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Chapter 122A

Section 122A.09

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122A.09 DUTIES.

Subdivision 1.Code of ethics.

The Board of Teaching must develop by rule a code of ethics covering standards of professional teaching practices, including areas of ethical conduct and professional performance and methods of enforcement.

Subd. 2.Advise members of profession.

The board must act in an advisory capacity to members of the profession in matters of interpretation of the code of ethics.

Subd. 3.Election of chair and officers.

The board shall elect a chair and such other officers as it may deem necessary.

Subd. 4.License and rules.

(a) The board must adopt rules to license public school teachers and interns subject to chapter 14.

(b) The board must require all candidates for teacher licensure to demonstrate a passing score on a board-adopted skills examination in reading, writing, and mathematics, as a requirement for an initial professional five-year teaching license, except that the board may issue up to four initial professional one-year teaching licenses to an otherwise qualified candidate who has not yet passed the board-adopted skills exam. The board must require colleges and universities offering a board-approved teacher preparation program to provide remedial assistance to persons who did not achieve a qualifying score on the board-adopted skills examination, including those for whom English is a second language. The requirement to pass a board-adopted reading, writing, and mathematics skills examination does not apply to nonnative English speakers, as verified by qualified Minnesota school district personnel or Minnesota higher education faculty, who, after meeting the content and pedagogy requirements under this subdivision, apply for a teaching license to provide direct instruction in their native language or world language instruction under section 120B.022, subdivision 1. The Board of Teaching and the entity administering the content, pedagogy, and skills examinations must allow any individual who produces documentation of a disability in the form of an evaluation, 504 plan, or individual education program (IEP) to receive the same testing accommodations on the content, pedagogy, and skills examinations that the applicant received during their secondary or postsecondary education.

(c) The board must adopt rules to approve teacher preparation programs. The board, upon the request of a postsecondary student preparing for teacher licensure or a licensed graduate of a teacher preparation program, shall assist in resolving a dispute between the person and a postsecondary institution providing a teacher preparation program when the dispute involves an institution's recommendation for licensure affecting the person or the person's credentials. At the board's discretion, assistance may include the application of chapter 14.

(d) The board must provide the leadership and adopt rules for the redesign of teacher education programs to implement a research based, results-oriented curriculum that focuses on the skills teachers need in order to be effective. Among other components, teacher preparation programs may use the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities program model to provide a school-year-long student teaching program that combines clinical opportunities with academic coursework and in-depth student teaching experiences to offer students ongoing mentorship, coaching, and assessment, help to prepare a professional development plan, and structured learning experiences. The board shall implement new systems of teacher preparation program evaluation to assure program effectiveness based on proficiency of graduates in demonstrating attainment of program outcomes. Teacher preparation programs including alternative teacher preparation programs under section 122A.245, among other programs, must include a content-specific, board-approved, performance-based assessment that measures teacher candidates in three areas: planning for instruction and assessment; engaging students and supporting learning; and assessing student learning. The board's redesign rules must include creating flexible, specialized teaching licenses, credentials, and other endorsement forms to increase students' participation in language immersion programs, world language instruction, career development opportunities, work-based learning, early college courses and careers, career and technical programs, Montessori schools, and project and place-based learning, among other career and college ready learning offerings.

(e) The board must adopt rules requiring candidates for professional five-year teaching licenses to pass an examination of general pedagogical knowledge and examinations of licensure-specific teaching skills. The rules shall be effective by September 1, 2001. The rules under this paragraph also must require candidates for initial licenses to teach prekindergarten or elementary students to pass, as part of the examination of licensure-specific teaching skills, test items assessing the candidates' knowledge, skill, and ability in comprehensive, scientifically based reading instruction under section 122A.06, subdivision 4, and their knowledge and understanding of the foundations of reading development, the development of reading comprehension, and reading assessment and instruction, and their ability to integrate that knowledge and understanding.

(f) The board must adopt rules requiring teacher educators to work directly with elementary or secondary school teachers in elementary or secondary schools to obtain periodic exposure to the elementary or secondary teaching environment.

(g) The board must grant licenses to interns and to candidates for professional five-year teaching licenses based on appropriate professional competencies that are aligned with the board's licensing system and students' diverse learning needs. All teacher candidates must have preparation in English language development and content instruction for English learners in order to be able to effectively instruct the English learners in their classrooms. The board must include these licenses in a statewide differentiated licensing system that creates new leadership roles for successful experienced teachers premised on a collaborative professional culture dedicated to meeting students' diverse learning needs in the 21st century, recognizes the importance of cultural and linguistic competencies, including the ability to teach and communicate in culturally competent and aware ways, and formalizes mentoring and induction for newly licensed teachers provided through a teacher support framework.

(h) The board must design and implement an assessment system which requires a candidate for an initial license and first continuing license to demonstrate the abilities necessary to perform selected, representative teaching tasks at appropriate levels.

(i) The board must receive recommendations from local committees as established by the board for the renewal of teaching licenses. The board must require a licensed teacher who is renewing a professional five-year teaching license to include in the renewal requirements further preparation in English language development and specially designed content instruction in English for English learners.

(j) The board must grant life licenses to those who qualify according to requirements established by the board, and suspend or revoke licenses pursuant to sections 122A.20 and 214.10. The board must not establish any expiration date for application for life licenses.

(k) The board must adopt rules that require all licensed teachers who are renewing their professional five-year teaching licenses to include in their renewal requirements further preparation in the areas of using positive behavior interventions and in accommodating, modifying, and adapting curricula, materials, and strategies to appropriately meet the needs of individual students and ensure adequate progress toward the state's graduation rule.

(l) In adopting rules to license public school teachers who provide health-related services for disabled children, the board shall adopt rules consistent with license or registration requirements of the commissioner of health and the health-related boards who license personnel who perform similar services outside of the school.

(m) The board must adopt rules that require all licensed teachers who are renewing their professional five-year teaching licenses to include in their renewal requirements further reading preparation, consistent with section 122A.06, subdivision 4. The rules do not take effect until they are approved by law. Teachers who do not provide direct instruction including, at least, counselors, school psychologists, school nurses, school social workers, audiovisual directors and coordinators, and recreation personnel are exempt from this section.

(n) The board must adopt rules that require all licensed teachers who are renewing their professional five-year teaching licenses to include in their renewal requirements at least one hour of suicide prevention best practices in each licensure renewal period that are based on nationally recognized evidence-based programs and practices, among the continuing education credits required to renew a license under this paragraph, and further preparation, first, in understanding the key warning signs of early-onset mental illness in children and adolescents and then, during subsequent licensure renewal periods, preparation may include providing a more in-depth understanding of students' mental illness trauma, accommodations for students' mental illness, parents' role in addressing students' mental illness, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, autism, the requirements of section 125A.0942 governing restrictive procedures, and de-escalation methods, among other similar topics.

(o) The board must adopt rules by January 1, 2016, to license applicants under sections 122A.23 and 122A.245. The rules must permit applicants to demonstrate their qualifications through the board's recognition of a teaching license from another state in a similar content field, completion of a state-approved teacher preparation program, teaching experience as the teacher of record in a similar licensure field, depth of content knowledge, depth of content methods or general pedagogy, subject-specific professional development and contribution to the field, or classroom performance as determined by documented student growth on normed assessments or documented effectiveness on evaluations. The rules must adopt criteria for determining a "similar content field" and "similar licensure area."

[See Note.]

Subd. 4a.Teacher and administrator preparation and performance data; report.

(a) The Board of Teaching and the Board of School Administrators, in cooperation with the Minnesota Association of Colleges of Teacher Education and Minnesota colleges and universities offering board-adopted teacher or administrator preparation programs, annually must collect and report summary data on teacher and administrator preparation and performance outcomes, consistent with this subdivision. The Board of Teaching and the Board of School Administrators annually by June 1 must update and post the reported summary preparation and performance data on teachers and administrators from the preceding school years on a Web site hosted jointly by the boards.

(b) Publicly reported summary data on teacher preparation programs must include: student entrance requirements for each Board of Teaching-approved program, including grade point average for enrolling students in the preceding year; the average board-adopted skills examination or ACT or SAT scores of students entering the program in the preceding year; summary data on faculty qualifications, including at least the content areas of faculty undergraduate and graduate degrees and their years of experience either as kindergarten through grade 12 classroom teachers or school administrators; the average time resident and nonresident program graduates in the preceding year needed to complete the program; the current number and percent of students by program who graduated, received a standard Minnesota teaching license, and were hired to teach full time in their licensure field in a Minnesota district or school in the preceding year; the number of content area credits and other credits by undergraduate program that students in the preceding school year needed to complete to graduate; students' pass rates on skills and subject matter exams required for graduation in each program and licensure area in the preceding school year; survey results measuring student and graduate satisfaction with the program in the preceding school year; a standard measure of the satisfaction of school principals or supervising teachers with the student teachers assigned to a school or supervising teacher; and information under paragraphs (d) and (e). Program reporting must be consistent with subdivision 11.

(c) Publicly reported summary data on administrator preparation programs approved by the Board of School Administrators must include: summary data on faculty qualifications, including at least the content areas of faculty undergraduate and graduate degrees and their years of experience either as kindergarten through grade 12 classroom teachers or school administrators; the average time program graduates in the preceding year needed to complete the program; the current number and percent of students who graduated, received a standard Minnesota administrator license, and were employed as an administrator in a Minnesota school district or school in the preceding year; the number of credits by graduate program that students in the preceding school year needed to complete to graduate; survey results measuring student, graduate, and employer satisfaction with the program in the preceding school year; and information under paragraphs (f) and (g). Program reporting must be consistent with section 122A.14, subdivision 10.

(d) School districts annually by October 1 must report to the Board of Teaching the following information for all teachers who finished the probationary period and accepted a continuing contract position with the district from September 1 of the previous year through August 31 of the current year: the effectiveness category or rating of the teacher on the summative evaluation under section 122A.40, subdivision 8, or 122A.41, subdivision 5; the licensure area in which the teacher primarily taught during the three-year evaluation cycle; and the teacher preparation program preparing the teacher in the teacher's primary areas of instruction and licensure.

(e) School districts annually by October 1 must report to the Board of Teaching the following information for all probationary teachers in the district who were released or whose contracts were not renewed from September 1 of the previous year through August 31 of the current year: the licensure areas in which the probationary teacher taught; and the teacher preparation program preparing the teacher in the teacher's primary areas of instruction and licensure.

(f) School districts annually by October 1 must report to the Board of School Administrators the following information for all school principals and assistant principals who finished the probationary period and accepted a continuing contract position with the district from September 1 of the previous year through August 31 of the current year: the effectiveness category or rating of the principal or assistant principal on the summative evaluation under section 123B.147, subdivision 3; and the principal preparation program providing instruction to the principal or assistant principal.

(g) School districts annually by October 1 must report to the Board of School Administrators all probationary school principals and assistant principals in the district who were released or whose contracts were not renewed from September 1 of the previous year through August 31 of the current year.

Subd. 5.Commissioner's representative to comment on proposed rule.

Before the Board of Teaching adopts any rule that must be submitted to public hearing, a representative of the commissioner shall appear before the Board of Teaching and at the hearing required under section 14.14, subdivision 1, to comment on the cost and educational implications of that proposed rule.

Subd. 6.Register of persons licensed.

The executive secretary of the Board of Teaching shall keep a record of the proceedings of and a register of all persons licensed pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. The register must show the name, address, license number and the renewal of the license. The board must on July 1, of each year or as soon thereafter as is practicable, compile a list of such duly licensed teachers and transmit a copy of the list to the board. A copy of the register must be available during business hours at the office of the board to any interested person.

Subd. 7.Commissioner's assistance; board money.

The commissioner shall provide all necessary materials and assistance for the transaction of the business of the Board of Teaching and all moneys received by the Board of Teaching shall be paid into the state treasury as provided by law. The expenses of administering sections 122A.01, 122A.05 to 122A.09, 122A.15, 122A.16, 122A.17, 122A.18, 122A.20, 122A.21, 122A.22, 122A.23, 122A.26, 122A.30, 122A.40, 122A.41, 122A.42, 122A.45, 122A.49, 122A.54, 122A.55, 122A.56, 122A.57, and 122A.58 which are incurred by the Board of Teaching shall be paid for from appropriations made to the Board of Teaching.

Subd. 8.Fraud; gross misdemeanor.

A person who claims to be a licensed teacher without a valid existing license issued by the board or any person who employs fraud or deception in applying for or securing a license is guilty of a gross misdemeanor.

Subd. 9.Board may adopt rules.

The Board of Teaching may adopt rules subject to the provisions of chapter 14 to implement sections 122A.05 to 122A.09, 122A.16, 122A.17, 122A.18, 122A.20, 122A.21, and 122A.23.

Subd. 10.Permissions.

(a) Notwithstanding subdivision 9 and sections 14.055 and 14.056, the Board of Teaching may grant waivers to its rules upon application by a school district or a charter school for purposes of implementing experimental programs in learning or management.

(b) To enable a school district or a charter school to meet the needs of students enrolled in an alternative education program and to enable licensed teachers instructing those students to satisfy content area licensure requirements, the Board of Teaching annually may permit a licensed teacher teaching in an alternative education program to instruct students in a content area for which the teacher is not licensed, consistent with paragraph (a).

(c) A special education license permission issued by the Board of Teaching for a primary employer's low-incidence region is valid in all low-incidence regions.

(d) The Board of Teaching may issue a one-year professional license under paragraph (a), which the board may renew two times, to allow a person holding a full credential from the American Montessori Society, a diploma from Association Montessori Internationale, or a certificate of completion from a program accredited by the Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education to teach in a Montessori program operated by a school district or charter school.

(e) The Board of Teaching may grant a one-year waiver, renewable two times, to allow individuals who hold a bachelor's degree from an accredited postsecondary institution, demonstrate occupational competency based on at least three years of full-time work experience in business or industry, and enroll and make satisfactory progress in an alternative preparation program leading to certification as a career and technical education instructor to teach career and technical education courses offered by a school district or charter school. Consistent with this paragraph and section 136F.361, the Board of Teaching must strongly encourage teacher preparation programs and institutions throughout Minnesota to develop alternative pathways for certifying and licensing high school career and technical education instructors and teachers, allowing such candidates to meet certification and licensure standards that demonstrate their content knowledge, classroom experience, and pedagogical practices and their qualifications based on a combination of occupational testing, professional certification or licensure, and long-standing work experience.

[See Note.]

Subd. 11.Teacher preparation program reporting.

By December 31, 2018, and annually thereafter, the Board of Teaching shall report and publish on its Web site the cumulative summary results of at least three consecutive years of data reported to the board under subdivision 4a, paragraph (b). Where the data are sufficient to yield statistically reliable information and the results would not reveal personally identifiable information about an individual teacher, the board shall report the data by teacher preparation program.

NOTE: The amendment to subdivision 4, paragraph (n), by Laws 2016, chapter 189, article 24, section 1, is effective the day following final enactment and applies to teachers renewing their teaching licenses beginning August 1, 2017. Laws 2016, chapter 189, article 24, section 1, the effective date.

NOTE: The amendment adding paragraphs (d) and (e) to subdivision 10 by Laws 2016, chapter 189, article 24, section 1, is effective for the 2016-2017 through 2018-2019 school years. Laws 2016, chapter 189, article 24, section 1, the effective date.

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Revisor of Statutes