|
REFERENCE TITLE: teachers; alternative certification application |
|
State of Arizona Senate Fifty-third Legislature First Regular Session 2017
|
|
SB 1039 |
|
|
|
Introduced by Senators Allen S: Farnsworth D; Representative Boyer
|
AN ACT
Amending title 15, chapter 5, article 3, Arizona Revised Statutes, by adding section 15-553; relating to teacher certification.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Title 15, chapter 5, article 3, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 15-553, to read:
15-553. School district and charter school teachers; alternative certification; rules
A. A school district or charter school that has received a letter grade of A or B pursuant to section 15-241 for each of the immediately preceding three years may apply to the state board of education for authority to approve the alternative certification of teachers pursuant to this section and section 15-203, subsection A, paragraph 14, subdivision (a).
B. The state board of education shall adopt rules, policies and procedures to be administered by the department of education. The rules may not be more restrictive or require more than is prescribed in this subsection. The state board shall adopt only rules that facilitate the approval and certification process pursuant to this section and that provide for all of the following:
1. The superintendent of a school district or the principal of a charter school must verify that the applicant for alternative certification has made satisfactory progress and achievement with students.
2. A school district or charter school must submit data supporting the efficacy of the school district's or charter school's teacher training program before receiving authority to approve the alternative certification of teachers.
3. A teacher may not receive a certificate pursuant to this section until the teacher has been in the classroom for at least one full year and student data has been submitted by the school district or charter school confirming that eighty percent of the teacher's students at the end of the school year either are performing at grade level or have achieved at least one year of academic growth.
4. A school district or charter school may adopt student achievement requirements that exceed the student achievement requirements prescribed by the state board for obtaining alternative certification.
5. The assessment data used to demonstrate student achievement must be from an assessment approved by the state board. For untested grades and subjects, a school district or charter school may submit data from a nationally recognized norm-referenced or criterion-referenced test confirming that at least eighty percent of the teacher's students at the end of the school year either are performing at grade level or have achieved at least one year of academic growth.
6. An applicant for alternative certification must hold at least a bachelor's degree from an accredited university and meet background and fingerprint clearance card requirements pursuant to section 15-534.
7. A school district or charter school that has been granted the authority to approve the alternative certification of teachers must submit evidence each year that high quality teachers are equally distributed across all schools within the school district or within the charter school.
C. On the submission of verification from a school district or charter school that the requirements prescribed in this section have been met, a teacher shall be issued a standard teaching certificate from this state pursuant to section 15‑203.