House Bill 0417c1

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    Florida House of Representatives - 2000              CS/HB 417

        By the Committee on Colleges & Universities and
    Representatives Henriquez, C. Smith, Waters, Rojas and J.
    Miller




  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to teacher preparation;

  3         requiring the University of South Florida to

  4         develop and establish a teacher preparation

  5         program; providing requirements regarding

  6         scholarships; requiring student participants to

  7         fulfill a teaching requirement; requiring

  8         repayment of funds received through the program

  9         under certain circumstances; limiting

10         implementation of the program to the amount

11         funded in the General Appropriations Act;

12         providing an effective date.

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14  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

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16         Section 1.  By July 1, 2001, the University of South

17  Florida shall develop and establish at its Tampa campus a

18  rigorous teacher preparation program for highly talented

19  students. The program shall be conducted in conformance with

20  the following requirements:

21         (1)  When fully operational, the program must serve 40

22  students per year; 20 of whom must be a cohort of students in

23  their junior year, and 20 of whom must be a cohort of students

24  in their senior year.

25         (2)  The program, which shall build upon the documented

26  success of the SunCoast Area Teacher Training Program, must

27  provide the following services to prepare prospective

28  teachers:

29         (a)  Specific preparation for teaching in urban

30  schools.

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    Florida House of Representatives - 2000              CS/HB 417

    184-295-00






  1         (b)  Training in research-proven strategies regarding

  2  effective communication skills.

  3         (c)  Training in classroom management techniques and

  4  content-based instruction that impact student achievement.

  5         (d)  Internship stipends of $3,000 per student.

  6         (e)  Mentors who are selected and trained.

  7         (f)  Collaborative coaching provided by both the school

  8  district and the university during the first year of

  9  employment.

10         (g)  A process of both formative and summative

11  evaluation, on the results of which services provided by the

12  program will be based.

13         (3)  Participants must be recruited from among students

14  receiving a Florida Academic Scholarship or a Florida Merit

15  Scholarship.

16         (4)  Participants in the program shall, upon

17  graduation, be required to teach at least 3 years in a Florida

18  public school within the University of South Florida service

19  area that has been designated as performance grade category

20  "D" or "F," according to s. 229.57, Florida Statutes. If the

21  school at which the participant is employed is removed from

22  the list of schools designated as performance grade category

23  "D" or "F," the participant may choose either to remain at

24  that school, without penalty, or transfer to another

25  low-performing school. Participants who fail to fulfill the

26  teaching requirement under this subsection shall be required

27  to repay the University of South Florida a prorated portion of

28  the amount of annual assistance received through the program,

29  excluding Florida Academic Scholarship and Florida Merit

30  Scholarship funds, for each year of the unfulfilled teaching

31  commitment.

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida House of Representatives - 2000              CS/HB 417

    184-295-00






  1         (5)  This program shall be implemented to the extent

  2  specifically funded in the General Appropriations Act.

  3         Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2000.

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