Recruitment and Hiring of Public School Employees.
In 2016 the Legislature appropriated funds to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to develop and implement a comprehensive, statewide initiative to increase the number of qualified individuals who apply for teaching positions in Washington. As part of the initiative, the OSPI was directed to work with the Employment Security Department to incorporate certificated educator positions into the state's existing web-based depository for job applications. The OSPI was directed to report to the Legislature by December 1, 2019, on the efficiency and effectiveness of the centralized web-based depository for job applications and with recommendations on whether the requirement be continued, modified, or terminated.
Job sites for educators are also offered through Educational Service Districts, school districts, professional associations, and private companies.
Legislation enacted in 2019 provided funding for three Educational Service Districts to employ a regional recruiter for two years. A report to the Legislature with a summary of the recruitment activities and recommendations on whether the program be continued, modified, or expanded, was due by December 1, 2021.
Educator Preparation Programs.
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 approves entities, including community colleges, universities, Educational Service Districts, and community-based organizations, to offer educator preparation programs. There are educator preparation programs for teachers, principals and other administrators, and educational staff associates.
Standards for Effective Teaching.
The PESB must adopt 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 PESB must incorporate into these standards its standards of practice for cultural competency, equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Student Teaching.
To complete a teacher preparation program, a candidate must complete a student teaching experience in a school setting. The experience must be at least 450 hours, including supervised planning, instruction, and reflection. The experience must also relate to specific program outcomes and be designed to integrate educational theory, knowledge, and skills in practice under the direction of a certificated teacher with three years of teaching experience.
Programs categorized as alternative route require candidates to complete a one-year mentored internship, known as a residency, and 540 hours of student teaching.
Each teacher preparation program is required to develop, and submit to the PESB, a plan describing how the program will partner with local school districts regarding field placement of student teachers.
Financial Assistance for Prospective Educators.
The Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC) administers the majority of the state's financial aid programs. The WSAC administers a student teaching grant program to provide additional funds to student teachers at certain public schools.
The WSAC also administers five statutory conditional scholarship (CS) programs for educators: Teacher Shortage, Alternative Route, Educator Retooling, Pipeline for Paraeducators, and Career and Technical Education. A CS is a loan that is forgiven, in whole or in part, in exchange for qualified service. The maximum CS award is $8,000 per person per year. For each CS program, the CS is forgiven when the participant fulfills the following service obligation: serve as a certificated employee for two school years for each year of CS received, or serve as a certificated employee in a shortage area for one school year for each year of CS received.
Beginning Educator Support Team Program.
The Beginning Educator Support Team (BEST) Program provides professional development and mentor support for beginning educators. The BEST Program must include specified components, for example: mentorship, professional development, and adherence to research-based standards for beginning educator induction developed by the OSPI.
A mentor is defined as a teacher, educational staff associate, or principal who has successfully completed training in assisting, coaching, and advising beginning educators, has been selected using mentor standards developed by the OSPI, and is participating in ongoing mentor skills professional development.
Subject to available funding, and on a competitive basis, the OSPI distributes grants to individual school districts or consortia of districts. In allocating funds, the OSPI must give priority to districts identified for support and improvement under the state's accountability system, those with a large influx of beginning educators, and those that demonstrate an understanding of the OSPI's standards for beginning educator induction.
Educator Workforce Data.
The PESB is required to maintain data concerning educator preparation programs and their quality, educator certification, educator employment trends and needs, and other data deemed relevant by the PESB.
Each educational service district, in cooperation with the PESB, is required to convene representatives from school districts within that region and educator preparation programs to review district and regional educator workforce data, make biennial projections of certificate staffing needs, and identify how recruitment and enrollment plans in educator preparation programs reflect projected need.
Kindergarten Through Grade 12 Education Data Improvement System.
In 2009 legislation was enacted stating the Legislature's intent to establish a comprehensive kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12) Education Data Improvement System for financial, student, and educator data. The stated objective of the system is to monitor student progress, have information on the quality of the educator workforce, monitor and analyze the costs of programs, provide for financial integrity and accountability, and have the capability to link across these various data components by student, by class, by teacher, by school, by district, and statewide.
The Legislature further specified its goal that all school districts have the capability to collect state-identified common data and export it in a standard format to support a statewide K-12 Education Data Improvement System.
The 2009-11 State Omnibus Operating Appropriations Act appropriated funding to the OSPI to implement this data system, including convening a data-governance group to define operating rules and a governance structure for these data collections.
The Professional Educator Collaborative.
Legislation enacted in 2019 established the Professional Educator Collaborative to make recommendations on how to improve and strengthen state policies, programs, and pathways that lead to highly effective educators at each level of the public school system. A report with recommendations on each of eight issues was required to be submitted to the Legislature by November 1, 2021.
Recruitment and Hiring of Public School Employees.
The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) must initiate and oversee the development and implementation of an online platform for the recruitment and hiring of public school employees. At a minimum, the online platform must have the following functions and features:
The OSPI must report to the Legislature with a plan, timeline, and cost estimate for: (a) the development and implementation of the online platform; (b) securing any needed vendors for its development and implementation; (c) and making the online platform accessible to public schools, school districts, and job seekers. A preliminary report must be submitted by June 30, 2024, and a final report must be submitted by June 30, 2025.
Teacher Residency Program.
Definitions. A teacher residency is defined as a yearlong preservice clinical practice in a public elementary or secondary school in which the resident coteaches with a preservice mentor, while the resident concurrently completes teacher preparation program coursework.
A preservice mentor is defined as a teacher who: has at least three years teaching experience; has at least three consecutive years of performance evaluations with a performance rating of level 3 or above; to the extent possible, has an endorsement deemed by the PESB to be equivalent to the endorsement area sought by the preservice mentor's resident or has at least three years of experience teaching in the context area of the resident's desired endorsement; and has been trained and selected using the preservice mentor screening tool developed by the PESB, in collaboration with the OSPI.
Program Requirements and Approval Process. The OSPI and the PESB must collaborate to establish an application and approval process for a school district, state-tribal education compact school (STECS), or consortium, in partnership with a teacher preparation program seeking approval to operate a teacher residency program. A consortium is defined as a group of school districts, STECSs, or both, that partners with a teacher preparation program to support a cohort of residents.
At a minimum, a teacher residency program must meet the following requirements:
Grants. Subject to appropriation, the OSPI, in collaboration with the PESB, must award grants to school districts, STECSs, or consortia with approved teacher residency. Grants must be prioritized to communities that are anticipated to be most positively impacted by teacher residents who fill teacher vacancies upon completing the teacher residency program and who remain in the communities in which they are mentored.
For the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years, grants must be prioritized to teacher residency programs at school districts, STECSs, or consortia of school districts, with the highest percentages of teachers with limited certificates, and must be awarded as follows:
Partnership Agreements. The OSPI and the PESB must collaborate to develop and publish a model agreement for school districts, STECSs, or consortia and teacher preparation programs partnering to operate teacher residency programs. The model agreement must include the following provisions:
Conditional Scholarship. The Teacher Residency Conditional Scholarship Program is created to provide financial aid to encourage persons to become teachers and to retain these teachers, especially in shortage areas of endorsement. The Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC) must administer the program.
To qualify for the program, an applicant must:
Participants are eligible to receive a teacher residency conditional scholarship of up to $8,000 during the year of their residency. A teacher residency conditional scholarship is forgiven when the participant: holds an endorsement in either special education, early childhood special education, bilingual education, English language learner, or elementary education; and serves for one full-time school year as a teacher in a public school classroom or program that requires that endorsement.
The Student Teaching Grant Program is repealed.
Advisory Council. The PESB, in collaboration with the OSPI, must coordinate and regularly convene an advisory committee of education partners to study problems of practice within the teacher residency programs and to guide and steer decisions for continuous improvement of the teacher residency programs that result in positive outcomes for students, school districts, STECSs, consortia, teacher preparation programs, preservice mentors, and residents participating in the teacher residency programs. The advisory council is not required to be convened after June 30, 2033.
Evaluation of Effectiveness. The PESB must contract with a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization to evaluate the effectiveness and impacts of the teacher residency program over at least the first four years of implementation. The nonprofit and nonpartisan organization must have at least seven years of experience conducting high quality research to improve evidence-based education policies and practices that support empowering and equitable learning for all students. By November 1, 2028, the PESB must submit a report of the evaluation to the Legislature.
Teacher Exchange Program Report.
By October 1, 2023, the OSPI must submit to the Legislature a report recommending whether and how the state should establish a teacher exchange program. At a minimum, the report must include:
In developing its recommendations, the OSPI must consult with school districts with experience implementing teacher exchanges and school districts interested in participating in a teacher exchange program, the United States Department of State regarding the requirements of the Federal Exchange Visitor Program, and United States embassies and education agencies of other countries.
Educator Preparation Program Improvement Report.
By October 1, 2024, the PESB must submit a report to the Legislature with recommendations for the improvement of the quality and effectiveness of educator preparation and workforce programs. The report must compare the requirements of the teacher residency program and registered teacher apprenticeship programs. The report must include proposals for better coordination between educator preparation partners and opportunities for educator preparation and workforce program improvement and expansion.
Beginning Educator Support Team Program.
The OSPI is directed to support local Beginning Educator Support Team (BEST) Programs by: providing technical assistance, intentional and sustained professional learning opportunities, and induction coaching services to school leaders and mentors; and facilitating collaborative, coordinated learning between local BEST Programs.
The prioritization requirements for the BEST Program grants are modified as follows: (1) STECSs are made eligible; (2) grants must be prioritized to school districts and STECSs that have not recently been allocated BEST Program grants and exhibit a readiness to implement a local BEST Program, rather than those that demonstrate an understanding of the research-based standards for BEST; and (3) grants must also be prioritized to school districts and STECSs expanding existing local BEST Programs.
A local BEST Program must be aligned to the cultural competency, diversity, equity, and inclusion (CCDEI) standards of practice developed by the PESB.
A definition for "beginning educator" is added to mean a first through third-year principal, first through third-year teacher, or first through third-year educational staff associate.
The definition of "mentor" is revised. In addition to existing requirements, a mentor must: have had a certificate for at least three years; for principals and teachers, have at least three consecutive years of performance evaluations with a performance rating of level 3 or above; have been selected using mentor standards aligned to the CCDEI standards of practice developed by the PESB; be assigned to a beginning educator in a similar role or field as the mentor, and for teachers, to the extent possible; and have an endorsement deemed by the PESB to be equivalent to the endorsement area sought by the beginning educator.
Preservice Mentoring and Induction.
The PESB must collaborate with the OSPI to develop, and periodically update: (1) standards for preservice mentoring and induction of preservice teachers, based on the standards for beginning educator mentoring and induction; and (2) model screening tools for the identification and selection of residents and preservice mentors. The standards and tools must be posted on the website of the PESB.
Educator Workforce Research.
The OSPI and the PESB must collect, organize, and analyze data to make determinations about the quality and effectiveness of educator workforce programs. At a minimum, collected data must include educator demographics, assessment scores, program completion rates, endorsement completion rates, program completer rates of retention in the profession, and program costs to the state and to the program participant. At a minimum, collected data must be analyzed and used to support, evaluate, and approve educator workforce programs. The data must be maintained in the K-12 Education Data Improvement System.
The K-12 Education Data Improvement System is authorized and expanded to include data on paraeducators, certificated administrative staff and all certificated instructional staff, as well as to all public schools.
The PESB is made responsible for the annual convenings of Educational Service Districts and local school districts to review educator workforce data.
Short Title.
This act may be known and cited as the Educator Workforce Act.
The substitute bill makes the following changes to the original bill:
(In support) There is an educator workforce shortage that will only get worse. Some people have retired early due to the pandemic, students do not want to become educators, and there has been a decline in applicants for teachers and other positions in rural school districts. The state needs qualified educators to teach our children. Large-scale systemic changes are needed, but this is the best investment the state can make. This bill makes key investments to transform the way teachers enter the profession and provides wraparound supports for beginning educators.
Teachers are the number one predictor of student success, which makes teaching one of the most important jobs. It is important for the state to pursue policies that will help ensure that students have equitable access to highly skilled and diverse educators. Even if there was not a shortage, this bill would still be good policy and it will have a positive impact on the state.
Compared to other programs, Teacher Residency Programs often prepare a higher percentage of teachers of color, and program completers stay in the profession longer. A Teacher Residency Program is like a medical residency program and provides significant mentoring for a full year. At a minimum, the program should include a reduced overall workload for the mentor with a ramp up of opportunities for the resident to learn and practice.
The Teacher Residency Program uses lessons learned to improve the system and expand paid student teaching opportunities. Student teachers are generally unpaid and do not have time to get a paid job. Student teaching is very difficult and is like an apprenticeship, but without the pay. The conditional scholarship will also help the residents.
Some students do not have teachers that look like them. Some Teacher Residency Programs recruit people of color and match the resident to a mentor of color. A resident learns how to cultivate relationships with families, plan lessons, and reflect on teaching practices. The residents get to see what their mentor teacher does firsthand, which prepares the resident for their first year of teaching. The mentor can continue to check in with former residents.
Many student teachers are not connected to their school district, so do not have peers that they know. The teacher preparation program curriculum needs to be designed in tandem with the school district. Having the school district make a commitment to hire its residents relieves the residents' stress of having to find a job after graduation.
The use of data will allow the system to engage in cycles of improvement. Current teacher preparation programs will need to retool to offer Teacher Residency Programs and there should be consideration of the costs for retooling. The state should have high expectations and high levels of support for these programs. This bill requires that grants are prioritized to places with highest percentages of limited certificates. This bill will support 225 of its annual teacher candidates each year.
The institutions of higher education look forward to taking a greater role in the design and execution of paid Techer Residency Programs. Because of the variety of school districts that might want to offer a residency, the cohort size should be reduced. The bill should also target special education, geographically remote, and marginalized candidates. There are shortages of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics teachers, too. The bill should also apply to Alternative Route to Teacher Certification Programs.
It is important for the state to know whether it is using its dollars wisely. The data investments in the bill will allow the state to predict shortages of teachers and fill gaps before they happen. Research shows that educators need better professional development, and they want professional development. The Beginning Educator Support Team program will be expanded to all of the state's novice educators.
Teachers and principals need to engage students in learning. They want students to go on to become educators. Principals are the lead learner in school buildings. They have to arrange and plan for staffing. Having a more robust system to train and grow educators will make their job easier.
(Opposed) None.