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Chapter 122A

Section 122A.18

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122A.18 BOARD TO ISSUE LICENSES.

Subdivision 1.Authority to license.

(a) The Board of Teaching must license teachers, as defined in section 122A.15, subdivision 1, except for supervisory personnel, as defined in section 122A.15, subdivision 2.

(b) The Board of School Administrators must license supervisory personnel as defined in section 122A.15, subdivision 2, except for athletic coaches.

(c) Licenses under the jurisdiction of the Board of Teaching, the Board of School Administrators, and the commissioner of education must be issued through the licensing section of the department.

(d) The Board of Teaching and the Department of Education must enter into a data sharing agreement to share educational data at the E-12 level for the limited purpose of program approval and improvement for teacher education programs. The program approval process must include targeted redesign of teacher preparation programs to address identified E-12 student areas of concern.

(e) The Board of School Administrators and the Department of Education must enter into a data sharing agreement to share educational data at the E-12 level for the limited purpose of program approval and improvement for education administration programs. The program approval process must include targeted redesign of education administration preparation programs to address identified E-12 student areas of concern.

(f) For purposes of the data sharing agreements under paragraphs (d) and (e), the Board of Teaching, Board of School Administrators, and Department of Education may share private data, as defined in section 13.02, subdivision 12, on teachers and school administrators. The data sharing agreements must not include educational data, as defined in section 13.32, subdivision 1, but may include summary data, as defined in section 13.02, subdivision 19, derived from educational data.

Subd. 2.Teacher and support personnel qualifications.

(a) The Board of Teaching must issue licenses under its jurisdiction to persons the board finds to be qualified and competent for their respective positions, including those meeting the standards adopted under section 122A.09, subdivision 4, paragraph (n).

(b) The board must require a candidate for teacher licensure to demonstrate a passing score on a board-adopted examination of skills in reading, writing, and mathematics, before being granted a professional five-year teaching license to provide direct instruction to pupils in prekindergarten, elementary, secondary, or special education programs, except that the board may issue up to four temporary, one-year teaching licenses to an otherwise qualified candidate who has not yet passed a board-adopted skills exam. At the request of the employing school district or charter school, the Board of Teaching may issue an initial professional one-year teaching license to an otherwise qualified teacher not passing or demonstrating a passing score on a board-adopted skills examination in reading, writing, and mathematics. For purposes of this section, the initial professional one-year teaching license issued by the board is limited to the current subject or content matter the teacher is employed to teach and limited to the district or charter school requesting the initial professional one-year teaching license. If the board denies the request, it must provide a detailed response to the school administrator as to the reasons for the denial. The board must require colleges and universities offering a board approved teacher preparation program to make available upon request remedial assistance that includes a formal diagnostic component to persons enrolled in their institution who did not achieve a qualifying score on a board-adopted skills examination, including those for whom English is a second language. The colleges and universities must make available assistance in the specific academic areas of candidates' deficiency. School districts may make available upon request similar, appropriate, and timely remedial assistance that includes a formal diagnostic component to those persons employed by the district who completed their teacher education program, who did not achieve a qualifying score on a board-adopted skills examination, and who received an initial professional one-year teaching license to teach in Minnesota. The Board of Teaching shall report annually to the education committees of the legislature on the total number of teacher candidates during the most recent school year taking a board-adopted skills examination, the number who achieve a qualifying score on the examination, the number who do not achieve a qualifying score on the examination, and the candidates who have not passed a content or pedagogy exam, disaggregated by categories of race, ethnicity, and eligibility for financial aid.

(c) The Board of Teaching must grant professional five-year teaching licenses only to those persons who have met board criteria for that license, which includes passing a board-adopted skills examination in reading, writing, and mathematics, and the exceptions in section 122A.09, subdivision 4, paragraph (b), that are consistent with this paragraph. 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 professional five-year teaching license to provide direct instruction in their native language or world language instruction under section 120B.022, subdivision 1.

(d) All colleges and universities approved by the board of teaching to prepare persons for teacher licensure must include in their teacher preparation programs a common core of teaching knowledge and skills to be acquired by all persons recommended for teacher licensure. Among other requirements, teacher candidates must demonstrate the knowledge and skills needed to provide appropriate instruction to English learners to support and accelerate their academic literacy, including oral academic language, and achievement in content areas in a regular classroom setting. This common core shall meet the standards developed by the interstate new teacher assessment and support consortium in its 1992 "model standards for beginning teacher licensing and development." Amendments to standards adopted under this paragraph are covered by chapter 14. The board of teaching shall report annually to the education committees of the legislature on the performance of teacher candidates on common core assessments of knowledge and skills under this paragraph during the most recent school year.

Subd. 2a.Reading strategies.

(a) All colleges and universities approved by the Board of Teaching to prepare persons for classroom teacher licensure must include in their teacher preparation programs research-based best practices in reading, consistent with section 122A.06, subdivision 4, that enable the licensure candidate to know how to teach reading in the candidate's content areas. Teacher candidates must be instructed in using students' native languages as a resource in creating effective differentiated instructional strategies for English learners developing literacy skills. These colleges and universities also must prepare early childhood and elementary teacher candidates for professional five-year teaching licenses for the portion of the examination under section 122A.09, subdivision 4, paragraph (e), covering assessment of reading instruction.

(b) Board-approved teacher preparation programs for teachers of elementary education must require instruction in applying comprehensive, scientifically based, and balanced reading instruction programs that:

(1) teach students to read using foundational knowledge, practices, and strategies consistent with section 122A.06, subdivision 4, so that all students achieve continuous progress in reading; and

(2) teach specialized instruction in reading strategies, interventions, and remediations that enable students of all ages and proficiency levels to become proficient readers.

(c) Nothing in this section limits the authority of a school district to select a school's reading program or curriculum.

Subd. 2b.Reading specialist.

Not later than July 1, 2002, the Board of Teaching must adopt rules providing for reading teacher licensure.

Subd. 3.Supervisory and coach qualifications; code of ethics.

The commissioner of education must issue licenses under its jurisdiction to persons the commissioner finds to be qualified and competent for their respective positions under the rules it adopts. The commissioner of education may develop, by rule, a code of ethics for supervisory personnel covering standards of professional practices, including areas of ethical conduct and professional performance and methods of enforcement.

Subd. 3a.Technology strategies.

All colleges and universities approved by the Board of Teaching to prepare persons for classroom teacher licensure must include in their teacher preparation programs the knowledge and skills teacher candidates need to deliver digital and blended learning and curriculum and engage students with technology.

Subd. 4.Expiration and renewal.

(a) Each license the Department of Education issues through its licensing section must bear the date of issue and the name of the state-approved teacher training provider. Licenses must expire and be renewed according to the respective rules the Board of Teaching, the Board of School Administrators, or the commissioner of education adopts. Requirements for renewing a license must include showing satisfactory evidence of successful teaching or administrative experience for at least one school year during the period covered by the license in grades or subjects for which the license is valid or completing such additional preparation as the Board of Teaching prescribes. The Board of School Administrators shall establish requirements for renewing the licenses of supervisory personnel except athletic coaches. The State Board of Teaching shall establish requirements for renewing the licenses of athletic coaches.

(b) Applicants for license renewal who have been employed as a teacher during the renewal period of their expiring license, as a condition of license renewal, must present to their local continuing education and relicensure committee or other local relicensure committee evidence of work that demonstrates professional reflection and growth in best teaching practices, including among other things, practices in meeting the varied needs of English learners, from young children to adults under section 124D.59, subdivisions 2 and 2a. The applicant must include a reflective statement of professional accomplishment and the applicant's own assessment of professional growth showing evidence of:

(1) support for student learning;

(2) use of best practices techniques and their applications to student learning;

(3) collaborative work with colleagues that includes examples of collegiality such as attested-to committee work, collaborative staff development programs, and professional learning community work; or

(4) continual professional development that may include (i) job-embedded or other ongoing formal professional learning or (ii) for teachers employed for only part of the renewal period of their expiring license, other similar professional development efforts made during the relicensure period.

The Board of Teaching must ensure that its teacher relicensing requirements also include this paragraph.

(c) The Board of Teaching shall offer alternative options for license renewal for teachers who are accepted into and complete the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification process, and offer additional continuing relicensure options for teachers who earn National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification. Continuing relicensure requirements for teachers who do not maintain National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification are those the board prescribes, consistent with this section.

Subd. 4a.Limited provisional licenses.

The board may grant two-year provisional licenses to licensure candidates in a field in which they were not previously licensed or in a field in which a shortage of licensed teachers exists. A shortage is defined as an inadequate supply of licensed personnel in a given licensure area as determined by the commissioner.

Subd. 5.

[Repealed by amendment, 2016 c 189 art 24 s 3]

Subd. 6.Human relations.

The Board of Teaching shall accept training programs completed through Peace Corps, VISTA, or Teacher Corps in lieu of completing the human relations component of the training program for purposes of issuing or renewing a teaching license.

Subd. 7.Limited provisional licenses.

The Board of Teaching may grant provisional licenses, which shall be valid for two years, in fields in which licenses were not issued previously or in fields in which a shortage of licensed teachers exists. A shortage is defined as a lack of or an inadequate supply of licensed personnel within a given licensure area in a school district that has notified the Board of Teaching of the shortage and has applied to the Board of Teaching for provisional licenses for that district's licensed staff.

Subd. 7a.Permission to substitute teach.

(a) The Board of Teaching may allow a person who is enrolled in and making satisfactory progress in a board-approved teacher program and who has successfully completed student teaching to be employed as a short-call substitute teacher.

(b) The Board of Teaching may issue a lifetime qualified short-call substitute teaching license to a person who:

(1) was a qualified teacher under section 122A.16 while holding a professional five-year teaching license issued by the board, and receives a retirement annuity from the Teachers Retirement Association or the St. Paul Teachers Retirement Fund Association;

(2) holds an out-of-state teaching license and receives a retirement annuity as a result of the person's teaching experience; or

(3) held a professional five-year teaching license issued by the board, taught at least three school years in an accredited nonpublic school in Minnesota, and receives a retirement annuity as a result of the person's teaching experience.

A person holding a lifetime qualified short-call substitute teaching license is not required to complete continuing education clock hours. A person holding this license may reapply to the board for a professional five-year teaching license and must again complete continuing education clock hours one school year after receiving the professional five-year teaching license.

Subd. 7b.Temporary limited licenses; personnel variances.

(a) The Board of Teaching must accept applications for a temporary limited teaching license beginning July 1 of the school year for which the license is requested and must issue or deny the temporary limited teaching license within 30 days of receiving the complete application.

(b) The Board of Teaching must accept applications for a personnel variance beginning July 1 of the school year for which the variance is requested and must issue or deny the personnel variance within 30 days of receiving the complete application.

Subd. 7c.Temporary military license.

The Board of Teaching shall establish a temporary license in accordance with section 197.4552 for teaching. The fee for a temporary license under this subdivision shall be $87.90 for an online application or $86.40 for a paper application.

Subd. 8.Background checks.

(a) The Board of Teaching and the commissioner of education must request a criminal history background check from the superintendent of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension on all first-time teaching applicants for licenses under their jurisdiction. Applicants must include with their licensure applications:

(1) an executed criminal history consent form, including fingerprints; and

(2) a money order or cashier's check payable to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for the fee for conducting the criminal history background check.

(b) The superintendent of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension shall perform the background check required under paragraph (a) by retrieving criminal history data as defined in section 13.87 and shall also conduct a search of the national criminal records repository. The superintendent is authorized to exchange fingerprints with the Federal Bureau of Investigation for purposes of the criminal history check. The superintendent shall recover the cost to the bureau of a background check through the fee charged to the applicant under paragraph (a).

(c) The Board of Teaching or the commissioner of education may issue a license pending completion of a background check under this subdivision, but must notify the individual that the individual's license may be revoked based on the result of the background check.

Subd. 9.

[Repealed, 2012 c 239 art 2 s 21]

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Revisor of Statutes