BP BHEAD INT S

AN ACT Relating to teacher training; and creating new sections.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature, through ongoing efforts and looking to the future, recognizes the need to encourage and sponsor innovative and creative means to recruit, train, and retain highly qualified teachers as a priority for Washington's public education system.

Recognizing that the continued need for well-trained teachers is heightened by the evolving transformation of Washington's schools to performance-based learning and assessment with new, higher expectations teachers and students, the legislature believes the need exists for an authentic partnership with direct, collaborative links between higher education and the public schools with regard to the training of teachers.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. The superintendent of public instruction shall:

(1) Award grants to selected educational service districts for the 1993-95 biennium for not more than six but no fewer than four pilot regional collaborative professional development school projects. The pilot projects shall be operated through existing professional development centers in the selected educational service districts that are under the jurisdiction of the office of the superintendent of public instruction.

(2) The selected pilot projects shall be an authentic, collaborative partnership comprised of the educational service district, the school of education of an institution or institutions of higher education, and one or more school districts.

(3) The superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that the participating educational service districts provide:

(a) Management and coordination of regional visiting higher education faculty;

(b) Management and coordination of the student teacher, mentor teacher, and paraprofessional training programs at each site;

(c) At least fifty percent of the in-service training for site staff for the project, recognizing the need to emphasize the educational goals established by the legislature relative to the development of performance-based education; and

(d) Continuing education clock hour credit for in-service activities.

(4) The superintendent of public instruction and the higher education coordinating board shall ensure that the participating higher education institutions provide:

(a) Coordination of master's degree and master's in teaching intern programs as well as undergraduate and graduate level classes that lead to teaching certificate endorsements or degrees for staff;

(b) Coordination with the participating educational service districts and school districts of research projects on critical issues relative to the education goals established by the legislature relative to the development of performance-based education;

(c) Facilitation of regional teacher recruitment programs with special emphasis on the diversity of Washington's public school enrollment through the recruitment of minorities into the teaching profession;

(d) Facilitation of the recruitment of professionals changing careers to become teachers through the existing internship program;

(e) At least fifty percent of the in-service training for site staff for the project, recognizing the need to emphasize the educational goals established by the legislature relative to the development of performance-based education; and

(f) Coordination of pilot project evaluation and the development of recommendations regarding the replication or broader implementation of the regional collaborative professional development school model.

(5) The superintendent of public instruction shall ensure that the school districts represented in the pilot program reflect the diversity of Washington's schools and include large, small, rural, and urban school districts in both eastern and western Washington.

(6) The superintendent of public instruction shall report to the senate and house of representatives education and higher education committees no later than December 31, 1993, and December 31, 1994, on the activities of the pilot programs, including: Pilot site locations, partnerships at each location, number and ethnic origin of student teachers involved at each site, curricular activities, in-service offerings and, if applicable, placement of student teachers. The superintendent of public instruction, in the superintendent's final report, shall also recommend to the legislature the feasibility of continuing and expanding the program to all nine educational service districts.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. If specific funding for the purposes of this act, referencing this act by bill number, is not provided by June 30, 1993, in the omnibus appropriations act, this act shall be null and void.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.