Relating to teachers, including the assessments administered to practitioner preparation program admission candidates and to practitioner preparation program students prior to students’ completion of a practitioner preparation program, field experiences, and certain specified licenses for teachers created by the board of educational examiners, and including notice, effective date, and applicability provisions

This bill relates to the assessments administered to practitioner preparation program admission candidates and to practitioner preparation program students prior to students’ completion of a practitioner preparation program. Current law provides that the state board of education shall adopt rules requiring all higher education institutions providing practitioner preparation to, prior to a student’s completion of the practitioner preparation program, administer either subject assessments designed by a nationally recognized testing service or a valid and reliable subject-area-specific, performance-based assessment centered on student learning. Current law also provides that an institution may administer a preprofessional skills test offered by a nationally recognized testing service to candidates for admission to the practitioner preparation program. An institution that does so must report to the department of education the percentage of students whose scores on the assessments were above, at, and below the minimum passing score set by the institution, and shall report any services or opportunities to retake the assessment that the institution may make available to a student who fails an assessment. Additionally, current law provides that the department shall compile the reports and publish the compiled information on its internet site. The bill strikes the ability of an institution to administer a preprofessional skills test to admission candidates and the corresponding reporting requirements related to that test. The bill also strikes the requirement that an institution administer subject assessments designed by a nationally recognized testing service that measure pedagogy and knowledge prior to a student’s completion of the practitioner preparation program or a valid and reliable subject-area-specific, performance-based assessment for preservice teacher candidates. The bill requires all institutions providing practitioner preparation to notify students who, before the effective date of the bill, failed to achieve the minimum passing scores set by the department on the assessments administered prior to a student’s completion of the practitioner preparation program of the changes the bill makes to the requirements related to the completion of a practitioner preparation program. The bill applies to students who attended or are attending practitioner preparation programs before, on, or after the effective date of the bill. The bill makes conforming changes.