(A) In the area of cognitive assessments for teachers and teacher certification, the State Board of Education, acting through the State Department of Education, shall:

(1) adopt a basic skills examination in reading, writing, and mathematics that is suitable for determining whether students may be admitted fully into an undergraduate teacher education program. The examination must be designed so that results are reported in a form that shall provide colleges, universities, and students with specific information about his strengths and weaknesses. Procedures, test questions, and information from existing examinations must be validated in accordance with current legal requirements. The passing score on the examination shall be set at a level that reflects the degree of competency in the basic skills that, in the judgment of the State Board of Education, a prospective school teacher reasonably is expected to achieve;

(2) adopt nationally recognized teaching examinations that measure the cognitive teaching area competencies desired for initial job assignments in typical elementary and secondary schools in this State. The examinations shall contain a minimum amount of common or general knowledge questions. They shall be designed so that results are reported in a form that provide a student with specific information about the student's strengths and weaknesses. Procedures, test questions, and information from existing examinations and lists of validated teacher competencies are used to the maximum extent in the development of the examinations. An examination that is completely developed by an organization other than the special project may be considered for use as a whole only if the State Board of Education concludes that the development and maintenance of a specific area test is impractical or would necessitate exorbitant expenses. The examinations must be validated. The teaching examinations must be developed or selected only for those areas in which State Board of Education approved area examinations are not available;

(3) use nationally recognized specific teaching area examinations approved by the State Board of Education for certification purposes. The qualifying scores on the area examinations shall be set at the same level at which they are now set. The State Board of Education shall examine these levels to determine if adjustments are required. Periodic examinations shall be made to assure the validity of qualifying scores. The qualifying scores may be adjusted if new legal requirements or validity studies indicate the adjustments are necessary. In an area in which an area teaching examination approved by the State Board of Education is not available, the state board shall use the teaching examinations developed in accordance with this section for certification purposes as soon as those examinations are prepared, validated, and ready for use;

(4) report the results of the teaching examinations to the student in written form that provides specific information about the student's strengths and weaknesses. Every effort must be made to report the results of the area examinations and common examinations in written form that provides specific information about the student's strengths and weaknesses;

(5) report to each teacher training institution in the State the performance of the institution's graduates on the teaching examinations. The report to the institution must be in a form that assists the institution in further identifying strengths and weaknesses in its teacher training programs;

(6) provide for the security and integrity of the tests that are administered under the certification program as currently provided by the State Department of Education;

(7) award a teaching certificate to a person who successfully completes the scholastic requirements for teaching at an approved college or university and the examination he is required to take for certification purposes;

(8) award a conditional teaching certificate to a person eligible to hold a teaching certificate who does not qualify for full certification under item (7) above provided the person has earned a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university with a major in a certification area for which the board has determined there exists a critical shortage of teachers, and the person has passed the appropriate teaching examination. The board may renew a conditional teaching certificate annually for a maximum of three years, if the holder of the certificate shows satisfactory progress toward completion of a teacher certification program prescribed by the board. In part, satisfactory progress is the progress that the holder of a conditional certificate should complete the requirements for full certification within three years of being conditionally certified;

(9) promulgate regulations and procedures whereby course credits that may be applied to the recertification requirements of all public school teachers are earned in courses that are relevant to the area in which the teacher is recertified.

(B) For purposes of assisting, developing, and evaluating professional teaching, the State Board of Education acting through the State Department of Education shall:

(1) adopt a set of state standards for teaching effectiveness which shall serve as a foundation for the processes used for assisting, developing, and evaluating teacher candidates, as well as teachers employed under induction, annual, or continuing contracts;

(2) promulgate regulations to be used by colleges and universities for evaluating and assisting teacher candidates. Evaluation and assistance programs developed or adopted by colleges or universities must include appropriate training for personnel involved in the process. Teacher candidates must be provided with guidance and assistance throughout preparation programs, as well as provided with formal written feedback on their performance during their student teaching assignments with respect to state standards for teaching effectiveness;

(3) promulgate regulations to be used by local school districts for providing formalized induction programs for teachers employed under induction contracts. Induction programs developed or adopted by school districts must provide teachers with comprehensive guidance and assistance throughout the school year, as well as provide teachers with formal written feedback on their strengths and weaknesses relative to state standards for teaching effectiveness;

(4) promulgate regulations to be used by local school districts for evaluating and assisting teachers employed under annual contracts. Formal evaluation processes developed or adopted by school districts must address legal and technical requirements for teacher evaluation and must assess typical teaching performance relative to state standards for teaching effectiveness. Evaluation results must be provided in writing and appropriate assistance must be provided when weaknesses in performance are identified;

(5) promulgate regulations to be used by local school districts for conducting evaluations of teachers employed under continuing contracts. Continuing contract teachers must be evaluated on a continuous basis. At the discretion of the local school district, evaluations for individual teachers may be formal or informal. Formal evaluation processes developed or adopted by school districts must address legal and technical requirements for teacher evaluation and must assess typical teaching performance relative to state standards for teaching effectiveness. Evaluation results must be provided in writing and appropriate assistance must be provided when weaknesses in performance are identified. Informal evaluations must be conducted with a goals-based process that requires teachers to continuously establish and accomplish individualized professional development goals. Goals must be established by the teacher in consultation with a building administrator and must be supportive of district strategic plans and school renewal plans;

(6) promulgate regulations so that college, university, and school district strategies, programs, and processes for assisting, developing, and evaluating teachers pursuant to this section must be approved by the State Board of Education. Regulations also must establish procedures for conducting periodic evaluations of the quality of the strategies, programs, and processes adopted by school districts and institutions of higher education in implementing the provisions of this chapter in order to provide a basis for refining and improving the programs for assisting, developing, and evaluating teacher candidates and teachers on induction, annual, and continuing contracts, planning technical assistance, and reporting to the General Assembly on the impact of the comprehensive system for training, certification, initial employment, evaluation, and continuous professional development of public educators in this State;

(7) promulgate regulations that establish procedures for the State Department of Education to provide colleges, universities, and school districts with ongoing technical assistance for assisting, developing, and evaluating teachers pursuant to this section;

(8) promulgate regulations and procedures so that school districts shall report to the State Department of Education teacher evaluation results and teaching contract decisions on an annual basis. The State Department of Education shall maintain this information and make it available to colleges, universities, and school districts upon request;

(9) beginning with the 1997-98 school year, the Assessments of Performance in Teaching (APT) must not be used to evaluate student teachers. Until regulations promulgated pursuant to this section become effective, colleges and universities shall evaluate and assist teacher candidates in accordance with State Board of Education guidelines; and

(10) during the 1997-98 school year, the APT must not be required for evaluating induction contract teachers. During this year, if school districts are ready to implement a formal induction program for induction contract teachers as required by this section, they may do so. If school districts are not ready to implement such a program, they must progress toward developing or adopting a program to be implemented beginning with the 1998-99 school year. In this circumstance, school districts may use the APT. Beginning with the 1998-99 school year, a school district may not use the APT for evaluating induction contract teachers. Until regulations promulgated pursuant to this section become effective, school district strategies, programs, and processes for assisting, developing, and evaluating teachers must be developed, adopted, and implemented in accordance with State Board of Education guidelines.

HISTORY: 1979 Act No. 187 Section 3; 1981 Act No. 80, Sections 3-5; 1984 Act No. 512, Part II, Section 9, Division II, Subdivision C, SubPart 1, Section 4; 1984 Act No. 512, Part II, Section 13; 1989 Act No. 194, Sections 8-10; 1997 Act No. 72, Section 3; 2004 Act No. 283, Section 1, eff July 22, 2004.

Effect of Amendment

The 2004 amendment, in subsection (B), substituted "teacher candidates" for "student teachers", deleted references to the 1998-1999 school year and made nonsubstantive language changes throughout; in paragraph (B)(1) and the second sentence of paragraph (B)(5), deleted "provisional," preceding "annual"; in paragraph (B)(2) in the third sentence substituted "preparation programs" for "the student teaching assignment" and added "during their student teaching assignments"; deleted paragraph (B)(4); redesignated paragraphs (B)(5) to (B)(11) as paragraphs (B)(4) to (B)(10); in paragraph (B)(5), in the second sentence substituted "on a continuous basis" for "at least once every three years" and in the sixth sentence added "continuously establish and"; and in paragraph (B)(8), deleted ", beginning with the 1998-1999 school year or until such time as regulations required by this section become effective and, thereafter," preceding "school districts".