1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to education; establishing an alternative teacher preparation program and 
1.3 	limited term teacher license; amending teacher candidate assessments;amending 
1.4 	Minnesota Statutes 2010, section 122A.09, subdivision 4; proposing coding for 
1.5 	new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 122A.
1.6 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.7 	Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2010, section 122A.09, subdivision 4, is amended to 
1.8 	read:
1.9 		Subd. 4.License and rules. (a) The board must adopt rules to license public school 
1.10 	teachers and interns subject to chapter 14.
1.11 	(b) The board must adopt rules requiring a person to successfully complete a skills 
1.12 	examination in reading, writing, and mathematics as a requirement for initial teacher 
1.13 	licensure. Such rules must require college and universities offering a board-approved 
1.14 	teacher preparation program to provide remedial assistance to persons who did not 
1.15 	achieve a qualifying score on the skills examination, including those for whom English is 
1.16 	a second language.
1.17 	(c) The board must adopt rules to approve teacher preparation programs. The board, 
1.18 	upon the request of a postsecondary student preparing for teacher licensure or a licensed 
1.19 	graduate of a teacher preparation program, shall assist in resolving a dispute between the 
1.20 	person and a postsecondary institution providing a teacher preparation program when the 
1.21 	dispute involves an institution's recommendation for licensure affecting the person or the 
1.22 	person's credentials. At the board's discretion, assistance may include the application 
1.23 	of chapter 14.
1.24 	(d) The board must provide the leadership and shall adopt rules for the redesign of 
1.25 	teacher education programs to implement a research based, results-oriented curriculum 
2.1 	that focuses on the skills teachers need in order to be effective. The board shall implement 
2.2 	new systems of teacher preparation program evaluation to assure program effectiveness 
2.3 	based on proficiency of graduates in demonstrating attainment of program outcomes.
2.4 	Teacher preparation programs including alternative teacher preparation programs under 
2.5 	section 122A.245, among other programs, must include a performance-based assessment 
2.6 	that measures teacher candidates in at least three areas and that requires candidates to:
2.7 	(1) plan instruction and assessment, and demonstrate their ability to organize 
2.8 	curriculum, instruction, and assessment to help diverse students meet academic content 
2.9 	standards and develop language for that content and to select, adapt, and design learning 
2.10 	tasks and materials that offer students equitable access to content;
2.11 	(2) demonstrate how to develop students' understanding of academic content, engage 
2.12 	students in meaningful tasks, monitor students' understanding of those tasks, and use 
2.13 	students' response to inform learning; and
2.14 	(3) develop evaluation criteria aligned with core academic standards and identified 
2.15 	learning objectives, analyze students' performance on assessments in the context of student 
2.16 	needs and identified learning objectives, provide student feedback, and use the analysis 
2.17 	to identify subsequent instructional content for individual students and classrooms of 
2.18 	students.
2.19 	(e) The board must adopt rules requiring candidates for initial licenses to successfully 
2.20 	complete an examination of general pedagogical knowledge and examinations of 
2.21 	licensure-specific teaching skills. The rules shall be effective by September 1, 2001. 
2.22 	The rules under this paragraph also must require candidates for initial licenses to teach 
2.23 	prekindergarten or elementary students to successfully complete, as part of the examination 
2.24 	of licensure-specific teaching skills, test items assessing the candidates' knowledge, 
2.25 	skill, and ability in comprehensive, scientifically based reading instruction under section 
2.26 	122A.06, subdivision 4, and their knowledge and understanding of the foundations of 
2.27 	reading development, the development of reading comprehension, and reading assessment 
2.28 	and instruction, and their ability to integrate that knowledge and understanding.
2.29 	(f) The board must adopt rules requiring teacher educators to work directly with 
2.30 	elementary or secondary school teachers in elementary or secondary schools to obtain 
2.31 	periodic exposure to the elementary or secondary teaching environment.
2.32 	(g) The board must grant licenses to interns and to candidates for initial licenses.
2.33 	(h) The board must design and implement an assessment system which requires a 
2.34 	candidate for an initial license and first continuing license to demonstrate the abilities 
2.35 	necessary to perform selected, representative teaching tasks at appropriate levels.
3.1 	(i) The board must receive recommendations from local committees as established 
3.2 	by the board for the renewal of teaching licenses.
3.3 	(j) The board must grant life licenses to those who qualify according to requirements 
3.4 	established by the board, and suspend or revoke licenses pursuant to sections 122A.20 and 
3.5 	214.10. The board must not establish any expiration date for application for life licenses.
3.6 	(k) The board must adopt rules that require all licensed teachers who are renewing 
3.7 	their continuing license to include in their renewal requirements further preparation in 
3.8 	the areas of using positive behavior interventions and in accommodating, modifying, and 
3.9 	adapting curricula, materials, and strategies to appropriately meet the needs of individual 
3.10 	students and ensure adequate progress toward the state's graduation rule.
3.11 	(l) In adopting rules to license public school teachers who provide health-related 
3.12 	services for disabled children, the board shall adopt rules consistent with license or 
3.13 	registration requirements of the commissioner of health and the health-related boards who 
3.14 	license personnel who perform similar services outside of the school.
3.15 	(m) The board must adopt rules that require all licensed teachers who are renewing 
3.16 	their continuing license to include in their renewal requirements further reading 
3.17 	preparation, consistent with section 122A.06, subdivision 4. The rules do not take effect 
3.18 	until they are approved by law. Teachers who do not provide direct instruction including, at 
3.19 	least, counselors, school psychologists, school nurses, school social workers, audiovisual 
3.20 	directors and coordinators, and recreation personnel are exempt from this section.
3.21 	(n) The board must adopt rules that require all licensed teachers who are renewing 
3.22 	their continuing license to include in their renewal requirements further preparation 
3.23 	in understanding the key warning signs of early-onset mental illness in children and 
3.24 	adolescents.

3.25 	EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective August 1, 2012, and applies to 
3.26 	individuals who first enroll in a teacher preparation program in  the 2012-2013 school 
3.27 	year or later.

3.28 	Sec. 2. [122A.245] ALTERNATIVE TEACHER PREPARATION PROGRAM 
3.29 	AND TEACHER LICENSE FOR QUALIFIED NONTRADITIONAL TEACHER 
3.30 	CANDIDATES.
3.31 		Subdivision 1.Requirements. (a) The Board of Teaching may approve teacher 
3.32 	preparation programs that are an alternative to a postsecondary teacher preparation 
3.33 	program and to the preparation program under section 122A.24 as a means of acquiring a 
3.34 	two-year provisional license in order to meet the requirements for acquiring a standard 
3.35 	license. Programs must be sponsored by a school district with a written agreement signed 
4.1 	by the school board and the local representative of the teachers or by a charter school with 
4.2 	the written agreement of its licensed staff, in partnership with either:
4.3 	(1) a college or university with a board-approved alternative teacher preparation 
4.4 	program; or
4.5 	(2) a nonprofit corporation formed for an education-related purpose that is subject to 
4.6 	chapter 317A and forms a partnership with a college or university with a board-approved 
4.7 	teacher preparation program.
4.8 	(b) A program approved under paragraph (a) may only offer this program if one of 
4.9 	the following conditions exists:
4.10 	(1) a need for teachers exists based on the determination by a participating district or 
4.11 	charter school that in the previous school year too few qualified candidates applied for 
4.12 	the number of posted teacher positions;
4.13 	(2) the person having administrative control of the district or charter school 
4.14 	determines that a need exists to have school staff more adequately reflect the ethnic and 
4.15 	cultural diversity of the student population; or
4.16 	(3) a need exists to reduce or eliminate the achievement gap as evidenced by student 
4.17 	growth and achievement data reported under section 120B.35, subdivision 1.
4.18 	(c) To participate in this program, a candidate must:
4.19 	(1) have a bachelor's degree with either a minimum 3.0 grade point average or meet 
4.20 	other criteria specified by the Board of Teaching;
4.21 	(2) pass the reading, writing, and mathematics skills examination under section 
4.22 	122A.09, subdivision 4, paragraph (b); and
4.23 	(3) obtain qualifying scores on board-approved content area and pedagogy tests 
4.24 	under section 122A.09, subdivision 4, paragraph (e).
4.25 		Subd. 2.Characteristics. An alternative teacher preparation program offered by an 
4.26 	eligible college or university or nonprofit corporation under this section must include:
4.27 	(1) a minimum 200-hour instructional phase that provides intensive preparation 
4.28 	before the teacher candidate assumes classroom responsibilities;
4.29 	(2) a research-based and results-oriented approach focused on best teaching practices 
4.30 	to increase student proficiency and growth as measured against state academic standards;
4.31 	(3) strategies to combine pedagogy and best teaching practices to better inform 
4.32 	teachers' classroom instruction;
4.33 	(4) assessment, supervision, and evaluation of the teacher candidate to determine 
4.34 	the teacher candidate's specific needs throughout the program and to support the teacher 
4.35 	candidate in successfully completing the program;
5.1 	(5) formal instruction and intensive peer coaching during the school year that 
5.2 	provide structured guidance and regular ongoing support;
5.3 	(6) high-quality, sustained, intensive, and classroom-embedded staff development 
5.4 	opportunities, conducted by a mentor or by a mentorship team that may include school 
5.5 	administrators, teachers, and postsecondary faculty members, that are directed at 
5.6 	improving student learning and achievement; and
5.7 	(7) a requirement that teacher candidates demonstrate satisfactory progress toward 
5.8 	receiving a standard license from the Board of Teaching at the time their provisional 
5.9 	teaching license expires.
5.10 		Subd. 3.Program approval. The Board of Teaching must approve alternative 
5.11 	teacher preparation programs under this section based on board-adopted criteria that 
5.12 	reflect best practices for alternative teacher preparation programs, consistent with this 
5.13 	section. The board must permit teacher candidates to demonstrate licensure competencies 
5.14 	in school-based settings and through other nontraditional licensure pathways.
5.15 		Subd. 4.Employment conditions. Conditions of employment for the teacher 
5.16 	candidate under this section shall be established as part of the agreement under subdivision 
5.17 	1, paragraph (a), between the school board and the local representative of the teachers or 
5.18 	the charter school and its licensed staff.
5.19 		Subd. 5.Approval for standard license. A local school site team that may include 
5.20 	school administrators, teachers, and postsecondary faculty members must evaluate the 
5.21 	performance of the teacher candidate under Minnesota Rules, part 8710.2000, and submit 
5.22 	to the board an evaluation report recommending whether or not to issue an otherwise 
5.23 	qualified teacher candidate a standard license.
5.24 		Subd. 6.Standard license. The Board of Teaching may issue a standard license 
5.25 	to an otherwise qualified teacher candidate under this section who successfully performs 
5.26 	throughout the program and is recommended for licensure under subdivision 4.
5.27 		Subd. 7.Qualified teacher. A person with a valid provisional teacher license 
5.28 	under this section is the teacher of record and a qualified teacher within the meaning 
5.29 	of section 122A.16.
5.30 		Subd. 8.Reports. The Board of Teaching must submit an interim report on the 
5.31 	efficacy of this program to the committees of the legislature with primary jurisdiction 
5.32 	over kindergarten through grade 12 education policy and finance by February 15, 2013, 
5.33 	and a final report by February 15, 2015.

5.34 	EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective for the 2011-2012 school year and 
5.35 	later.