(a) The Legislature hereby recognizes that teacher competence in reading instruction is essential to the progress and achievement of pupils learning to read in elementary and secondary schools. It is the intent of the Legislature that the commission develop a reading instruction competence assessment to measure the knowledge, skill, and ability of first-time credential applicants who are not credentialed in any state who will be responsible for reading instruction.

(b) The commission shall develop, adopt, and administer a reading instruction competence assessment consisting of one or more instruments to measure an individual’s knowledge, skill, and ability relative to effective reading instruction. The reading instruction competence assessment shall measure the knowledge, skill, and ability of first-time credential applicants who are not credentialed in any state that the commission determines to be essential to reading instruction and shall be consistent with the state’s reading curriculum framework adopted after July 1, 1996, and the Reading Program Advisory published by the State Department of Education in 1996. The commission shall perform the following duties with respect to the reading instruction competence assessment:

(1) Develop, adopt, and administer the assessment.

(2) Initially and periodically analyze the validity and reliability of the content of the assessment.

(3) Establish and implement appropriate passing scores on the assessment.

(4) Analyze possible sources of bias on the assessment.

(5) Collect and analyze background information provided by first-time credential applicants who are not credentialed in any state who participate in the assessment.

(6) Report and interpret individual and aggregated assessment results.

(7) Convene a task force to advise the commission on the design, content, and administration of the assessment. Not less than one-third of the members of the task force shall be classroom teachers with recent experience in teaching reading in the early elementary grades.

(8) Prior to requiring successful passage of the assessment for the preliminary multiple subject teaching credential, certify that all of the teacher education programs approved by the commission pursuant to Section 44227 offer instruction in the knowledge, skills, and abilities required by the assessment.

(c) Commencing on the earliest feasible date, as determined by the commission, the requirements for issuance of the preliminary multiple subject teaching credential, as set forth in subdivision (b) of Section 44259, shall include successful passage of one of the following components of the reading instruction competence assessment:

(1) A comprehensive examination of the knowledge and skill pertaining to effective reading instruction of the credential applicant.

(2) An authentic assessment of teaching skills and classroom abilities of the credential applicant pertaining to the provision of effective reading instruction.

(d) The reading instruction competence assessment is subject to the provisions of Sections 44235.1 and 44298.

(Added by Stats. 1996, Ch. 919, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 1997.)