Bill 113-S-1062 — Education / General
Subject: Education

Educator Preparation Reform Act - Amends title II (Teacher Quality Enhancement) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) to revise the Teacher Quality Partnership grant program. (The grant program provides funds to partnerships of high-need local educational agencies [LEAs], high-need schools, institutions of higher education [IHEs], and, as applicable, high-need early childhood education programs which are to use the funds for a pre-baccalaureate teacher preparation program, a teaching residency program, or a combination of such programs. Partnerships may also use grant funds for a leadership development program.)

Allows grant funds to be used for pre- or post-baccalaureate teacher preparation programs.

Allows grant funds to be used for teaching or principal residency programs.

 Requires principal residency programs to prepare principals for success in the high-need schools in the partnership by engaging residents in rigorous graduate-level coursework to earn an appropriate advanced credential while they undertake a guided principal apprenticeship alongside a trained and experienced mentor principal. Requires principal residents to have prior prekindergarten through grade 12 teaching experience. Provides them with a living stipend or salary during the one-year residency program in exchange for at least three years of service as a principal in a high-need school immediately following their successful completion of the residency program.

Replaces the leadership development program with an educator development program that addresses a partnership's need to train and retain educators other than teachers or principals, such as specialized instructional support personnel and other school staff who provide or support instruction.

Authorizes a partnership to receive more than one grant during a five-year period if one of the grants is used to establish a teaching or principal residency program that was not established with the prior grant.

Applies certain partnership accountability and evaluation requirements to teachers, principals, and other educators.

Revises teacher preparation program accountability requirements. Applies them not only to IHEs, but also to other organizations approved by the state to prepare teachers for classrooms.

Requires those programs to train prospective teachers to teach diverse populations and core academic subjects.

Requires states to: (1) establish a period of improvement and redesign for teacher preparation programs they identify as at-risk, and (2) provide such programs with technical assistance for up to three years before identifying those that fail to make sufficient improvement as low-performing and closing them down.

Reauthorizes appropriations for the Teacher Quality Partnership grant program through FY2019.

Amends part A (Teacher and Principal Training and Recruiting Fund) of title II (Preparing, Training, and Recruiting High Quality Teachers and Principals) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to require states to develop, implement, and publicly disclose their criteria for identifying a teacher preparation program as low-performing or at risk of being identified as such. Requires those criteria to include multiple measures of teacher performance.

Replaces the program under subpart 3 (Subgrants to Eligible Partnerships) of part A of title II of the ESEA with a program under which states, directly or through subgrants to certain educational entities, use funds reserved under part A to: (1) provide technical assistance to and close low-performing teacher preparation programs identified under the HEA, and (2) develop a system for assessing the quality and effectiveness of professional development offered throughout the state.

Permits states to use such funding, directly or through subgrants: (1) to develop and implement a teacher performance assessment for teacher preparation programs, LEAs, and the state agency responsible for licensing teachers; and (2) for certain professional development activities currently funded under subpart 3.

Amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the HEA to prohibit IHEs that offer a teacher preparation program that is projected to close from awarding new TEACH grants. (The TEACH grant program provides tuition assistance to students who commit to teaching a high-need subject in a high-need elementary or secondary school for four years.)

Makes students who are completing a postbaccalaureate teacher education program eligible to participate in the TEACH grant program.