Existing law creates the Commission on Professional Standards in Education and requires the Commission to adopt regulations prescribing the qualifications for licensing teachers and other educational personnel. (NRS 391.011, 391.019) Existing law additionally requires the Commission to adopt regulations: (1) governing examinations for the initial licensing of teachers and other educational personnel; and (2) authorizing an applicant for such licenses to be exempt from the requirement to pass a competency test in basic reading, writing and mathematics if he or she satisfies certain requirements (NRS 391.021) Existing regulations provide that an applicant is exempt from the requirement to pass such a competency test if the applicant submits to the Department of Education evidence that he or she completed: (1) the “Praxis Core Academic Skills for Educators” in reading, mathematics and writing, prepared and administered by the Educational Testing Service; or (2) an equivalent test, as determined by the Department. (NAC 391.036) Section 1 of this bill provides that the regulations adopted by the Commission must also authorize an applicant for an initial license to teach to be exempt from the requirement to pass a competency test in basic reading, writing and mathematics if he or she satisfactorily completes the pilot program established pursuant to section 2 of this bill.
Section 3 of this bill appropriates money to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, to establish a pilot program to offer an alternative pathway for assessing the competency of prospective teachers through the use of alternative assessment methods. Section 2: (1) sets forth the requirements for the program; and (2) provides that the pilot program must have not more than 100 participants, requiring that each participant be an applicant for an initial license to teach who currently holds a provisional license to teach. Furthermore, section 2 sets forth the requirements governing the composition of participants, including that: (1) not more than 60 percent of participants be employed by a school district in a county whose population is 100,000 or more (currently Clark and Washoe Counties); (2) not more than 40 percent of participants be employed by a school district in a county whose population is less than 100,000 (currently all counties other than Clark and Washoe Counties); (3) participants be from at least five different school districts; (4) there be at least one graduate from each institution within the Nevada System of Higher Education; (5) for each regional training program, there be at least one participant who received professional development services from the regional training program; and (6) there be at least one participant who is a member of certain employee organizations.
For a participant in the pilot program, section 2 requires the Department to extend the deadline for successfully passing a competency test, which is required to receive an initial license to teach, for a period of 24 months after he or she is selected to participate in the program, thereby allowing the participant to use his or her satisfactory completion of the pilot program to satisfy requirements to receive an exemption from completing certain competency tests. Section 2 also requires the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, to submit: (1) an annual progress report regarding the pilot program to the Director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau for distribution to the Joint Interim Standing Committee on Education; and (2) not later than 6 months after the cessation of the pilot program, a report to the Department on the success of the pilot program and a plan for its broader implementation.