BILL NUMBER: AB 1756 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 29, 2016
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.
Existing
(1) 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 2
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 4- or 5-year integrated program
of professional preparation that allows a student to earn a
baccalaureate degree and a preliminary multiple-
multiple or single-subject single
subject teaching credential, or an education specialist
instruction credential authorizing the holder to teach special
education, including student teaching requirements,
concurrently and within 4 or 5 years of study.
This bill would require the commission, as part of its
accreditation process, to collect specified information about
integrated programs of professional preparation.
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.
(2) Existing law requires that an integrated program of
professional preparation offered by the California State University
be designed to concurrently lead to a preliminary multiple subject or
single subject teaching credential and a baccalaureate degree.
This bill would instead require that an integrated program of
professional preparation offered by the California State University
be designed to concurrently lead to a preliminary multiple subject or
single subject teaching credential, or an education specialist
instruction credential authorizing the holder to teach special
education, and a baccalaureate degree.
This
(3) 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, four-year
integrated programs of professional preparation will support students
in a sustainable manner and for decades into the future.
SEC. 2. It is the intent of the Legislature that
this act not impose any additional restrictions on education
specialist instruction credential programs.
SEC. 2. SEC. 3. 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
four- or five-year integrated program of
professional preparation that allows a student to earn a
baccalaureate degree and a preliminary multiple-
multiple or single-subject single
subject teaching credential, or an education specialist
instruction credential authorizing the holder to teach
special education, including student teaching requirements,
concurrently and within four or five years of study.
(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.
(4) The commission shall, as part of its accreditation process,
collect information about integrated programs of professional
preparation, including which institutions offer integrated programs
and the number and type of credentials the programs produce.
(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, or an education specialist
instruction credential authorizing the holder to teach
special education, 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 of 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 subdivision 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 subdivision 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 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.
(D) To recruit individuals for participation as students in
four-year integrated programs of professional preparation.
(4) In awarding grants pursuant to the program, the commission
shall grant priority to proposals for the establishment of four-year
integrated programs of professional preparation designed to produce
teachers with either an education specialist instruction credential
authorizing the holder to teach special education or a single subject
area credential in a subject with chronic shortages of qualified
teachers.
(5) As a condition of the receipt of a grant, a postsecondary
institution shall provide to the commission program and outcome data
for at least three years after receiving the grant. The information
shall include program design and features, the number of graduates,
the number and type of credentials earned, the time taken to earn a
degree and credential, and any other information the commission may
require for the purpose of documenting the effect of the grant and
identifying effective practices in program design and implementation.
(4)
(6) 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)
(7) The requirements of this subdivision are contingent
upon the appropriation of funds for the
purposes of this subdivision in the annual Budget Act or another
statute.