CS/HB 7155

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to education; requiring every public
3	school to designate lead teachers in certain subject areas
4	to train and mentor teachers at their respective schools;
5	requiring school districts to appoint master trainers in
6	certain subject areas; requiring the Department of
7	Education to offer training and provide certain
8	information electronically; requiring the State Board of
9	Education to adopt rules relating to certain
10	qualifications for certification; establishing priorities
11	for mentoring; requiring school districts to provide
12	written statements regarding liability insurance coverage;
13	requiring the Office of Program Policy Analysis and
14	Government Accountability to study teacher preparation
15	programs and submit a report; requiring teacher
16	preparation programs to offer certain options; amending s.
17	1001.51, F.S.; permitting district school superintendents
18	to directly dismiss administrative personnel; amending s.
19	1004.04, F.S., relating to public accountability and state
20	approval for teacher preparation programs; requiring
21	programs to incorporate instruction regarding gifted and
22	academically talented student identification and
23	placement; requiring the department to establish an
24	electronic reporting system for approved teacher
25	preparation programs; permitting persons who are eligible
26	to participate as a mentor in the Dale Hickam Excellent
27	Teaching Program to supervise or direct teacher
28	preparation students during field experience courses or
29	internships; amending s. 1004.85, F.S.; requiring
30	postsecondary educator preparation institutes to guarantee
31	the quality of graduates; requiring institutes to provide
32	additional training to educators who fail to demonstrate
33	certain essential skills at no cost to the educator or
34	employer; amending s. 1012.32, F.S.; permitting background
35	screenings of individuals participating in student
36	teaching to be transferred among districts; amending s.
37	1012.56, F.S.; revising acceptable means of demonstrating
38	mastery of general knowledge for educator certification;
39	requiring the Office of Program Policy Analysis and
40	Government Accountability to study teacher retention rates
41	and submit a report; providing an effective date.
42
43	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
44
45	Section 1.  Lead teachers and master trainers.--
46	(1)  Each school district shall require every public school
47	in that district to designate a lead teacher in the subject
48	areas of reading, mathematics, social studies, and science. Each
49	lead teacher shall attend periodic training provided by the
50	district master trainers on the latest research regarding
51	effective teaching methodologies, techniques, and skills,
52	including use of information technology; advancements in
53	curricula; cross-curricula training strategies; and student
54	motivation and management. Lead teachers shall train and mentor
55	teachers at their respective schools in their respective subject
56	areas.
57	(2)  Each school district shall appoint master trainers who
58	must be specialists in reading, mathematics, social studies, or
59	science and in techniques for using information technology to
60	teach the subject area. The master trainers must train the lead
61	teachers and provide onsite training for schools needing
62	additional assistance, particularly schools graded "D" or "F."
63	(3)  The Department of Education shall offer a 3-day summer
64	academy for master trainers. Training shall include information
65	regarding the latest research on effective teaching
66	methodologies, techniques, and skills, including use of
67	information technology; advancements in curricula; cross-
68	curricula training strategies; and student motivation and
69	management.
70	(4)  The Department of Education shall make electronically
71	available to all teachers the latest updated information
72	regarding their subject areas and teaching advancements.
73	Section 2.  Notwithstanding any provision of law to the
74	contrary, the State Board of Education shall adopt rules that:
75	(1)  Allow the military occupational specialty designation
76	for instruction to be used as verification of instructional
77	experience for purposes of teacher certification.
78	(2)  Count credit granted by the American Council for
79	Education the same as college credit for purposes of teacher
80	certification.
81	(3)  Allow military personnel to use proof of completion of
82	Defense Language Institute training to demonstrate subject area
83	competence in the critical shortage area of foreign language.
84	Section 3.  Notwithstanding any provision of law or rule to
85	the contrary, the first priority for the use of the time
86	required of teachers who have achieved certification by the
87	National Board of Professional Teaching Standards for mentoring
88	or related services shall be to provide such services to
89	beginning teachers, teachers in need of improvement, and
90	candidates enrolled in teacher preparation programs, including
91	educator preparation institutes.
92	Section 4.  School district insurance coverage
93	statement.--Each school district shall provide to all covered
94	instructional personnel a written statement explaining the
95	liability insurance coverage that the district provides such
96	personnel. The statement must be concise, written in lay
97	language, and distributed to covered instructional personnel
98	separate from any other information they may otherwise receive
99	from the district. The statement must include a clear
100	explanation of the scope of the coverage and a reference to and
101	discussion of the existing laws that protect teachers and
102	principals from liability. The statement must be provided to and
103	discussed with covered personnel at all annual orientations
104	provided by the school district as well as posted on the school
105	district's website.
106	Section 5.  The Office of Program Policy Analysis and
107	Government Accountability (OPPAGA) shall conduct a study to
108	identify teacher preparation programs that are most effective at
109	producing new teachers who are employed in Florida public K-12
110	classrooms. The study must:
111	(1)  Analyze the rates at which students complete teacher
112	preparation programs in order to examine the productivity of
113	these programs;
114	(2)  Follow one or more cohorts of teacher preparation
115	program completers from universities, community colleges,
116	educator preparation institutes, and district alternative
117	certification programs to determine the proportion of graduates
118	who enter classroom teaching; and
119	(3)  Follow one or more cohorts of newly employed Florida
120	K-12 classroom teachers to determine how long they remain in the
121	classroom and whether teachers who remain in the classroom are
122	more likely to be products of certain teacher preparation
123	programs.
124
125	The number of cohorts shall be determined by OPPAGA based on the
126	research needs of the project. A report shall be submitted to
127	the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of
128	Representatives by February 1, 2008.
129	Section 6.  Each institution that offers state-approved
130	teacher preparation programs shall make options available to
131	students to pursue a teacher preparation program comprised of 3
132	years of coursework followed by a 1-year paid residency or
133	internship with opportunities for students to participate in
134	classroom experiences each year of the program and specify such
135	options in a report to the President of the Senate and the
136	Speaker of the House of Representatives. The report shall be
137	submitted annually no later than February 1 and may be used to
138	develop a performance funding model for approved teacher
139	education programs.
140	Section 7.  Subsection (7) of section 1001.51, Florida
141	Statutes, is amended to read:
142	1001.51  Duties and responsibilities of district school
143	superintendent.--The district school superintendent shall
144	exercise all powers and perform all duties listed below and
145	elsewhere in the law, provided that, in so doing, he or she
146	shall advise and counsel with the district school board. The
147	district school superintendent shall perform all tasks necessary
148	to make sound recommendations, nominations, proposals, and
149	reports required by law to be acted upon by the district school
150	board. All such recommendations, nominations, proposals, and
151	reports by the district school superintendent shall be either
152	recorded in the minutes or shall be made in writing, noted in
153	the minutes, and filed in the public records of the district
154	school board. It shall be presumed that, in the absence of the
155	record required in this section, the recommendations,
156	nominations, and proposals required of the district school
157	superintendent were not contrary to the action taken by the
158	district school board in such matters.
159	(7)  PERSONNEL.--Be responsible, as required herein, for
160	directing the work of the personnel, subject to the requirements
161	of chapter 1012. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to
162	the contrary, a district school superintendent may directly
163	dismiss administrative personnel as defined in s. 1012.01(3)(a)
164	and (b).
165	Section 8.  Paragraph (c) of subsection (3), paragraph (b)
166	of subsection (5), and paragraph (b) of subsection (6) of
167	section 1004.04, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
168	1004.04  Public accountability and state approval for
169	teacher preparation programs.--
170	(3)  DEVELOPMENT OF TEACHER PREPARATION PROGRAMS.--A system
171	developed by the Department of Education in collaboration with
172	postsecondary educational institutions shall assist departments
173	and colleges of education in the restructuring of their programs
174	in accordance with this section to meet the need for producing
175	quality teachers now and in the future.
176	(c)  State-approved teacher preparation programs must
177	incorporate:
178	1.  Appropriate English for Speakers of Other Languages
179	instruction so that program graduates will have completed the
180	requirements for teaching limited English proficient students in
181	Florida public schools.
182	2.  Scientifically researched, knowledge-based reading
183	literacy and computational skills instruction so that program
184	graduates will be able to provide the necessary academic
185	foundations for their students at whatever grade levels they
186	choose to teach.
187	3.  Gifted and academically talented student identification
188	and placement instruction so that program graduates will be able
189	to identify gifted and academically talented students in the
190	elementary grades and provide these students with accelerated
191	learning opportunities throughout their academic careers that
192	allow them to work at suitably challenging levels.
193	(5)  CONTINUED PROGRAM APPROVAL.--Notwithstanding
194	subsection (4), failure by a public or nonpublic teacher
195	preparation program to meet the criteria for continued program
196	approval shall result in loss of program approval. The
197	Department of Education, in collaboration with the departments
198	and colleges of education, shall develop procedures for
199	continued program approval that document the continuous
200	improvement of program processes and graduates' performance.
201	(b)  Additional criteria for continued program approval for
202	public institutions may be approved by the State Board of
203	Education. Such criteria must emphasize instruction in classroom
204	management and must provide for the evaluation of the teacher
205	candidates' performance in this area. The criteria shall also
206	require instruction in working with underachieving students.
207	Program evaluation procedures must include, but are not limited
208	to, program graduates' satisfaction with instruction and the
209	program's responsiveness to local school districts. Additional
210	criteria for continued program approval for nonpublic
211	institutions shall be developed in the same manner as for public
212	institutions; however, such criteria must be based upon
213	significant, objective, and quantifiable graduate performance
214	measures. Responsibility for collecting data on outcome measures
215	through survey instruments and other appropriate means shall be
216	shared by the postsecondary educational institutions and the
217	Department of Education. By January 1 of each year, the
218	Department of Education shall report this information for each
219	postsecondary educational institution that has state-approved
220	programs of teacher education to the Governor, the State Board
221	of Education, the Commissioner of Education, the President of
222	the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, all
223	Florida postsecondary teacher preparation programs, and
224	interested members of the public. This report must analyze the
225	data and make recommendations for improving teacher preparation
226	programs in the state. By August 1, 2008, the Department of
227	Education shall establish an electronic reporting system by
228	which all institutions with programs approved under this section
229	shall report data required for continued approval. The system
230	must be linked to the K-20 Education Data Warehouse and provide
231	institutions with a means of reviewing and utilizing data for
232	purposes of continuous program improvement. The system must also
233	align data elements to allow for comparison of performance
234	outcomes common to programs approved under this section and
235	other types of approved teacher preparation programs in this
236	state.
237	(6)  PRESERVICE FIELD EXPERIENCE.--All postsecondary
238	instructors, school district personnel and instructional
239	personnel, and school sites preparing instructional personnel
240	through preservice field experience courses and internships
241	shall meet special requirements. District school boards are
242	authorized to pay student teachers during their internships.
243	(b)  All school district personnel and instructional
244	personnel who supervise or direct teacher preparation students
245	during field experience courses or internships must have
246	evidence of "clinical educator" training or eligibility for
247	participation as a mentor in the Dale Hickam Excellent Teaching
248	Program pursuant to s. 1012.72 and must successfully demonstrate
249	effective classroom management strategies that consistently
250	result in improved student performance. The State Board of
251	Education shall approve the training requirements.
252	Section 9.  Subsections (4) through (7) of section 1004.85,
253	Florida Statutes, are renumbered as subsections (5) through (8),
254	respectively, and a new subsection (4) is added to that section
255	to read:
256	1004.85  Postsecondary educator preparation institutes.--
257	(4)  Each educator preparation institute shall guarantee
258	the high quality of its graduates during the first 2 years
259	immediately following graduation from the program or following
260	initial certification, whichever occurs first. Any educator in a
261	Florida school who fails to demonstrate the essential skills
262	specified in s. 1004.04(5)(e) shall be provided additional
263	training by the educator preparation institute at no expense to
264	the educator or the employer. Such training must consist of an
265	individualized plan agreed upon by the school district and the
266	educator preparation institute that includes specific learning
267	outcomes. The educator preparation institute assumes no
268	responsibility for the educator's employment contract with the
269	employer. Employer satisfaction shall be determined by an
270	annually administered survey instrument approved by the
271	Department of Education that measures, at a minimum, employer
272	satisfaction with the ability of graduates to demonstrate the
273	essential skills specified in s. 1004.04(5)(e).
274	Section 10.  Paragraph (d) of subsection (2) of section
275	1012.32, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
276	1012.32  Qualifications of personnel.--
277	(2)
278	(d)  Individuals Student teachers, persons participating in
279	student teaching a field experience pursuant to s. 1004.04(6) or
280	s. 1004.85, and persons participating in a short-term experience
281	as a teacher assistant pursuant to s. 1004.04(10) in any
282	district school system, lab school, or charter school shall,
283	upon engagement to provide services, undergo background
284	screening as required under s. 1012.56. Such screening may be
285	transferred from one school district to another school district.
286
287	Fingerprints shall be submitted to the Department of Law
288	Enforcement for state processing and to the Federal Bureau of
289	Investigation for federal processing. Persons subject to this
290	subsection found through fingerprint processing to have been
291	convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude shall not be
292	employed, engaged to provide services, or serve in any position
293	requiring direct contact with students. Probationary persons
294	subject to this subsection terminated because of their criminal
295	record have the right to appeal such decisions. The cost of the
296	background screening may be borne by the district school board,
297	the charter school, the employee, the contractor, or a person
298	subject to this subsection.
299	Section 11.  Subsection (3) of section 1012.56, Florida
300	Statutes, is amended to read:
301	1012.56  Educator certification requirements.--
302	(3)  MASTERY OF GENERAL KNOWLEDGE.--Acceptable means of
303	demonstrating mastery of general knowledge are:
304	(a)  Achievement of passing scores on basic skills
305	examination required by state board rule for persons seeking
306	initial certification before July 1, 2009;
307	(b)  Achievement of passing scores on an examination that
308	demonstrates mastery of a college-level general education
309	curriculum required by state board rule for persons seeking
310	initial certification on or after July 1, 2009 the College Level
311	Academic Skills Test earned prior to July 1, 2002;
312	(c)  A valid professional standard teaching certificate
313	issued by another state;
314	(d)  A valid certificate issued by the National Board for
315	Professional Teaching Standards or a national educator
316	credentialing board approved by the State Board of Education; or
317	(e)  Documentation of two semesters of successful teaching
318	in a community college, state university, or private college or
319	university that awards an associate or higher degree and is an
320	accredited institution or an institution of higher education
321	identified by the Department of Education as having a quality
322	program.
323	Section 12.  The Office of Program Policy Analysis and
324	Government Accountability shall conduct a study of teacher
325	retention rates for each school district. The study shall report
326	and analyze the teacher retention rates for each school district
327	and each school within the district. The study shall also report
328	and analyze the retention rates for new teachers. Teacher
329	retention rates shall be disaggregated to include ethnicity,
330	age, subject area, and grade level. A report shall be submitted
331	to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of
332	Representatives by March 1, 2008.
333	Section 13.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2007.

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