Legislature(2001 - 2002)
03/19/2001 01:36 PM Senate HES
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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SB 86-TEACHER EMPLOYMENT & SUBJECT EXPERTISE
SENATOR PETE KELLY, sponsor of SB 86, informed the committee that
he introduced SB 86 in response to the widespread need for
teachers in the state. SB 86 does not attempt to cure the
shortage; instead it gives school districts another arrow in
their quiver to deal with this problem. He noted the American
Federation of Teachers and the Alaska Teacher Preparedness
websites both make reference to graphs they have prepared that
show a significant decrease in the number of teacher applicants
and the number of people attending teaching job fairs. One reason
for the shortage in Alaska is that it simply is not as
competitive as it has been in previous years. SB 86 would allow
school districts to hire people with Bachelor's degrees and five
years experience in subjects they are hired to teach. Subject-
matter teachers would not be treated the same regarding tenure,
because if a district eliminates a certain class from its
curriculum, that teacher would not have tenure over teachers who
are certified to teach a broader range of subjects. Subject-
matter teachers would be held to the same level of accountability
when it comes to security matters, which are already in statute
and regulation.
CHAIRWOMAN GREEN asked Senator Kelly if he is referring to
criminal background checks.
SENATOR KELLY said that is correct and includes fingerprinting.
He commented that many people with teaching degrees work in
different professions, and many people in other professions wish
to be teachers but do not have teaching credentials. SB 86 is an
attempt to put qualified people who have a lot to offer the
system in the classroom to alleviate the teacher shortage Alaska
is experiencing right now.
SENATOR WILKEN asked how a fee would be established for subject
matter teachers, whether they would be eligible for retirement,
and whether a school board or DOEED would determine whether they
are qualified.
SENATOR KELLY said the local school board would determine whether
an applicant is qualified and would require that person to take a
competency exam. He tried to leave the other issues Senator
Wilken raised up to the local school boards. It is his intention
to allow school principals to either opt into this program or
remain out of it.
SENATOR WILKEN asked for clarification of pay and retirement.
SENATOR KELLY said they would be considered teachers as far as
school districts are concerned.
SENATOR WILKEN asked if they would fall under the pay scale at
the time of hire.
SENATOR KELLY said he knows of nothing in the legislation that
would preclude that and it was not his intention to do otherwise.
Regarding retirement, he said they are teachers in every sense
except for tenure.
SENATOR WILKEN asked if they would become members of the
bargaining unit.
SENATOR KELLY said that is correct.
SENATOR WARD asked if subject-matter teachers will have to pass a
test.
SENATOR KELLY referred to page 2, line 17, and pointed out the
bill requires the local school board to administer a competency
test [page 2, line 27 of the committee substitute].
SENATOR LEMAN referred to Martin Gross, an author who wrote about
failures in the American education system, and said Mr. Gross
recommended that undergraduate schools of education be done away
with because they are turning out generalists that do not know
their subject matter well enough. He suggests that people get
undergraduate degrees in subject areas and then get a graduate
degree in education. Senator Leman said he tends to agree with
that approach. He asked why not allow school districts to reach
into the communities to find people with the right expertise to
teach.
SENATOR KELLY mentioned the committee substitute has a provision
for a mentoring program to last at least one year for secondary
school teachers. He felt that provision to be a good idea.
SENATOR WARD moved to adopt CSSB 86(HES), Version L, as the
working document of the committee. There being no objection, the
motion carried.
SENATOR KELLY noted the University has a one year Master's level
teaching program but that program will not work for the people he
has in mind.
CHAIRWOMAN GREEN pointed out the one-year program is a fast-track
program, while the mentor program will teach the incoming teacher
the systems and protocols of the district. She added that she
could see value to mentoring with several teachers. She then
asked for public testimony.
Number 1470
DR. BRUCE JOHNSON, Deputy Commissioner of the Department of
Education and Early Development, said DOEED appreciates Senator
Kelly's concern for the teacher shortage issue and the changes
made in the committee substitute, particularly the mandated
competency exam, the mentoring program and Professional Teachers
Practices Commission (PTPC) oversight. The state board of
education has also been working on the teacher shortage issue and
has issued three regulations. It has proposed a provisional
certificate, which will allow DOEED to request it to recognize a
teaching certificate from any other state for up to a two-year
period of time. During that two-year period, the teacher would
have to fulfill Alaska requirements. Another proposal is for
specialty endorsement so that with a minor in special education,
a person could qualify for an endorsement in special education.
The state board will also be looking at adjusting some of the
certification fees for licensure.
DR. JOHNSON said, in response to Chairwoman Green's comment about
licensure, that the Type M Certificate is available for military
science, vocational education and Native culture and language.
He recently noticed that Alaska has in excess of 200 of those
certificated teachers. A few districts have 35 or 40 such
individuals, primarily in rural Alaska, certified in Native
culture and language. That has proven to be a useful tool. He
noted the concept of SB 86 has been tried in other states with
success and failure. One of the challenges other states have
faced is a high number of attrition. He cautioned that it appears
to be a little easier than it actually is and the result has not
been improved student achievement. DOEED suggests that if SB 86
moves forward, that the legislature require these people to enter
into a professional development program that would provide
teacher education training. He suggested that DOEED could work
with the University of Alaska (UA) to design a set of courses
that could be delivered in convenient ways so that it would not
place a huge burden on these teachers but would qualify them for
a Type A Certificate.
Number 1196
SENATOR WILKEN asked, if DOEED is proposing a two-year window for
out-of-state certification, when the teacher would have to take
the competency exam.
DR. JOHNSON said they would have to do that within the two years.
He said right now, DOEED allows teachers one year because it is
inconvenient for teachers in rural areas to take the exam.
CHAIRWOMAN GREEN said she understood that to be a requirement
before a person could be hired.
DR. JOHNSON said DOEED is finding that, during this time of
teacher shortage, people are hired one day before school starts,
so DOEED cannot require the test in that time. He noted the test
is not administered on a daily basis.
CHAIRWOMAN GREEN said that practice needs to be looked at. She
then asked if a person could obtain credit for working with a
mentor, as is done with internship programs. She questioned
whether all of the subject-matter teachers need to return to
college to take methods courses or whether they could obtain
credit in other ways.
DR. JOHNSON said he believes Chairwoman Green is suggesting the
concept used by the Masters of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program at
the University in which teacher trainees spend almost all of
their time working with students under a mentor. They attend
seminars one day per week and attend classes full time for two
summer sessions. The difference between what Chairwoman Green is
suggesting and the MAT program is that MAT students are not paid
during that time. MAT students make a tremendous financial
sacrifice. He informed committee members that the state board of
education worked through another regulation over a 12-month
period. That regulation was targeted primarily for rural Alaska
where some instructional aides have been working at their jobs
for 12 to 15 years but they are unable or unwilling to leave
their communities to enter a university program. The regulation
would allow the University to secure a cohort of students with a
provisional certificate, have a mentor, be paid by the district,
and be engaged in a distance delivery teacher education program.
All of those things would provide good incentives, but DOEED is
finding it is not very cost effective for the University until a
certain number of individuals are interested.
CHAIRWOMAN GREEN asked if a teacher needs six hours of credits to
be re-certified every five years.
DR. JOHNSON said that is correct.
CHAIRWOMAN GREEN felt that standard is too low compared to other
professional re-certification requirements. She noted the
discrepancy between the requirements to get certified and the
requirements to maintain certification is very big. She then
asked if any of the mandates in SB 86 could be implemented
without legislation and whether DOEED could only implement them
with emergency regulations.
DR. JOHNSON said he would have to review all of those regulations
but explained the state board of education has fairly broad-based
discretion in terms of the types of certificates they issue.
Number 827
SENATOR LEMAN asked if the fact that he has a Masters degree in
engineering would qualify him to take the competency exam and
teach physics or mathematics. He wanted to know whether SB 86
provides enough flexibility in the writing of the regulations to
allow for that.
DR. JOHNSON said he believes so and he thinks the example Senator
Leman provided is a logical conclusion to draw. He suspects that
if SB 86 passes, DOEED would ask the district that wants to hire
such an individual to document that individual's background and
subject matter expertise and propose the courses that individual
would teach.
SENATOR LEMAN then asked, regarding the work experience, if a
legislative aide with five years of experience would qualify to
teach as a subject-matter expert in government.
MR. RICH KRONBERG, President of NEA-Alaska, said he finds CSSB
86(HES) intriguing. NEA-AK agrees it is necessary to deal with
the teacher shortage issue and appreciates Senator Kelly's
efforts to put together a packet that clearly demonstrates that
need. He believes it is clear that one of the factors behind the
problem is that salaries have not kept pace, but the fact that
working conditions in many school districts are extremely
difficult also accounts for a 40 percent turnover rate in certain
districts.
NEA-Ak believes the teacher shortage issue should be solved using
a three-pronged approach. Alaska needs to recruit, retain, and
retrain teachers. He believes CSSB 86(HES) falls into the last
category. NEA-Ak has many questions about the retraining aspect.
NEA-Ak agrees with Dr. Johnson's comments that a future
commitment is important from people who attempt to get subject-
matter endorsements so that they will engage in continuing
education to develop their skills as educators. He believes NEA-
Ak would be very interested in working with the University to
develop an apprenticeship program if this legislation passes.
MR. KRONBERG said NEA-Ak has the following questions:
· What will the fiscal note be for CSSB 86(HES)? The original
bill had a zero fiscal note, but a mentoring program will
have costs associated with it in terms of time and wages.
NEA-Ak suggests that mentors mentor teachers in the culture
in rural areas. This could provide an opportunity for
instructional aides to do the mentoring if they are from a
village.
· Would this program be for secondary school teachers only?
CHAIRWOMAN GREEN said she believes people could also teach at the
elementary level.
MR. KRONBERG thought Senator Kelly was clear that all people who
get hired under this program would have to meet all of the
requirements and that they would be part of the bargaining unit.
He asked if they would be required to also meet all of the
performance standards that exist for other teachers. He noted
some of those standards clearly deal with pedagogy.
CHAIRWOMAN GREEN said she thought it would go without saying that
would be a requirement.
MR. KRONBERG said that is the answer NEA-Ak wanted to hear.
CHAIRWOMAN GREEN asked that Mr. Kronberg and Dr. Johnson talk to
the sponsor about their concerns.
MR. KRONBERG agreed to do so. He pointed out that, regarding the
competency test, it is his understanding that a teacher could be
hired without taking it but could not get a contract because a
contract requires licensure. He stated some teachers were hired
by the Anchorage School District on substitute pay and when they
did not pass a portion of the test, they had to continue on
substitute status because they were unable to get a contract. He
felt the basic concern is that this legislation may not do what
it is intended to do. He said NEA-Ak's data agrees with Dr.
Johnson's statement that many other states have found that
subject-matter teachers do not remain in the profession for more
than three years unless there is some coherent program of
induction, including mentoring. Without that, Alaska may just be
creating a "revolving door". He also believes the state needs to
deal with the problems that drive teachers out of certain
districts, such as inadequate housing and lack of community
support. He stated that NEA-Ak is not opposed to CSSB 86(HES),
but it has serious questions about its implementation and would
like them answered before it can lend its support to this
legislation.
Number 117
CHAIRWOMAN GREEN noted that several years ago, her daughter
graduated from college as a Spanish major. At the time, Wasilla
High School could not find a foreign language teacher. Her
daughter could have successfully filled that position for one
year, but the high school was unable to hire her. Chairwoman
Green felt Alaska has lost a lot of opportunities to put
qualified people in the classroom.
TAPE 02-26, SIDE A
SENATOR LEMAN questioned whether the competency exam is a multi-
subject test or whether a person would only have to pass the one
subject area he or she plans to teach.
MR. KRONBERG said it covers the subjects of reading, writing and
math.
CHAIRWOMAN GREEN asked if it requires any subject area expertise.
DR. JOHNSON explained that DOEED only requires the basic
competency test but the Educational Testing Service offers a test
in each subject area as well, so a district could use that
vehicle to require a subject area test.
MR. KRONBERG commented that NEA-Ak has not had any discussions
about pay for performance in Alaska but he cannot imagine that if
a district brought a serious proposal to the table, any of NEA-
Ak's bargaining units would reject it out of hand. He noted the
difficulty with pay for performance is the need to measure the
added value of an individual teacher. A teacher cannot just be
held accountable for the absolute results in a classroom because,
for example, what a 7th grade teacher is able to do depends on
what happened during the first six years of that student's
education. Alaska does not have any systems available to measure
the value a teacher is adding. Other states are working on those
systems but they are not fine tuned yet.
SENATOR LEMAN said he knows a system is in place to choose the
teacher of the year by both districts and the state. He has
participated in that process and has been very impressed with the
people who have been the finalists. He agreed that a pay for
performance program may be difficult to implement, but he
believes it is a worthy idea.
There being no further business to come before the committee,
CHAIRWOMAN GREEN adjourned the meeting at 3:20 p.m.
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