Board Authority.  The Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB) is a statutorily created 12-member board whose purpose is to establish policies and requirements for the preparation and certification of educators.

Among other activities, the PESB is authorized to:  (1) establish policies and practices for the approval of programs of courses, requirements, and other activities leading to teacher certification; (2) establish policies and practices for the approval of the character of work required to graduate from a teacher preparation program; and (3) adopt knowledge, skill, and performance standards for effective teaching.

Standards for Teacher Knowledge, Skills, and Performance.  The knowledge, skill, and performance standards for effective teaching adopted by the PESB must be evidence-based, measurable, meaningful, and documented in high quality research as being associated with improved student learning.  In addition, the PESB must, to the extent possible, incorporate social-emotional learning standards and cultural competency standards into these standards.

A PESB rule requires that PESB-approved teacher preparation programs ensure that candidates demonstrate the most recently published model teaching standards by the Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC).  The 10 InTASC standards, published in 2013, relate to the learner, content, instructional practice, and professional responsibility.

Residency Teacher Certification.  The residency teacher certificate is an initial or first-tier certificate.  Candidates for this certificate must possess a baccalaureate degree; take an assessment in the basic skills of reading, writing, and mathematics; pass a content knowledge assessment; and complete a teacher preparation program.

Performance Assessment.   Since 2014, before a PESB-approved teacher preparation program may recommend a candidate for residency teacher certification, the candidate must take and pass the evidence-based assessment of teaching effectiveness adopted by the PESB, which is the Educative Teacher Performance Assessment (known as the edTPA).

The edTPA is focused on three tasks:  planning, instruction, and assessment.  Candidates prepare a portfolio of materials, including teaching videos, that demonstrate their:  readiness to teach through lesson plans designed to support their students' strengths and needs; ability to engage students in ambitious learning; and facility for analyzing whether students are learning and adjusting instruction to become more effective.  The submitted portfolios are scored by trained educators.  For most of the 27 teaching fields, the passing score is 40.

Repeal of Performance Assessment.  Requirements related to the edTPA, including the requirement that candidates for residency teacher certification pass the edTPA, are repealed.  The PESB may not adopt rules requiring that candidates for residency teacher certification take or pass a uniform, statewide performance assessment of teaching effectiveness.

Recommendation for Residency Teacher Certification.  Before a PESB-approved teacher preparation program may recommend a candidate for residency teacher certification, the candidate must meet or exceed the knowledge, skills, performance, and competency standards adopted by the PESB.

Immediately upon the effective date of the act and until September 1, 2022, all PESB-approved teacher preparation programs must attempt to notify and recommend for residency teacher certification each person who, during the 2019-20, 2020-21, or 2021-22 academic years, met all statutory and program requirements except for completion of the edTPA.  In addition, through September 1, 2022, upon request, PESB-approved teacher preparation programs may recommend for residency teacher certification any person who was required to pass the edTPA as a prerequisite to residency teacher certification, provided that the person met all other statutory and program requirements in effect at the time of enrollment in the teacher preparation program.

Other Provisions.
The description of the measures that all PESB-approved teacher preparation programs use to demonstrate how the program produces effective teachers is revised from "measures established in statute" to "multiple measures of the knowledge, skills, performance, and competencies."

In addition, each PESB-approved teacher preparation program must publish, and provide to candidates prior to admission, a list of program completion requirements.