HF 418 (LSB 1157YH (5) 87)

HOUSE FILE 418

BY  SALMON

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to the requirements a student must fulfill to successfully complete a practitioner preparation program. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 256.16, subsection 1, paragraph a, subparagraph (2), Code 2017, is amended to read as follows:
   (2)  Administer, prior to a student’s completion of the practitioner preparation program and subject to the director’s approval, subject assessments designed by a nationally recognized testing service that measure pedagogy and knowledge of at least one subject area; or, a valid and reliable subject-area-specific, performance-based assessment for preservice teacher candidates, centered on student learning. A student shall not successfully complete the program unless the student, at any time during the student’s course of study, achieves scores above the twenty-fifth percentile nationally on the assessments administered pursuant to this subparagraph.  In lieu of the assessment requirements of this subparagraph, a student who is preparing to teach in a hard-to-staff subject area as identified by the department may demonstrate mastery of pedagogy and knowledge of subject area through a student portfolio.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   This bill provides that a student who, at any time during the student’s course of study in a practitioner preparation program, achieves a score above the 25th percentile nationally on a valid and reliable subject-area-specific, performance-based assessment for preservice teacher candidates, shall be able to use the score to complete the program even if the department of education subsequently recalculates and updates the passing score based on the most recent data on scores achieved nationally on the assessment. In lieu of the assessment requirements, the bill allows a student who is preparing to teach in a hard-to-staff subject area as identified by the department to demonstrate mastery of pedagogy and knowledge of subject area through a student portfolio.