SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

SENATE BILL 211

48th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2007

AN ACT

RELATING TO EDUCATION; ESTABLISHING A UNIFORM STATEWIDE TEACHER ACCOUNTABILITY REPORTING SYSTEM; REQUIRING THE PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT TO ISSUE RULES FOR TRAINING AND OTHER REQUIREMENTS FOR UNLICENSED CONTENT AREA EXPERTS; CLARIFYING TEACHER MENTORSHIP PROGRAM COMPONENTS; CHANGING THE DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS FOR MENTORSHIP PROGRAMS; REQUIRING A UNIFORM STUDENT IDENTIFICATION NUMBER FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND PUBLIC POST-SECONDARY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     Section 1. Section 22-10A-8 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2003, Chapter 153, Section 39) is amended to read:

     "22-10A-8. ALTERNATIVE LEVEL ONE LICENSE.--

          A. The department shall issue an alternative level one license to a person who is at least eighteen years of age and who has:

                (1) completed a baccalaureate degree at an accredited institution of higher education, including completion of a minimum of thirty credit hours at either the undergraduate or graduate level in the subject area of instruction for which [he] the person is applying for a license;

                (2) completed a master's degree at an accredited institution of higher education, including completion of a minimum of twelve graduate credit hours in the subject area of instruction for which [he] the person is applying for a license; or

                (3) completed a doctoral or law degree at an accredited institution of higher education; and

                (4) passed the New Mexico teacher assessments examination; and

                (5) completed a minimum of twelve semester hours of instruction in teaching principles in a program approved by the department; or

                (6) demonstrated to the department, in conjunction with the school district or state agency, that [he] the person has met the [state board-approved] department-approved competencies for level one teachers that correspond to the grade level that will be taught.

          B. A degree referred to in Subsection A of this section shall correspond to the subject area of instruction and the particular grade level that will enable the applicant to teach in a competent manner as determined by the department.

          C. An alternative level one teacher shall participate in the same mentorship, evaluation and other professional development requirements as other level one teachers.

          D. A school district or state agency shall not discriminate against a teacher on the basis that [he] the teacher holds an alternative level one license.

          E. The department shall provide by rule for training and other requirements to support the use of unlicensed content area experts as resources in classrooms, team teaching, on-line instruction, curriculum development and other purposes."

     Section 2. A new section of Chapter 22, Article 10A NMSA 1978 is enacted to read:

     "[NEW MATERIAL] TEACHER EDUCATION ACCOUNTABILITY REPORT.--

          A. The department shall:

                (1) design a uniform statewide teacher education accountability reporting system to measure and track teacher education candidates from pre-entry to post-graduation in order to benchmark the productivity and accountability of New Mexico's teacher work force; provided that the system shall be designed in collaboration with:

                     (a) all public post-secondary teacher preparation programs in New Mexico, including those programs that issue alternative licenses;

                     (b) the teacher preparation programs' respective public post-secondary educational institutions; and

                     (c) the higher education department;

                (2) require all public post-secondary teacher preparation programs to submit the data required for the uniform statewide teacher education accountability reporting system through the department's student teacher accountability reporting system;

                (3) use the uniform statewide teacher education accountability reporting system, in conjunction with the department's student teacher education accountability reporting system, to assess the status of the state's efforts to establish and maintain a seamless pre-kindergarten through post-graduate system of education;

                (4) adopt the format for reporting the outcome measures of each teacher preparation program in the state; and

                (5) issue an annual statewide teacher education accountability report.

          B. The annual teacher education accountability report format shall be clear, concise and understandable to the legislature and the general public. All annual program and statewide accountability reports shall ensure that the privacy of individual students is protected.

          C. Each teacher preparation program's annual teacher education accountability report shall include the demographic characteristics of the students and the following indicators of program success:

                (1) the standards for entering and exiting the program;

                (2) the number of hours required for field experience and for student teaching;

                (3) the number and percentage of students needing developmental course work upon entering the program;

                (4) the number and percentage of students completing the program;

                (5) the number and types of degrees received by students who complete the program;

                (6) the number and percentage of students who pass the New Mexico teacher assessments for initial licensure on the first attempt;

                (7) a description of the program's placement practices; and

                (8) the number and percentage of students hired by New Mexico school districts.

          D. The teacher education accountability report shall include an evaluation plan that includes high performance objectives. The plan shall include objectives and measures for:

                (1) increasing student achievement for all students;

                (2) increasing teacher retention, particularly in the first three years of a teacher's career;

                (3) increasing the percentage of students who pass the New Mexico teacher assessments for initial licensure on the first attempt;

                (4) increasing the percentage of secondary school classes taught in core academic subject areas by teachers who demonstrate by means of rigorous content area assessments a high level of subject area mastery and a thorough knowledge of the state's academic content and performance standards;

                (5) increasing the percentage of elementary school classes taught by teachers who demonstrate by means of a high level of performance in core academic subject areas their mastery of the state academic content and performance standards; and

                (6) increasing the number of teachers trained in math, science and technology.

          E. In addition to the specifications in Subsections C and D of this section, the annual teacher education accountability report shall also include itemized information on program revenues and expenditures, including staff salaries and benefits and the operational cost per credit hour.

          F. The annual teacher education accountability report shall be adopted by each public post-secondary educational institution, reported in accordance with guidelines established by the department to ensure effective communication with the public and disseminated to the governor, legislators and other policymakers and business and economic development organizations by November 1 of each year."

     Section 3. Section 22-10A-9 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2003, Chapter 153, Section 40, as amended by Laws 2005, Chapter 315, Section 6 and by Laws 2005, Chapter 316, Section 3) is amended to read:

     "22-10A-9. TEACHER MENTORSHIP PROGRAM FOR LEVEL ONE TEACHERS--PURPOSE--DEPARTMENT DUTIES.--

          A. The purpose of the teacher mentorship program is to provide beginning teachers with an effective transition into the teaching field, to build on their initial preparation and to ensure their success in teaching; to improve the achievement of students; and to retain capable teachers in the classroom and to remove teachers who show little promise of success.

          B. The department shall develop a framework for a teacher mentorship program for all level one teachers. The department shall work with licensed school employees, representatives from teacher preparation programs and the [commission on] higher education department to establish the framework.

          C. The framework shall include:

                (1) individual support and assistance for each beginning teacher from a designated mentor;

                (2) structured training for mentors;

                (3) an ongoing, formative evaluation that is used for the improvement of teaching practice;

                (4) procedures for a summative evaluation of beginning teachers' performance during at least the first three years of teaching, including annual assessment of suitability for license renewal, and for final assessment of beginning teachers seeking level two licensure;

                (5) support from local school boards, school administrators and other school district personnel; and

                (6) regular review and evaluation of the teacher mentorship program.

          D. The department shall:

                (1) require submission and approval of each school district's teacher mentorship program;

                (2) provide technical assistance to school districts that do not have a well-developed teacher mentorship program in place; [and]

                (3) encourage school districts to collaborate with teacher preparation program administrators at institutions of higher education, career educators, educational organizations, regional service centers and other state and community leaders in the teacher mentorship program; and

                (4) distribute available funds for mentorship programs to school districts annually on a per-teacher basis according to the number of beginning teachers on the fortieth day of the school year.

          E. The department shall require that teacher preparation programs collaborate with colleges of arts and sciences and high schools to develop a model to provide mentorship services with structured supervision and feedback to each of their graduates who have obtained a teaching position in a public high school, including charter schools; develop cost estimates; and provide recommendations to the legislative education study committee by November 1, 2007. The model shall provide for the following:

                (1) mentorship services for the first year as a level one teacher to each of their graduates who has obtained a teaching position in any New Mexico public high school, including charter schools; provided that teacher preparation programs may enter into contracts or memoranda of agreement with each other or with level three teachers in providing services to their students;

                (2) an annual report to the department of the number of teachers that have completed each of their programs the previous spring or summer and have been hired by public high schools, including charter schools, for the following school year; and

                (3) an annual report providing a description of the mentorship services that will be provided to each of their teachers, including the name of the teacher, the grade level the teacher has been hired to teach and the name of the school and district where the teacher has been hired."

     Section 4. A new section of Chapter 21, Article 1 NMSA 1978 is enacted to read:

     "[NEW MATERIAL] PUBLIC POST-SECONDARY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS--STUDENT IDENTIFICATION NUMBER.--

          A. The higher education department shall, in collaboration with public post-secondary educational institutions, use the same student identification number issued to a New Mexico public school student pursuant to Section 22-2C-11 NMSA 1978 for a student enrolled in a public post-secondary educational institution, including an off-campus instructional program or learning center.

          B. In collaboration with the public education department, the higher education department shall:

                (1) develop a system for assigning a unique student identifier to a student who did not attend a New Mexico public school;

                (2) add an additional identifier to the student identification number for those students who enter a teacher preparation program; and

                (3) adopt the format to report individual student data into the public education department's student teacher accountability reporting system. 

          C. The higher education department shall promulgate rules to carry out the provisions of this section."

- 11 -