(1)(a) Each Washington professional educator standards board-approved teacher preparation program, including an alternative route teacher certification program, must develop a plan describing how the program will partner with school districts in the general geographic region of the program regarding field placement of student teachers. The plans must be developed in collaboration with school districts desiring to partner with the programs, and may include use of unexpended federal or state funds to support residencies and mentoring for students who are likely to continue teaching in the district in which they have a supervised field placement.

(b) Beginning July 1, 2020, the following goals must be considered when developing the plans required under this section:

(i) Field placement of student teachers should be targeted to high-need subject areas, including special education and English learner, and high-need geographic areas, including Title I and rural schools; and

(ii) Student teacher mentors should be highly effective as evidenced by the mentors having received level 3 or above on both criteria 3 (recognizing individual student learning needs and developing strategies to address those needs) and criteria 6 (using multiple student data elements to modify instruction and improve student learning) on their most recent comprehensive performance evaluation under RCW 28A.405.100. Student teacher mentors should also have received or be concurrently receiving professional development in mentoring skills.

(2) The plans required under subsection (1) of this section must be submitted to the Washington professional educator standards board and updated by July 1st every even-numbered year.

(3) The Washington professional educator standards board shall post the plans and updates required under this section on its website.

Findings—Intent—2019 c 295: “(1) The legislature finds that financial incentives, assistance, and supports are essential to recruit and retain persons into educator positions within the public common school system. In order to have the most impact, these incentives, assistance, and supports must be related explicitly and directly to the legislature’s objectives for recruiting and retaining an educator workforce that will best serve diverse student populations, as well as meet the state’s short-term and long-term educator workforce needs.

(2) Therefore, the legislature intends to:

(a) Promote effective incentives, assistance, and supports;

(b) Remove barriers and disincentives; and

(c) Enhance and encourage capacity-building for and coordination between educator preparation programs and the public common school system, especially in underserved areas.

(3) The legislature finds that conditional scholarship and loan repayment programs are effective tools to attract persons into the profession of education and to encourage future teachers to seek certifications in shortage areas. Therefore, the legislature intends to utilize conditional scholarships to recruit candidates to meet targeted needs in education and to assist with keeping new educators in the profession during the early years of their career. The legislature recognizes that the state need grant does not meet the needs of many qualified students, so conditional scholarships are intended to be provided in a “last dollar in” model. The legislature also intends for loan repayment programs to help retain certificated educators who are already working in the public common schools.

(4) The legislature finds that the location and characteristics of a student teacher’s field placement are strong predictors of where the teacher takes his or her first job. Therefore, the legislature intends to encourage the appropriate placement of student teachers, especially in high-need subject and geographic areas. In addition, the legislature intends to continue providing grants for student teachers at Title I public common schools.” [ 2019 c 295 § 201.]

Intent—2019 c 295: “The legislature recognizes the important role of teacher preparation programs in addressing the shortages in the educator career continuum. Through the omnibus appropriations act, the legislature intends to prioritize the expansion of teacher preparation program enrollments in high-need subjects and high-need locations within the state, taking into consideration the community and technical colleges’ capacity to contribute to teacher preparation.” [ 2019 c 295 § 231.]

Effective date—Findings—Intent—2019 c 295: See notes following RCW 28A.310.235.

Intent—2019 c 295: See note following RCW 28B.102.030.

Findings—Intent—2019 c 295: See note following RCW 28A.415.265.

Findings—Intent—2019 c 295: See note following RCW 28A.180.120.