This website will be unavailable from Thursday, May 30, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. through Monday, June 3, 2024 at 7:00 a.m. due to data center maintenance.
79R8742 SLO-D
By: Shapleigh S.B. No. 913
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a Texas teacher leadership initiative.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 21, Education Code, is amended by adding
Subchapter P to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER P. TEXAS TEACHER LEADERSHIP INITIATIVE
Sec. 21.751. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
(1) "Board" means the State Board for Educator
Certification.
(2) "Initiative" means the Texas teacher leadership
initiative.
Sec. 21.752. PURPOSES. The Texas teacher leadership
initiative is a beginning teacher mentoring and induction program
in which an experienced teacher leader offers mentoring to a
beginning teacher. The initiative is designed to:
(1) promote excellence in teaching;
(2) enhance student achievement;
(3) build a supporting environment within school
districts;
(4) increase the retention of both experienced and
beginning teachers; and
(5) promote the personal and professional well-being
of teachers.
Sec. 21.753. ESTABLISHMENT OF INITIATIVE. The State Board
for Educator Certification by rule shall establish the initiative
consistent with the purposes provided by Section 21.752. In
developing the initiative, the board shall establish:
(1) guidelines for school districts to follow in
creating a training program for teacher leaders, including
guidelines relating to:
(A) necessary skills for classroom demonstration
and coaching; and
(B) board expectations for beginning teacher
competence;
(2) standards and criteria for evaluating and
approving school district applications for participation in the
initiative;
(3) guidelines for school districts to follow in
selecting teacher leaders; and
(4) a reporting requirement for school districts that
participate in the initiative concerning the effectiveness of the
initiative in the district.
Sec. 21.754. SCHOOL DISTRICT PARTICIPATION IN INITIATIVE.
(a) A school district may apply to the board to participate in the
initiative. In selecting districts to participate in the
initiative, the board shall give preference to a district:
(1) that has an unsatisfactory teacher retention rate;
(2) that has an unsatisfactory high school graduation
rate;
(3) that has an unsatisfactory dropout rate; or
(4) in which a high percentage of district students
perform unsatisfactorily on assessment instruments administered
under Section 39.023.
(b) To each school district selected to participate in the
initiative, the board shall provide a grant in an amount determined
by the board for use by the district in implementing the initiative.
The district must use the grant in a manner that allows a beginning
teacher who is selected to participate in the initiative to
continue participation for at least two school years.
Sec. 21.755. DISTRICT FACILITATOR. (a) The board of
trustees of a participating school district shall select a district
employee to serve as district facilitator of the initiative. The
district facilitator shall oversee the implementation of the
initiative in the district.
(b) The school district may use initiative grant money to
pay to the district facilitator a stipend.
Sec. 21.756. NOMINATION PANEL; SELECTION PROCESS FOR
TEACHER LEADERS. (a) The board of trustees of a participating
school district shall assemble a nomination panel for selecting
teacher leaders to participate in the initiative. The panel must be
composed of an equal number of district administrators and
teachers, with at least one teacher representing a local teacher's
association, if such an association exists.
(b) Any school district employee or parent or guardian of a
district student may nominate an experienced district teacher to
serve as a teacher leader. The district shall provide notice of and
information about the nomination process to district employees and
the parents or guardians of district students. If an insufficient
number of teachers are nominated, the panel may nominate
experienced teachers to serve as teacher leaders. The nomination
panel shall adopt an application and interview process in selecting
teacher leaders.
(c) In selecting a teacher leader, the nomination panel may
select only a teacher who demonstrates:
(1) strong pedagogical and subject matter skills;
(2) superior teaching abilities and interpersonal
relationship qualities; and
(3) a proven ability in improving the academic
performance of educationally disadvantaged students.
Sec. 21.757. BEGINNING TEACHER PARTICIPATION IN
INITIATIVE. (a) The district facilitator appointed under Section
21.755 shall, in coordination with the superintendent of the school
district and campus principals, select beginning teachers to
participate in the initiative. The district facilitator may select
only a beginning teacher who has been teaching for not more than two
years.
(b) A participating beginning teacher shall perform
teaching duties under the guidance of the teacher leader assigned
to the beginning teacher. The beginning teacher is entitled to
participate in the initiative for at least two school years.
(c) A participating beginning teacher shall perform
instructional and planning duties for not more than 90 percent of
the teacher's regular workweek so that the teacher may receive
guidance from a teacher leader.
(d) A teacher leader may not participate in a school or
district evaluation of the beginning teacher to whom the teacher
leader is assigned. Any written or other reports of a teacher
leader regarding the beginning teacher may not be used in an
appraisal of a beginning teacher.
Sec. 21.758. TEACHER LEADER PARTICIPATION IN INITIATIVE.
(a) The district facilitator appointed under Section 21.755 shall
assign a teacher leader to one or more participating beginning
teachers.
(b) The teacher leader shall assist the beginning teacher
by:
(1) observing the beginning teacher's lessons;
(2) providing feedback and advice to the beginning
teacher; and
(3) demonstrating teaching techniques.
(c) A teacher leader shall either:
(1) serve as a teacher leader on a part-time basis and
perform other instructional and planning duties for at least 60
percent but not more than 90 percent of the teacher's regular
workweek; or
(2) serve as a teacher leader on a full-time basis,
provided that:
(A) the teacher has consented to serve as a
full-time teacher leader;
(B) the teacher leader does not serve as a
full-time teacher leader for more than two out of five consecutive
school years; and
(C) service as a full-time teacher leader does
not diminish or impair any tenure or seniority rights of the
teacher.
(d) To the extent practicable, a part-time teacher leader
and a beginning teacher to whom the teacher leader has been assigned
shall share common planning periods.
(e) The teacher leader shall observe the classroom teaching
skills of the beginning teacher for at least one hour per week and
shall meet with the beginning teacher to discuss the beginning
teacher's performance at least once a week during the first half of
the first school year that the beginning teacher participates in
the initiative. The teacher leader may then elect to observe the
classroom teaching skills of the beginning teacher and meet with
the beginning teacher at least once every two weeks for the
remainder of the time the beginning teacher participates in the
initiative.
Sec. 21.759. TEACHER LEADER TRAINING. A participating
school district shall offer an ongoing training program for teacher
leaders that follows guidelines developed by the board under
Section 21.753.
Sec. 21.760. TEACHER LEADER STIPEND. (a) For each school
year that a teacher serves as a teacher leader, the teacher is
entitled to a stipend of not more than $5,000.
(b) A stipend a teacher receives under this section:
(1) is in addition to the regular salary to which a
teacher is otherwise entitled under the district's salary schedule;
and
(2) is not considered in determining whether the
district is paying the teacher the minimum monthly salary under
Section 21.402.
Sec. 21.761. EVALUATION OF INITIATIVE. The board shall
annually evaluate the effectiveness of the initiative in
participating school districts. The evaluation must consider:
(1) the performance of participating district
students on assessment instruments administered under Section
39.023;
(2) the high school graduation rate in the
participating district; and
(3) the teacher attrition rate in the participating
district.
Sec. 21.762. CONTINUED DISTRICT PARTICIPATION IN
INITIATIVE. A district may reapply with the board for a new grant
to continue participating in the initiative. The board shall
consider the improvement of a school district under the factors
described by Section 21.761 in determining whether to award a new
grant to the district.
SECTION 2. As soon as practicable after the effective date
of this Act, the State Board for Educator Certification shall
propose rules for implementing the Texas teacher leadership
initiative as required by Subchapter P, Chapter 21, Education Code,
as added by this Act. The State Board for Educator Certification
shall make the Texas teacher leadership initiative available for
school district participation not later than the 2006-2007 school
year.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2005.