HOUSE BILL REPORT

HB 1827

As Reported by House Committee On:

Education

Title: An act relating to expanding the current and future educator workforce supply through evidence-based strategies to improve and incentivize the recruitment and retention of highly effective educators, especially in high-need subject, grade-level, and geographic areas, and to establish a cohesive continuum of high quality professional learning from preparation programs to job embedded induction, mentoring, collaboration, and other professional development opportunities.

Brief Description: Relating to expanding the current and future educator workforce supply through evidence-based strategies to improve and incentivize the recruitment and retention of highly effective educators, especially in high-need subject, grade-level, and geographic areas, and to establish a cohesive continuum of high quality professional learning from preparation programs to job embedded induction, mentoring, collaboration, and other professional development opportunities.

Sponsors: Representatives Santos, Tarleton, Fey, Doglio, Pollet and Ortiz-Self.

Brief History:

Committee Activity:

Education: 2/7/17, 2/16/17 [DPS].

Majority Report: The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass. Signed by 17 members: Representatives Santos, Chair; Dolan, Vice Chair; Stonier, Vice Chair; Harris, Ranking Minority Member; Muri, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Bergquist, Caldier, Johnson, Kilduff, Lovick, McCaslin, Ortiz-Self, Senn, Slatter, Springer, Steele and Volz.

Minority Report: Without recommendation. Signed by 1 member: Representative Hargrove.

Staff: Megan Wargacki (786-7194).

Background:

State Agencies.

Professional Educator Standards Board. Established by the Legislature in 2000, the Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB) is a 12-member board that adopts rules and creates policies for the preparation and certification of educators. The PESB's statutory duties include:

• establishing policies and practices for the approval of programs of courses, requirements, and other activities leading to educator certification, such as for teachers, administrators, and educational staff associates; and

• reviewing school district and regional educator workforce data and identifying how recruitment and enrollment plans in education preparation programs reflect projected need.

Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. In addition to its constitutional charge of supervising all matters pertaining to public schools, the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) and its office have numerous and broad responsibilities prescribed in statute, including:

• making rules and regulations necessary for the administration of public education requirements; and

• developing and providing training or professional development to school staff.

Teacher Shortages.

The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) surveyed school district principals and human resource directors in fall 2016 and found that districts are struggling to hire qualified teachers and substitutes. Washington produced nearly 2,500 teachers in 2015. The OSPI reports that the estimated annual shortfall in needed teachers is expected to be approximately 3,500 teachers annually if current trends continue.

Shortage Areas. The PESB designates official shortage areas based on periodic analysis of educator supply and demand in Washington. An endorsement is the subject area in which a certified educator is authorized to teach, along with designated grade levels for that area.

The PESB has identified the most common endorsement shortage areas, for example, special education, English language learner, mathematics, and science. Other subject matter shortage areas are specific to regions and so are identified as geographic shortage areas.

Supporting Future Educators from the Community. In 2016 the PESB issued a report that highlights the best practices to "Grow Your Own" educators as it relates to human resources, recruitment and advancement, high school teacher academies, paraeducator and emergency substitute pipelines, engaging career changers and retirees, and candidate development across systems. The report identifies four major themes that influence and support enhancing educator pathways and increasing the diversity of the educator workforce:

• recruit local talent;

• provide intensive residency;

• provide financial support; and

• provide testing and academic support.

District Human Resource Practices. For the past few years, the PESB has been investigating school district human resource practices related to teacher recruitment and retention, including selection, hiring, and onboarding/induction. In order to identify best practices in these areas, the PESB commissioned a case study of three school districts with better human resource practices than other districts, and a review of the scientific literature on human resource practices in public education. Using the best practice, the PESB has developed a strategy for delivering training to school district staff responsible for human resource practices.

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Summary of Substitute Bill:

Legislative findings are made related to educator recruitment, for example:

• a comprehensive effort is needed to repair the current, disjointed system for attracting individuals into certificated educator professions;

• discrete state and local efforts are needed to be streamlined and performed in concert, in order to enhance the recruitment effect; and

• there is a need to immediately fill classroom vacancies, and to create a pipeline of interested individuals entering, and remaining in, the educator workforce.

Legislative findings are made related to educator retention, for example:

• problems with educator retention within a school or school district are largely an issue of school and district climate; and

• mentoring and professional learning opportunities for educators should be systematized;

Legislative findings are made related to evaluation of educator effectiveness, for example, the four-level rating evaluation system implemented for classroom teachers and principals should be the model for improving the effectiveness of all educators.

Legislative findings are made related to educator certification, for example, parallel pathways for obtaining the various educator certificates should require similar effort and be rewarded equally.

Legislative findings are made that incentives, encouragements, assistance, and supports for educators must be related explicitly and directly back to the Legislature's objectives for educator recruitment, retention, professional learning, evaluation for effectiveness, and certification.

Substitute Bill Compared to Original Bill:

The section describing the title of the bill is replaced with legislative findings related to educator recruitment, educator retention, evaluation of educator effectiveness, educator certification, and incentives and assistance for educators.

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Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Not requested.

Effective Date of Substitute Bill: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of the session in which the bill is passed.

Staff Summary of Public Testimony:

(In support) Last year the House Education Committee mounted a bipartisan effort to begin identifying ways to address the teacher shortage that is being felt across the state.  It was determined that in a short session, only some of the problem could be addressed. The members decided to leave some of the other issues for a longer session. It will take a multipronged strategy to ensure that the state has an adequate supply of teachers well into the future.  It is hoped that, this year, the members will generate sufficient interest to help fill in the blanks in the proposed substitute bill.  The proposed substitute bill includes great ideas from other members of the Committee.

The teacher shortage is an urgent issue.  The teacher shortage is a crisis for small school districts.  It is important for districts to hire very good educators, but the supply of all educators is low.  Anything that can be done to increase the supply will be good.  Teachers need to be supported, honored, and valued. School directors want to reduce barriers to teachers entering the classroom. School directors want to increase the diversity of the educator workforce. 

The themes in the bill are a solid approach to supporting the teacher workforce.  Some classified employees must take leaves of absence to do student teaching. It would be helpful to pay for individuals to receive scholarships to get training to become educators, rather than making them wait for loan forgiveness. One idea is to offer a four-year full ride to high school seniors who promise to go into education and teach in their school district.

(Opposed) None.

(Other) The largest undergraduate program for teacher preparation has put together a 10-prong strategy to address the teacher shortage.  This bill hits on two of those strategies.  The most important components to address teacher shortage are: compensation, preparation, mentoring/induction, and teaching conditions.

The "grow your own" concept is already being used around the state.  In these programs, people can work full-time in the district while going to school in the evening or online. The concern is that grant funding usually supports only one or two cohorts at a time, and then the programs go away. Ensuring that "grow your own" programs are done in partnership with educator preparation programs is important.  The "grow your own" program definition should be tightened because there are different ideas about what this means.  There is a concern about the one-time funding structure in the grow your own program.

The loan forgiveness program would recruit talented individuals to become teachers.  It is helpful to provide scholarships or conditional loans for teachers. Funding to expand masters in teaching programs to a three-plus-two model would be helpful. 

The edTPA has been adopted by 22 states; it is a critical measure of whether candidates have achieved the standards for entry into the profession.  There are alternative routes to the same certificate, but there should not be different certificate standards or there would be different certificates.  The edTPA is a key performance metric and accountability measure. Waiving the edTPA is a concern. Creating some endorsement areas with lower certification requirements is a concern because all teachers should be held to the same high standards. The law says that teacher preparation programs must be held to the same standards, and teachers should also be held to the same standards. 

The human resource training might be better placed fully in the OPSI because the PESB is the regulator not the support system.  

Persons Testifying: (In support) Representative Santos, prime sponsor; Gene Sementi, West Valley School District; Kyle Rydell, Liberty School District; Jim Kowalkowski, Davidport School District and Rural Education Center; and Jessica Vavrus, Washington State School Directors' Association.

(Other) Steve DuPont, Central Washington University; Becca Kenna-Schenk, Western Washington University; Alicia Kinne-Clawson, Eastern Washington University; Colleen Rust, The Evergreen State College; Bob Cooper, Washington Association of College for Teacher Education; and Jennifer Wallace, Professional Educator Standards Board.

Persons Signed In To Testify But Not Testifying: None.