H-0148.1

HOUSE BILL 1028

ByRepresentatives Bergquist, McCaslin, Dolan, Stonier, and Pollet

AN ACT Relating to evaluation and recommendation of candidates for residency teacher certification; amending RCW 28A.410.270 and 28A.410.2211; adding a new section to chapter 28A.410 RCW; creating a new section; repealing RCW 28A.410.280; providing an expiration date; and declaring an emergency.

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

(2) This section expires September 1, 2022.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 28A.410 RCW to read as follows:

(1)(a) Before recommending a candidate for residency teacher certification, a board-approved teacher preparation program must ensure that the candidate demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and competencies required under RCW 28A.410.270.

(b) Beginning September 1, 2022, each board-approved teacher preparation program must implement a procedure for evaluating and recommending candidates for residency teacher certification that is consistent with the model procedure developed as required under subsection (2) of this section. Each board-approved teacher preparation program must submit the procedure, and any updates to the procedure, to the board for posting on the board's website.

(2) The board must develop and periodically update a model procedure for evaluating and recommending candidates for residency teacher certification. The model procedure must include a tool or rubric to evaluate whether and to what extent candidates for residency teacher certification demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and competencies required under RCW 28A.410.270. The board must also develop and periodically update best practices guidance and other resources to assist programs with consistent implementation of the model procedure. The board must consult with board-approved teacher preparation programs and candidates for residency teacher certification while developing and updating the model procedure, best practices guidance, and resources described in this subsection.

(3) Board-approved teacher preparation programs must annually report data on evaluating and recommending candidates for residency teacher certification to the board, in a manner adopted by the board in rule. Annually by December 1st, the board must summarize the data and report it to the governor and the appropriate standing committees of the legislature, in accordance with RCW 43.01.036.

(4) The board may not adopt rules requiring that candidates for residency teacher certification take or pass a uniform, statewide evaluation of teaching effectiveness, other than as described in this section.

(5) For the purposes of this section, "board" means the Washington professional educator standards board.

Sec. 3. RCW 28A.410.270 and 2019 c 386 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:

(1)(a) The Washington professional educator standards board shall adopt a set of articulated teacher knowledge, skill, and performance standards for effective teaching that are evidence-based, measurable, meaningful, and documented in high quality research as being associated with improved student learning. The standards shall be calibrated for each level along the entire career continuum. For candidates recommended for residency teacher certification by a board-approved preparation program, the standards adopted by the board must be the most recent teaching standards published by a consortium of state and national education organizations dedicated to the reform of the preparation, licensing, and ongoing professional development of teachers since 1987.

(b) In developing the standards, the board shall, to the extent possible, incorporate standards for cultural competency along the entire continuum. For the purposes of this subsection, "cultural competency" includes knowledge of student cultural histories and contexts, as well as family norms and values in different cultures; knowledge and skills in accessing community resources and community and parent outreach; and skills in adapting instruction to students' experiences and identifying cultural contexts for individual students.

(c) By January 1, 2020, in order to ensure that teachers can recognize signs of emotional or behavioral distress in students and appropriately refer students for assistance and support, the Washington professional educator standards board shall incorporate along the entire continuum the social-emotional learning standards and benchmarks recommended by the social-emotional learning benchmarks work group in its October 1, 2016, final report titled, "addressing social emotional learning in Washington's K-12 public schools." In incorporating the social-emotional learning standards and benchmarks, the Washington professional educator standards board must include related competencies, such as trauma-informed practices, consideration of adverse childhood experiences, mental health literacy, antibullying strategies, and culturally sustaining practices.

(2) The Washington professional educator standards board shall adopt a definition of master teacher, with a comparable level of increased competency between professional certification level and master level as between professional certification level and national board certification. Within the definition established by the Washington professional educator standards board, teachers certified through the national board for professional teaching standards shall be considered master teachers.

(3) ((The Washington professional educator standards board shall maintain a uniform, statewide, valid, and reliable classroom-based means of evaluating teacher effectiveness as a culminating measure at the preservice level that is to be used during the student-teaching field experience. This assessment shall include multiple measures of teacher performance in classrooms, evidence of positive impact on student learning, and shall include review of artifacts, such as use of a variety of assessment and instructional strategies, and student work.

(4))) Award of a professional certificate shall be based on a minimum of two years of successful teaching experience as defined by the board, and may not require candidates to enroll in a professional certification program.

(((5)))(4) Educator preparation programs approved to offer the residency teaching certificate shall be required to demonstrate how the program produces effective teachers as evidenced by the measures established under this section and other criteria established by the Washington professional educator standards board.

Sec. 4. RCW 28A.410.2211 and 2011 2nd sp.s. c 2 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The professional educator standards board shall revise assessments for prospective teachers and teachers adding subject area endorsements required for teacher certification under RCW 28A.410.220 to measure the revised standards in RCW 28A.410.221.

(2) ((In implementing the evidence-based assessment of teaching effectiveness under RCW 28A.410.280, the))The professional educator standards board shall require that successful candidates for the residency certificate demonstrate effective subject specific instructional methods that address the revised standards.

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