1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to education; clarifying testing requirements related to teacher licensure;
1.3 	amending Minnesota Statutes 2013 Supplement, sections 122A.09, subdivision 
1.4 	4; 122A.18, subdivision 2; 122A.23, subdivision 2.
1.5 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.6 	Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2013 Supplement, section 122A.09, subdivision 4, 
1.7 	is amended to read:
1.8 		Subd. 4.License and rules. (a) The board must adopt rules to license public school 
1.9 	teachers and interns subject to chapter 14.
1.10 	(b) The board must adopt rules requiring a person to ~~pass a skills examination in~~ 
1.11 	~~reading, writing, and mathematics as a requirement~~ demonstrate levels of proficiency 
1.12 	on career and college readiness tests under section 120B.30, subdivision 1, that are 
1.13 	recommended by the Board of Teaching for admission to a Minnesota teacher preparation 
1.14 	program or to attain an equivalent composite score composed of the average of the scores in 
1.15 	English and writing, reading, and mathematics on the ACT Plus Writing, or an equivalent 
1.16 	composite score composed of the average of the scores in critical reading, mathematics, 
1.17 	and writing on the SAT, for initial teacher licensure, except that the board may issue up to 
1.18 	two ~~additional~~ temporary, one-year teaching licenses to an otherwise qualified candidate 
1.19 	who has not yet ~~passed the skills exam~~ demonstrated the requisite levels of proficiency on 
1.20 	state career and college readiness tests or attained the requisite composite score on the 
1.21 	ACT Plus Writing or SAT. Such rules must require college and universities offering a 
1.22 	board-approved teacher preparation program to provide remedial assistance to persons 
1.23 	who did not ~~achieve a qualifying score on the skills examination~~ attain the requisite 
1.24 	composite score on the ACT Plus Writing or SAT, including those for whom English is a 
2.1 	second language. A person teaching under a temporary license for two consecutive years 
2.2 	who does not attain the requisite composite ACT Plus Writing or SAT score during that 
2.3 	period may receive an initial teaching license if: the person's transcript from an accredited 
2.4 	college or university shows the person received credit for courses in mathematics and 
2.5 	writing; and the school administrator  who supervised the person during that two-year 
2.6 	period transmits a signed letter to the board stating that the person is able to perform basic 
2.7 	job responsibilities requiring reading, writing, and mathematics skills. The requirement to 
2.8 	demonstrate the requisite levels of proficiency on state career and college readiness tests 
2.9 	or attain the requisite composite score on the ACT Plus Writing or SAT does not apply to  
2.10 	non-native English speakers, as verified by qualified Minnesota school district personnel 
2.11 	or Minnesota higher education faculty, who, after meeting the content and pedagogy 
2.12 	requirements under this subdivision, apply for a teaching license to provide direct 
2.13 	instruction in their native language or world language instruction under section 120B.022, 
2.14 	subdivision 1. A teacher candidate's official ACT Plus Writing or SAT composite score 
2.15 	report to the board must not be more than ten years old at the time of licensure.
2.16 	(c) The board must adopt rules to approve teacher preparation programs. The board, 
2.17 	upon the request of a postsecondary student preparing for teacher licensure or a licensed 
2.18 	graduate of a teacher preparation program, shall assist in resolving a dispute between the 
2.19 	person and a postsecondary institution providing a teacher preparation program when the 
2.20 	dispute involves an institution's recommendation for licensure affecting the person or the 
2.21 	person's credentials. At the board's discretion, assistance may include the application 
2.22 	of chapter 14.
2.23 	(d) The board must provide the leadership and adopt rules for the redesign of teacher 
2.24 	education programs to implement a research based, results-oriented curriculum that 
2.25 	focuses on the skills teachers need in order to be effective. The board shall implement new 
2.26 	systems of teacher preparation program evaluation to assure program effectiveness based 
2.27 	on proficiency of graduates in demonstrating attainment of program outcomes. Teacher 
2.28 	preparation programs including alternative teacher preparation programs under section 
2.29 	122A.245, among other programs, must include a content-specific, board-approved, 
2.30 	performance-based assessment that measures teacher candidates in three areas: planning 
2.31 	for instruction and assessment; engaging students and supporting learning; and assessing 
2.32 	student learning. The board's redesign rules must include creating flexible, specialized 
2.33 	teaching licenses, credentials, and other endorsement forms to increase students' 
2.34 	participation in language immersion programs, world language instruction, career 
2.35 	development opportunities, work-based learning, early college courses and careers, career 
3.1 	and technical programs, Montessori schools, and project and place-based learning, among 
3.2 	other career and college ready learning offerings.
3.3 	(e) The board must adopt rules requiring candidates for initial licenses to pass an 
3.4 	examination of general pedagogical knowledge and examinations of licensure-specific 
3.5 	teaching skills. The rules shall be effective by September 1, 2001. The rules under this 
3.6 	paragraph also must require candidates for initial licenses to teach prekindergarten or 
3.7 	elementary students to pass, as part of the examination of licensure-specific teaching 
3.8 	skills, test items assessing the candidates' knowledge, skill, and ability in comprehensive, 
3.9 	scientifically based reading instruction under section 122A.06, subdivision 4, and their 
3.10 	knowledge and understanding of the foundations of reading development, the development 
3.11 	of reading comprehension, and reading assessment and instruction, and their ability to 
3.12 	integrate that knowledge and understanding.
3.13 	(f) The board must adopt rules requiring teacher educators to work directly with 
3.14 	elementary or secondary school teachers in elementary or secondary schools to obtain 
3.15 	periodic exposure to the elementary or secondary teaching environment.
3.16 	(g) The board must grant licenses to interns and to candidates for initial licenses 
3.17 	based on appropriate professional competencies that are aligned with the board's licensing 
3.18 	system and students' diverse learning needs. The board must include these licenses in a 
3.19 	statewide differentiated licensing system that creates new leadership roles for successful 
3.20 	experienced teachers premised on a collaborative professional culture dedicated to meeting 
3.21 	students' diverse learning needs in the 21st century and formalizes mentoring and induction 
3.22 	for newly licensed teachers that is provided through a teacher support framework.
3.23 	(h) The board must design and implement an assessment system which requires a 
3.24 	candidate for an initial license and first continuing license to demonstrate the abilities 
3.25 	necessary to perform selected, representative teaching tasks at appropriate levels.
3.26 	(i) The board must receive recommendations from local committees as established 
3.27 	by the board for the renewal of teaching licenses.
3.28 	(j) The board must grant life licenses to those who qualify according to requirements 
3.29 	established by the board, and suspend or revoke licenses pursuant to sections 122A.20 and 
3.30 	214.10. The board must not establish any expiration date for application for life licenses.
3.31 	(k) The board must adopt rules that require all licensed teachers who are renewing 
3.32 	their continuing license to include in their renewal requirements further preparation in 
3.33 	the areas of using positive behavior interventions and in accommodating, modifying, and 
3.34 	adapting curricula, materials, and strategies to appropriately meet the needs of individual 
3.35 	students and ensure adequate progress toward the state's graduation rule.
4.1 	(l) In adopting rules to license public school teachers who provide health-related 
4.2 	services for disabled children, the board shall adopt rules consistent with license or 
4.3 	registration requirements of the commissioner of health and the health-related boards who 
4.4 	license personnel who perform similar services outside of the school.
4.5 	(m) The board must adopt rules that require all licensed teachers who are renewing 
4.6 	their continuing license to include in their renewal requirements further reading 
4.7 	preparation, consistent with section 122A.06, subdivision 4. The rules do not take effect 
4.8 	until they are approved by law. Teachers who do not provide direct instruction including, at 
4.9 	least, counselors, school psychologists, school nurses, school social workers, audiovisual 
4.10 	directors and coordinators, and recreation personnel are exempt from this section.
4.11 	(n) The board must adopt rules that require all licensed teachers who are renewing 
4.12 	their continuing license to include in their renewal requirements further preparation, 
4.13 	first, in understanding the key warning signs of early-onset mental illness in children 
4.14 	and adolescents and then, during subsequent licensure renewal periods, preparation may 
4.15 	include providing a more in-depth understanding of students' mental illness trauma, 
4.16 	accommodations for students' mental illness, parents' role in addressing students' mental 
4.17 	illness, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, autism, the requirements of section 125A.0942 
4.18 	governing restrictive procedures, and de-escalation methods, among other similar topics.

4.19 	EFFECTIVE DATE. This section applies to persons applying to the Board of 
4.20 	Teaching for their initial teaching license August 1, 2015, or later.

4.21 	Sec. 2. Minnesota Statutes 2013 Supplement, section 122A.18, subdivision 2, is 
4.22 	amended to read:
4.23 		Subd. 2.Teacher and support personnel qualifications. (a) The Board of 
4.24 	Teaching must issue licenses under its jurisdiction to persons the board finds to be 
4.25 	qualified and competent for their respective positions.
4.26 	(b) The board must require a person to ~~pass an examination of skills in reading,~~ 
4.27 	~~writing, and mathematics~~ demonstrate levels of proficiency on career and college readiness 
4.28 	tests under section 120B.30, subdivision 1, that are recommended by the Board of Teaching 
4.29 	for admission to a Minnesota teacher preparation program or to attain either an equivalent 
4.30 	composite score composed of the average of the scores in English and writing, reading, and 
4.31 	mathematics on the ACT Plus Writing, or an equivalent composite score composed of the 
4.32 	average of the scores in critical reading, mathematics, and writing on the SAT, before being 
4.33 	granted an initial teaching license to provide direct instruction to pupils in prekindergarten, 
4.34 	elementary, secondary, or special education programs, except that the board may issue up 
4.35 	to two ~~additional~~ temporary, one-year teaching licenses to an otherwise qualified candidate 
5.1 	who has not yet ~~passed the skills exam~~ demonstrated the requisite levels of proficiency on 
5.2 	state career and college readiness tests or attained the requisite composite score on the ACT 
5.3 	Plus Writing or SAT. The board must require colleges and universities offering a board 
5.4 	approved teacher preparation program to make available upon request remedial assistance 
5.5 	that includes a formal diagnostic component to persons enrolled in their institution who 
5.6 	did not ~~achieve a qualifying score on the skills examination~~ attain the requisite ACT Plus 
5.7 	Writing or SAT composite score, including those for whom English is a second language. 
5.8 	The colleges and universities must make available assistance in the specific academic 
5.9 	areas of deficiency ~~in which the person did not achieve a qualifying score~~. School districts 
5.10 	may make available upon request similar, appropriate, and timely remedial assistance that 
5.11 	includes a formal diagnostic component to those persons employed by the district who 
5.12 	completed their teacher education program, who did not ~~achieve a qualifying score on the~~ 
5.13 	~~skills examination, including those persons for whom English is a second language and~~ 
5.14 	~~persons under section 122A.23, subdivision 2, paragraph (h), who completed their teacher's~~ 
5.15 	~~education program outside the state of Minnesota~~ attain the requisite ACT Plus Writing or 
5.16 	SAT composite score, and who received a temporary license to teach in Minnesota. The 
5.17 	Board of Teaching shall report annually to the education committees of the legislature 
5.18 	on the total number of teacher candidates during the most recent school year ~~taking the~~ 
5.19 	~~skills examination, the number who achieve a qualifying score on the examination, the~~ 
5.20 	~~number who do not achieve a qualifying score on the examination, the distribution of all~~ 
5.21 	~~candidates' scores, the number of candidates who have taken the examination at least once~~ 
5.22 	~~before, and the number of candidates who have taken the examination at least once before~~ 
5.23 	~~and achieve a qualifying score~~ who have not attained the requisite composite ACT Plus 
5.24 	Writing or SAT score or have not passed a content or pedagogy exam, disaggregated by 
5.25 	categories of race, ethnicity, and eligibility for financial aid.
5.26 	(c) The Board of Teaching must grant continuing licenses only to those persons who 
5.27 	have met board criteria for granting a continuing license, which includes ~~passing the skills~~ 
5.28 	~~examination in reading, writing, and mathematics~~ demonstrating the requisite levels of 
5.29 	proficiency on state career and college readiness tests or attaining the requisite composite 
5.30 	ACT Plus Writing or SAT score consistent with paragraph (b), and the exceptions in
5.31 	 section 122A.09, subdivision 4, paragraph (b)~~.~~, that are consistent with this paragraph. A 
5.32 	person teaching under a temporary license for two consecutive years who does not attain 
5.33 	the requisite composite ACT Plus Writing or SAT score during that period may receive an 
5.34 	initial teaching license if: the person's transcript from an accredited college or university 
5.35 	shows the person received credit for courses in mathematics and writing; and the school 
5.36 	administrator  who supervised the person during that two-year period transmits a signed 
6.1 	letter to the board stating that the person is able to perform basic job responsibilities 
6.2 	requiring reading, writing, and mathematics skills.  The requirement to demonstrate the 
6.3 	requisite levels of proficiency on state career and college readiness tests or to attain the 
6.4 	requisite composite score on the ACT Plus Writing or SAT does not apply to  non-native 
6.5 	English speakers, as verified by qualified Minnesota school district personnel or Minnesota 
6.6 	higher education faculty, who, after meeting the content and pedagogy requirements under 
6.7 	this subdivision, apply for a teaching license to provide direct instruction in their native 
6.8 	language or world language instruction under section 120B.022, subdivision 1. A teacher 
6.9 	candidate's official ACT Plus Writing or SAT composite score report to the board must not 
6.10 	be more than ten years old at the time of licensure.
6.11 	(d) All colleges and universities approved by the board of teaching to prepare 
6.12 	persons for teacher licensure must include in their teacher preparation programs a common 
6.13 	core of teaching knowledge and skills to be acquired by all persons recommended 
6.14 	for teacher licensure. This common core shall meet the standards developed by the 
6.15 	interstate new teacher assessment and support consortium in its 1992 "model standards for 
6.16 	beginning teacher licensing and development." Amendments to standards adopted under 
6.17 	this paragraph are covered by chapter 14. The board of teaching shall report annually to 
6.18 	the education committees of the legislature on the performance of teacher candidates 
6.19 	on common core assessments of knowledge and skills under this paragraph during the 
6.20 	most recent school year.

6.21 	EFFECTIVE DATE. This section applies to persons applying to the Board of 
6.22 	Teaching for their initial teaching license August 1, 2015, or later.

6.23 	Sec. 3. Minnesota Statutes 2013 Supplement, section 122A.23, subdivision 2, is 
6.24 	amended to read:
6.25 		Subd. 2.Applicants licensed in other states. (a) Subject to the requirements of 
6.26 	sections 122A.18, subdivision 8, and 123B.03, the Board of Teaching must issue a teaching 
6.27 	license or a temporary teaching license under paragraphs (b) to (e) to an applicant who holds 
6.28 	at least a baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited college or university and holds 
6.29 	or held a similar out-of-state teaching license that requires the applicant to successfully 
6.30 	complete a teacher preparation program approved by the issuing state, which includes 
6.31 	field-specific teaching methods and student teaching or essentially equivalent experience.
6.32 	(b) The Board of Teaching must issue a teaching license to an applicant who:
6.33 	(1) successfully completed all exams and human relations preparation components 
6.34 	required by the Board of Teaching; and
7.1 	(2) holds or held an out-of-state teaching license to teach the same content field and 
7.2 	grade levels if the scope of the out-of-state license is no more than one grade level less 
7.3 	than a similar Minnesota license.
7.4 	(c) The Board of Teaching, consistent with board rules and paragraph (h), must 
7.5 	issue up to three one-year temporary teaching licenses to an applicant who holds or held 
7.6 	an out-of-state teaching license to teach the same content field and grade levels, where 
7.7 	the scope of the out-of-state license is no more than one grade level less than a similar 
7.8 	Minnesota license, but has not successfully completed all exams and human relations 
7.9 	preparation components required by the Board of Teaching.
7.10 	(d) The Board of Teaching, consistent with board rules, must issue up to three 
7.11 	one-year temporary teaching licenses to an applicant who:
7.12 	(1) successfully completed all exams and human relations preparation components 
7.13 	required by the Board of Teaching; and
7.14 	(2) holds or held an out-of-state teaching license to teach the same content field 
7.15 	and grade levels, where the scope of the out-of-state license is no more than one grade 
7.16 	level less than a similar Minnesota license, but has not completed field-specific teaching 
7.17 	methods or student teaching or equivalent experience.
7.18 	The applicant may complete field-specific teaching methods and student teaching 
7.19 	or equivalent experience by successfully participating in a one-year school district 
7.20 	mentorship program consistent with board-adopted standards of effective practice and 
7.21 	Minnesota graduation requirements.
7.22 	(e) The Board of Teaching must issue a temporary teaching license for a term of 
7.23 	up to three years only in the content field or grade levels specified in the out-of-state 
7.24 	license to an applicant who:
7.25 	(1) successfully completed all exams and human relations preparation components 
7.26 	required by the Board of Teaching; and
7.27 	(2) holds or held an out-of-state teaching license where the out-of-state license is 
7.28 	more limited in the content field or grade levels than a similar Minnesota license.
7.29 	(f) The Board of Teaching must not issue to an applicant more than three one-year 
7.30 	temporary teaching licenses under this subdivision.
7.31 	(g) The Board of Teaching must not issue a license under this subdivision if the 
7.32 	applicant has not attained the additional degrees, credentials, or licenses required in a 
7.33 	particular licensure field.
7.34 	(h) The Board of Teaching must require an applicant for a teaching license or a 
7.35 	temporary teaching license under this subdivision to ~~pass a skills examination in reading,~~ 
7.36 	~~writing, and mathematics~~ demonstrate, consistent with section 122A.09, subdivision 4, 
8.1 	the applicant's attainment of either the requisite ACT Plus Writing or SAT composite 
8.2 	score before the board issues the license unless, notwithstanding other provisions of this 
8.3 	subdivision, an applicable board-approved National Association of State Directors of 
8.4 	Teacher Education interstate reciprocity agreement exists to allow fully certified teachers 
8.5 	from other states to transfer their certification to Minnesota without need for additional 
8.6 	exams or other preparation requirements. ~~Consistent with section 122A.18, subdivision 2,~~ 
8.7 	~~paragraph (b), and notwithstanding other provisions of this subdivision, the board may~~ 
8.8 	~~issue up to two additional temporary, one-year teaching licenses to an otherwise qualified~~ 
8.9 	~~applicant who has not yet passed the skills exam.~~

8.10 	EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective August 1, 2015.

8.11 	Sec. 4. TRANSITION REQUIREMENTS; TEMPORARY TEACHING 
8.12 	LICENSES.
 8.13 	A person eligible to receive a one-year temporary teaching license under Laws 
8.14 	2013, chapter 116, article 3, sections 10 and 11 or 12, must satisfy the requirements under 
8.15 	section 1, paragraph (b), and section 2, paragraphs (b) and (c), or section 3, paragraph 
8.16 	(h), to obtain an initial teaching license.

8.17 	EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective the day following final enactment.