General Assembly Raised Bill No. 7020
January Session, 2015 LCO No. 5085
*05085_______ED_*
Referred to Committee on EDUCATION
Introduced by:
(ED)
General Assembly
Raised Bill No. 7020
January Session, 2015
LCO No. 5085
*05085_______ED_*
Referred to Committee on EDUCATION
Introduced by:
(ED)
AN ACT CONCERNING EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATORS AND INITIATIVES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2015) The Department of Education shall administer the kindergarten assessment tool, developed by the Office of Early Childhood pursuant to subdivision (7) of subsection (b) of section 10-500 of the general statutes, as amended by this act, to each child enrolled in kindergarten for the purpose of measuring a child's level of preparedness for kindergarten. Such kindergarten assessment tool shall not be used as an accountability measurement tool for an early childhood education program.
Sec. 2. Subdivision (7) of subsection (b) of section 10-500 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2015):
(7) Developing [and implementing] a state-wide developmentally appropriate kindergarten assessment tool [that measures a child's level of preparedness for kindergarten, but shall not be used as a measurement tool for program accountability] to be administered by the Department of Education in accordance with the provisions of section 1 of this act;
Sec. 3. Subsection (c) of section 10-10a of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2015):
(c) The state-wide public school information system shall:
(1) Track and report data relating to student, teacher and school and district performance growth and make such information available to local and regional boards of education for use in evaluating educational performance and growth of teachers and students enrolled in public schools in the state. Such information shall be collected or calculated based on information received from local and regional boards of education and other relevant sources. Such information shall include, but not be limited to:
(A) In addition to performance on state-wide mastery examinations pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, data relating to students shall include, but not be limited to, (i) the primary language spoken at the home of a student, (ii) student transcripts, (iii) student attendance and student mobility, (iv) reliable, valid assessments of a student's readiness to enter public school at the kindergarten level, such as data collected from the kindergarten assessment tool, administered pursuant to section 1 of this act, and (v) data collected, if any, from the preschool experience survey, described in section 10-515;
(B) Data relating to teachers shall include, but not be limited to, (i) teacher credentials, such as master's degrees, teacher preparation programs completed and certification levels and endorsement areas, (ii) teacher assessments, such as whether a teacher is deemed highly qualified pursuant to the No Child Left Behind Act, P.L. 107-110, or deemed to meet such other designations as may be established by federal law or regulations for the purposes of tracking the equitable distribution of instructional staff, (iii) the presence of substitute teachers in a teacher's classroom, (iv) class size, (v) numbers relating to absenteeism in a teacher's classroom, and (vi) the presence of a teacher's aide. The department shall assign a unique teacher identifier to each teacher prior to collecting such data in the public school information system;
(C) Data relating to schools and districts shall include, but not be limited to, (i) school population, (ii) annual student graduation rates, (iii) annual teacher retention rates, (iv) school disciplinary records, such as data relating to suspensions, expulsions and other disciplinary actions, (v) the percentage of students whose primary language is not English, (vi) the number of and professional credentials of support personnel, and (vii) information relating to instructional technology, such as access to computers.
(2) Collect data relating to student enrollment in and graduation from institutions of higher education for any student who had been assigned a unique student identifier pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, provided such data is available.
(3) Develop means for access to and data sharing with the data systems of public institutions of higher education in the state.
Sec. 4. Subsection (g) of section 10-10a of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2015):
(g) Local and regional boards of education and preschool programs which receive state or federal funding shall participate, in a manner prescribed by the Commissioner of Education, in the state-wide public school information system described in subsection (b) of this section. Participation for purposes of this subsection shall include, but not be limited to, reporting on (1) student experiences in preschool by program type and by numbers of months in each such program, and (2) the readiness of students entering kindergarten using data collected from the kindergarten assessment tool, administered pursuant to section 1 of this act, and student progress in kindergarten. Such reporting shall be done by October 1, 2007, and annually thereafter.
Sec. 5. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2015) (a) As used in this section, "bachelor's degree program in early childhood education or child development" means a bachelor's degree with a concentration in early childhood education, including, but not limited to, a bachelor's degree in early childhood education, child study, child development or human growth and development.
(b) On and after July 1, 2015, the Office of Early Childhood shall, during a review and assessment pursuant to subdivision (4) of subsection (b) of section 10-16p of the general statutes, collect data relating to bachelor's degree programs in early childhood education or childhood development that have not been approved by the Board of Regents for Higher Education or the Office of Higher Education and the Office of Early Childhood from institutions of higher education that are regionally accredited. The office shall, at least quarterly, use such data to conduct a trend analysis of such bachelor's degree programs for the purpose of determining (1) whether such bachelor's degree programs align with the teacher preparation standards of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and (2) which courses and concentrations offered as part of such bachelor's degree programs align with such teacher preparation standards.
(c) During a review and assessment pursuant to subdivision (4) of subsection (b) of section 10-16p of the general statutes, the office shall consult the results of the trend analysis conducted pursuant to subsection (b) of this section for the purpose of determining whether the degree of an individual with a bachelor's degree in early childhood education or child development or a bachelor's degree and twelve credits or more in early childhood education or child development, other than those bachelor's degrees specified in subparagraphs (B) and (C) of subdivision (2) of subsection (b) of section 10-16p of the general statutes, has a sufficient concentration in early childhood education so as to satisfy the requirements set forth in said subparagraphs (B) and (C).
(d) The office shall make the results of the trend analysis conducted pursuant to subsection (b) of this section available on its Internet web site.
Sec. 6. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2015) For the school year commencing July 1, 2017, and each school year thereafter, (1) the local or regional board of education or regional educational service center operating an interdistrict magnet school offering a preschool program, or (2) the governing council of a state or local charter school offering a preschool program shall obtain accreditation for such preschool program from the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Sec. 7. Section 10-502 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2015):
The Office of Early Childhood shall collaborate with and provide funding to local and regional early childhood councils [in] for the implementation of early care and education and child development programs at the local level. Such early childhood councils shall: (1) Develop and implement a comprehensive plan for an early childhood system for the community served by such early childhood council, (2) develop policy and program planning, (3) encourage community participation by emphasizing substantial parental involvement, (4) collect, analyze and evaluate data with a focus on program and service outcomes, (5) allocate resources, and (6) perform any other functions that will assist in the provision of early childhood programs and services. Such early childhood councils may enter into memoranda of agreement with the local or regional school readiness council, described in section 10-16r, of the town or region served by such early childhood council to perform the duties and functions of a school readiness council, in accordance with the provisions of section 10-16r, or if no such local or regional school readiness council exists for the town or region of such early childhood council, perform the duties and functions of a school readiness council, in accordance with the provisions of section 10-16r.
Sec. 8. (Effective from passage) The Office of Early Childhood shall develop a plan to assist early childhood education program providers that accept state funds for infant, toddler and preschool spaces associated with such program's child care program or school readiness program in the implementation of the staff qualifications requirements under subsection (b) of section 10-16p of the general statutes. The plan shall include, but need not be limited to, a means of (1) assisting staff members of such program in obtaining a bachelor's degree with a concentration in early childhood education, (2) increasing the salaries of or providing incentives to staff members of such program who hold a bachelor's degree or otherwise meet such staff qualifications requirements, and (3) retaining staff members of such program who hold a bachelor's degree or otherwise meet such staff qualifications requirements. Not later than January 1, 2016, the office shall submit the plan and any recommendations to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to education, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a of the general statutes.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2015 New section
Sec. 2 July 1, 2015 10-500(b)(7)
Sec. 3 July 1, 2015 10-10a(c)
Sec. 4 July 1, 2015 10-10a(g)
Sec. 5 July 1, 2015 New section
Sec. 6 July 1, 2015 New section
Sec. 7 July 1, 2015 10-502
Sec. 8 from passage New section
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1
July 1, 2015
New section
Sec. 2
July 1, 2015
10-500(b)(7)
Sec. 3
July 1, 2015
10-10a(c)
Sec. 4
July 1, 2015
10-10a(g)
Sec. 5
July 1, 2015
New section
Sec. 6
July 1, 2015
New section
Sec. 7
July 1, 2015
10-502
Sec. 8
from passage
New section
Statement of Purpose:
To require the Department of Education to assist in the implementation of the kindergarten assessment tool, to authorize early childhood education credits earned at an out-of-state institution of higher education that is regionally accredited and accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children to count towards the staff qualifications requirements for the purposes of school readiness program staffing, to require preschool programs offered by magnet schools and charter schools to be accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, to require the Office of Early Childhood to provide funding to local and regional early childhood councils and to require the Office of Early Childhood to develop a plan regarding the implementation of the staff qualifications requirements for staff members of early childhood education programs.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]