| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
| |
|
|
relating to providing training academies for public school teachers |
|
|
who provide reading instruction to students in kindergarten through |
|
|
grade five. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Subchapter J, Chapter 21, Education Code, is |
|
|
amended by adding Section 21.4552 to read as follows: |
|
|
Sec. 21.4552. TEACHER LITERACY ACHIEVEMENT ACADEMIES. |
|
|
(a) The commissioner shall develop and make available literacy |
|
|
achievement academies for teachers who provide: |
|
|
(1) reading instruction to students at the |
|
|
kindergarten or first, second, or third grade level; and |
|
|
(2) reading comprehension instruction to students at |
|
|
the fourth or fifth grade level. |
|
|
(b) A literacy achievement academy developed under this |
|
|
section: |
|
|
(1) must include training in: |
|
|
(A) effective and systematic instructional |
|
|
practices in reading, including phonemic awareness, phonics, |
|
|
fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension; and |
|
|
(B) the use of empirically validated |
|
|
instructional methods that are appropriate for struggling readers; |
|
|
and |
|
|
(2) may include training in effective instructional |
|
|
practices in writing. |
|
|
(c) The commissioner shall adopt criteria for selecting |
|
|
teachers who may attend a literacy achievement academy. In |
|
|
adopting selection criteria under this subsection, the |
|
|
commissioner shall require granting a priority to teachers employed |
|
|
by a school district at a campus at which 50 percent or more of the |
|
|
students enrolled are educationally disadvantaged. |
|
|
(d) From funds appropriated for that purpose, a teacher who |
|
|
attends a literacy achievement academy is entitled to receive a |
|
|
stipend in the amount determined by the commissioner. A stipend |
|
|
received under this subsection is not considered in determining |
|
|
whether a school district is paying the teacher the minimum monthly |
|
|
salary under Section 21.402. |
|
|
(e) On request of the commissioner, regional education |
|
|
service centers shall assist the commissioner and agency with |
|
|
training and other activities relating to the development and |
|
|
operation of literacy achievement academies. |
|
|
SECTION 2. 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, 2015. |
|
|
|
|
|
* * * * * |