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.