SF 170

2nd Unofficial Engrossment - 87th Legislature (2011 - 2012) Posted on 05/12/2011 01:51pm

1.1A bill for an act

1.2relating to education; requiring teacher candidates to pass basic skills exam;
1.3amending Minnesota Statutes 2010, sections 122A.09, subdivision 4; 122A.18,
1.4subdivision 2; 122A.23, subdivision 2.
1.5BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.6    Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2010, section 122A.09, subdivision 4, is amended to
1.7read:
1.8    Subd. 4. License and rules. (a) The board must adopt rules to license public school
1.9teachers and interns subject to chapter 14.
1.10(b) The board must adopt rules requiring a person to successfully complete pass a
1.11skills examination in reading, writing, and mathematics as a requirement for initial teacher
1.12licensure. Such rules must require college and universities offering a board-approved
1.13teacher preparation program to provide remedial assistance to persons who did not
1.14achieve a qualifying score on the skills examination, including those for whom English is
1.15a second language.
1.16(c) The board must adopt rules to approve teacher preparation programs. The board,
1.17upon the request of a postsecondary student preparing for teacher licensure or a licensed
1.18graduate of a teacher preparation program, shall assist in resolving a dispute between the
1.19person and a postsecondary institution providing a teacher preparation program when the
1.20dispute involves an institution's recommendation for licensure affecting the person or the
1.21person's credentials. At the board's discretion, assistance may include the application
1.22of chapter 14.
1.23(d) The board must provide the leadership and shall adopt rules for the redesign of
1.24teacher education programs to implement a research based, results-oriented curriculum
2.1that focuses on the skills teachers need in order to be effective. The board shall implement
2.2new systems of teacher preparation program evaluation to assure program effectiveness
2.3based on proficiency of graduates in demonstrating attainment of program outcomes.
2.4(e) The board must adopt rules requiring candidates for initial licenses to successfully
2.5complete pass an examination of general pedagogical knowledge and examinations of
2.6licensure-specific teaching skills. The rules shall be effective by September 1, 2001.
2.7The rules under this paragraph also must require candidates for initial licenses to teach
2.8prekindergarten or elementary students to successfully complete pass, as part of the
2.9examination of licensure-specific teaching skills, test items assessing the candidates'
2.10knowledge, skill, and ability in comprehensive, scientifically based reading instruction
2.11under section 122A.06, subdivision 4, and their knowledge and understanding of the
2.12foundations of reading development, the development of reading comprehension, and
2.13reading assessment and instruction, and their ability to integrate that knowledge and
2.14understanding.
2.15(f) The board must adopt rules requiring teacher educators to work directly with
2.16elementary or secondary school teachers in elementary or secondary schools to obtain
2.17periodic exposure to the elementary or secondary teaching environment.
2.18(g) The board must grant licenses to interns and to candidates for initial licenses.
2.19(h) The board must design and implement an assessment system which requires a
2.20candidate for an initial license and first continuing license to demonstrate the abilities
2.21necessary to perform selected, representative teaching tasks at appropriate levels.
2.22(i) The board must receive recommendations from local committees as established
2.23by the board for the renewal of teaching licenses.
2.24(j) The board must grant life licenses to those who qualify according to requirements
2.25established by the board, and suspend or revoke licenses pursuant to sections 122A.20 and
2.26214.10 . The board must not establish any expiration date for application for life licenses.
2.27(k) The board must adopt rules that require all licensed teachers who are renewing
2.28their continuing license to include in their renewal requirements further preparation in
2.29the areas of using positive behavior interventions and in accommodating, modifying, and
2.30adapting curricula, materials, and strategies to appropriately meet the needs of individual
2.31students and ensure adequate progress toward the state's graduation rule.
2.32(l) In adopting rules to license public school teachers who provide health-related
2.33services for disabled children, the board shall adopt rules consistent with license or
2.34registration requirements of the commissioner of health and the health-related boards who
2.35license personnel who perform similar services outside of the school.
3.1(m) The board must adopt rules that require all licensed teachers who are renewing
3.2their continuing license to include in their renewal requirements further reading
3.3preparation, consistent with section 122A.06, subdivision 4. The rules do not take effect
3.4until they are approved by law. Teachers who do not provide direct instruction including, at
3.5least, counselors, school psychologists, school nurses, school social workers, audiovisual
3.6directors and coordinators, and recreation personnel are exempt from this section.
3.7(n) The board must adopt rules that require all licensed teachers who are renewing
3.8their continuing license to include in their renewal requirements further preparation
3.9in understanding the key warning signs of early-onset mental illness in children and
3.10adolescents.

3.11    Sec. 2. Minnesota Statutes 2010, section 122A.18, subdivision 2, is amended to read:
3.12    Subd. 2. Teacher and support personnel qualifications. (a) The Board of
3.13Teaching must issue licenses under its jurisdiction to persons the board finds to be
3.14qualified and competent for their respective positions.
3.15(b) The board must require a person to successfully complete pass an examination of
3.16skills in reading, writing, and mathematics before being granted an initial teaching license
3.17to provide direct instruction to pupils in prekindergarten, elementary, secondary, or special
3.18education programs. The board must require colleges and universities offering a board
3.19approved teacher preparation program to provide remedial assistance that includes a
3.20formal diagnostic component to persons enrolled in their institution who did not achieve a
3.21qualifying score on the skills examination, including those for whom English is a second
3.22language. The colleges and universities must provide assistance in the specific academic
3.23areas of deficiency in which the person did not achieve a qualifying score. The board
3.24must issue a one-year license to teach in Minnesota to an otherwise qualified person
3.25who completed a teacher preparation program outside the state of Minnesota, during
3.26which time that person must take and pass the state skills examination in reading, writing,
3.27and math. School districts must provide similar offer, appropriate, and timely remedial
3.28assistance that includes a formal diagnostic component and mentoring to those persons
3.29employed by the district who completed their teacher education preparation program
3.30outside the state of Minnesota, received a one-year license to teach in Minnesota and did
3.31not achieve a qualifying score on the skills examination, including those persons for
3.32whom English is a second language. The Board of Teaching shall report annually to the
3.33education committees of the legislature on the total number of teacher candidates during
3.34the most recent school year taking the skills examination, the number who achieve a
3.35qualifying score on the examination, the number who do not achieve a qualifying score on
4.1the examination, the distribution of all candidates' scores, the number of candidates who
4.2have taken the examination at least once before, and the number of candidates who have
4.3taken the examination at least once before and achieve a qualifying score.
4.4(c) A person who has completed an approved teacher preparation program and
4.5obtained a one-year license to teach, but has not successfully completed the skills
4.6examination, may renew the one-year license for two additional one-year periods. Each
4.7renewal of the one-year license is contingent upon the licensee:
4.8(1) providing evidence of participating in an approved remedial assistance program
4.9provided by a school district or postsecondary institution that includes a formal diagnostic
4.10component in the specific areas in which the licensee did not obtain qualifying scores; and
4.11(2) attempting to successfully complete the skills examination during the period
4.12of each one-year license.
4.13(d) (c) The Board of Teaching must grant continuing licenses only to those persons
4.14who have met board criteria for granting a continuing license, which includes successfully
4.15completing passing the skills examination in reading, writing, and mathematics.
4.16(e) (d) All colleges and universities approved by the board of teaching to prepare
4.17persons for teacher licensure must include in their teacher preparation programs a common
4.18core of teaching knowledge and skills to be acquired by all persons recommended
4.19for teacher licensure. This common core shall meet the standards developed by the
4.20interstate new teacher assessment and support consortium in its 1992 "model standards for
4.21beginning teacher licensing and development." Amendments to standards adopted under
4.22this paragraph are covered by chapter 14. The board of teaching shall report annually to
4.23the education committees of the legislature on the performance of teacher candidates
4.24on common core assessments of knowledge and skills under this paragraph during the
4.25most recent school year.

4.26    Sec. 3. Minnesota Statutes 2010, section 122A.23, subdivision 2, is amended to read:
4.27    Subd. 2. Applicants licensed in other states. (a) Subject to the requirements of
4.28sections 122A.18, subdivision subdivisions 2, paragraph (b), and 8, and 123B.03, the
4.29Board of Teaching must issue a teaching license or a temporary teaching license under
4.30paragraphs (b) to (e) to an applicant who holds at least a baccalaureate degree from a
4.31regionally accredited college or university and holds or held a similar out-of-state teaching
4.32license that requires the applicant to successfully complete a teacher preparation program
4.33approved by the issuing state, which includes field-specific teaching methods and student
4.34teaching or essentially equivalent experience.
4.35(b) The Board of Teaching must issue a teaching license to an applicant who:
5.1(1) successfully completed all exams and human relations preparation components
5.2required by the Board of Teaching; and
5.3(2) holds or held an out-of-state teaching license to teach the same content field and
5.4grade levels if the scope of the out-of-state license is no more than one grade level less
5.5than a similar Minnesota license.
5.6(c) The Board of Teaching, consistent with board rules, must issue up to three
5.7one-year temporary teaching licenses to an applicant who holds or held an out-of-state
5.8teaching license to teach the same content field and grade levels, where the scope of the
5.9out-of-state license is no more than one grade level less than a similar Minnesota license,
5.10but has not successfully completed all exams and human relations preparation components
5.11required by the Board of Teaching.
5.12(d) The Board of Teaching, consistent with board rules, must issue up to three
5.13one-year temporary teaching licenses to an applicant who:
5.14(1) successfully completed all exams and human relations preparation components
5.15required by the Board of Teaching; and
5.16(2) holds or held an out-of-state teaching license to teach the same content field
5.17and grade levels, where the scope of the out-of-state license is no more than one grade
5.18level less than a similar Minnesota license, but has not completed field-specific teaching
5.19methods or student teaching or equivalent experience.
5.20The applicant may complete field-specific teaching methods and student teaching
5.21or equivalent experience by successfully participating in a one-year school district
5.22mentorship program consistent with board-adopted standards of effective practice and
5.23Minnesota graduation requirements.
5.24(e) The Board of Teaching must issue a temporary teaching license for a term of
5.25up to three years only in the content field or grade levels specified in the out-of-state
5.26license to an applicant who:
5.27(1) successfully completed all exams and human relations preparation components
5.28required by the Board of Teaching; and
5.29(2) holds or held an out-of-state teaching license where the out-of-state license is
5.30more limited in the content field or grade levels than a similar Minnesota license.
5.31(f) The Board of Teaching must not issue to an applicant more than three one-year
5.32temporary teaching licenses under this subdivision.
5.33(g) The Board of Teaching must not issue a license under this subdivision if the
5.34applicant has not attained the additional degrees, credentials, or licenses required in a
5.35particular licensure field.