TEACHER CERTIFICATE EXCEPTION
House Bill 5437
Sponsor: Rep. Ken Bradstreet
Committee: Education
Complete to 11-5-01
A SUMMARY OF HOUSE BILL 5437 AS INTRODUCED 11-1-01
House Bill 5437 would amend the Revised School Code to allow the board of a local or intermediate school district, or the board of directors of a public school academy, to engage a full-time or part-time non-certificated, non-endorsed teacher to teach in grades 7 through 12, if he or she met one or both of the following minimum requirements:
-Possessed an earned master's or doctorate degree from an accredited post-secondary institution in a field of study related to the subject that he or she was assigned to teach, and met all of the following: (i) was annually and continually enrolled and completing credit in an accelerated master's and training teacher preparation course that met certain requirements (see below) and had not been enrolled in that course for more than 36 months; (ii) if the teacher had completed the master's and training teacher preparation course, he or she met the same continuing education requirements that applied to a certificated teacher; (iii) during at least his or her first semester of teaching, taught under the direction and periodic evaluation of a mentor (a requirement in addition to the mentoring requirements under section 1526, and able to be met with the same mentor); and, (iv) throughout the teachers' first semester of teaching, met at least weekly with the school district superintendent or chief administrator of the public school academy (or his or her designee), to assess the teacher's progress (a requirement that could be met in a group meeting if it applied to more than one individual).
-Possessed an earned bachelor's degree from an accredited post-secondary institution and met all of the following: (i) had a major or a degree in the field of student in which he or she would teach; (ii) was annually and continually enrolled and completing credit in an approved teacher preparation program leading to a teaching certificate; and, (iii) if the teacher desired to teach for more than one year, had passed both a basic skills examination and a subject area examination, if an applicable subject area examination existed, in the field of specialization in which he or she would teach.
The bill specifies that these requirements would be in addition to others that could be established by a local or intermediate school board, or the board of directors of a public school academy. Further, all school districts and public school academies would be prohibited from engaging a full-time or part-time non-certificated, non-endorsed teacher to teach under the provisions of the bill unless the district or the academy determined that it was unable to engage a satisfactory certificated, endorsed teacher using the recruitment methods it normally used to recruit.
Under the bill, a master's and training teacher preparation course would be required to meet all of the following conditions:
-consist of at least 18 college credit hours or the equivalent of 120 clock hours of study;
-include at least an equivalent number of credits or hours of reading instruction as required under section 1531(4) of the code and equivalent content;
-require passage of the basic skills examination described in section 1531 of the code; and
-require passage of a subject area examination, if an applicable examination existed, in the subject area in which the teacher held a master's or doctorate degree.
The bill would change a number of provisions in the existing law to enable an alternative route to teacher employment. Under the current law, there is no specific reference to public school academies. Instead, the law specifies that only local and intermediate school districts may hire non-certificated, non-endorsed teachers, and they may do so only for grades nine through 12 (not seven through 12 as specified in the bill), and only in subject areas designated by the state board, as well as in computer science, a foreign language, mathematics, biology, chemistry, engineering, physics, and robotics. Currently a non-certificated, non-endorsed teacher is qualified to teach if he or she meets all of the following minimum requirements: (a) possesses an earned bachelor's degree from an accredited post-secondary institution; (b) has a major or a graduate degree in the field of specialization in which he or she will teach; (c) if the teacher desires to teach for more than one year, has passed both a basic skills examination and a subject area examination, if a subject area examination exists, in the field of specialization in which he or she would teach; and (d) except in the case of people engaged to teach a foreign language, has, in the five-year period immediately preceding the date of hire, not less than two years of occupational experience in the field of specialization in which he or she will teach.
The current law also specifies that a local or intermediate school district cannot engage a full-time or part-time non-certificated, non-endorsed teacher to teach a course if the district is able to engage a certificated, endorsed teacher. Under the law, if the board is able to hire the certificated teacher, the board may employ or continue to employ the teacher to teach the course if both of the following conditions are met: (a) the teacher is annually and continually enrolled and completing credit in an approved teacher preparation program leading to a provisional teaching certificate; and (b) the teacher has a planned program leading to teacher certification on file with the employing school district, his or her teacher preparation institution, and the Department of Education. Under House Bill 5437 these provisions would be eliminated.
Finally, under the law, if a non-certificated, non-endorsed teacher completes three years of successful classroom teaching, as determined by regular observation and review by school district and teacher preparation institution personnel, the Department of Education and a teacher preparation institution must use the teaching experience for the purpose of waiving student teaching as a condition for receiving a continued employment authorization in the school district and a provisional teaching certificate. House Bill 5437 retains but modifies this provision. The bill would extend the 'three-years of experience waiver protocol' to public school academies
(and eliminate reference to the Department of Education to specify only the department). In addition, the bill would eliminate reference to "continued employment authorization in the school district and a provisional teaching certificate," so that instead, the teaching experience would be used by districts and academies to waive student teaching as a condition for receiving only the teaching certificate.
MCL 380.1233b
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan House staff for use by House members in their deliberations, and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.