BP BHEAD INT S [atlas:bill]

AN ACT Relating to teacher training pilot programs; amending RCW 28B.80.620 and 28B.80.622; and providing expiration dates.

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

Sec. 1. RCW 28B.80.620 and 1999 c 177 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The higher education coordinating board, in consultation with the state board of education has the following powers and duties in administering the pilot program established in RCW 28B.80.622:

(a) To adopt rules necessary to carry out the program;

(b) To establish one or more review committees to assist in the evaluation of proposals for funding. The review committee shall include individuals with significant experience in higher education in areas relevant to one or more of the funding period priorities and shall include representatives from elementary, two-year, and four-year sectors of education;

(d) To establish each biennium specific guidelines for submitting grant proposals consistent with the overall goals of the program. During the 1999-2001 biennium, the guidelines shall be consistent with the following desired outcomes of:

(i) Designing a college-level course for enrollment of selected high school seniors interested in teaching careers and students enrolled in a school-based future teachers academy;

(ii) Designing discipline-based lower division courses that are thematically linked to state student learning goals, essential academic learning requirements, and upper division courses in the interdisciplinary arts and science curriculum and supportive of teaching areas appropriate for prospective teachers;

(iii) Designing a preprofessional educational studies minor that would be pursued by prospective kindergarten through eighth grade teachers in conjunction with an interdisciplinary arts and science major;

(iv) Designing mentoring and service learning activities at the community college level that would provide prospective teachers with an orientation to professional education; ((~~and~~))

(v) Designing a process for satisfying certification requirements that encompasses pedagogical coursework and school-based internships cognizant of the financial constraints of working students; and

(vi) Establishing uniform core curricula for each teacher preparation program composed of reading, writing, communications, and math combined with an emphasis or a degree major in the subject area in which the prospective teacher intends to teach.

(2) The pilot project in this section shall conclude no later than January 1, 2005.

(3) Beginning on December 31, 2001, the higher education coordinating board shall submit an annual written report to the education and higher education committees of the legislature, the state board of education, and the office of the superintendent of public instruction on the status of the pilot project.

(4) This section expires January 30, 2005.

Sec. 2. RCW 28B.80.622 and 1999 c 177 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:

The Washington teacher training pilot program is established. The higher education coordinating board shall administer the program. Through this program the board may award, on a competitive basis, grants to public institutions of higher education or consortia of institutions to encourage high quality and effective teacher training programs. Grants shall not exceed a two-year period. Strong priority shall be given to proposals that involve shared facilities, shared resources, increasingly intensive field training and site-based internships, and cocurricular planning to establish the teacher training program, and to proposals that involve participants from the interdisciplinary arts and science curriculum and professional education faculty as well as classroom teachers from school districts. Institutions of higher education are encouraged to solicit nonstate funds to support this coordinated approach to teacher training.

This section expires January 30, 2005.