdivision for the subsequent fiscal year.
(5) The requirements of this subdivision are contingent upon
appropriation of funds for purposes of this subdivision in the annual
Budget Act or another statute.