Provides for a pilot program to assess the competency of applicants for a license to teach through alternative assessment methods. (BDR 34-836)

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 governing examinations for the initial licensing of teachers and other educational personnel. (NRS 391.021) Existing regulations provide that an applicant is exempt from the requirement to pass a competency test in the principles and methods of teaching if the applicant submits to the Department of Education evidence that he or she: (1) completed the “Principles of Learning and Teaching Test” prepared and administered by the Educational Testing Service; or (2) is applying for a license with an endorsement in an area for which training in the principles and methods of teaching is not required. (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 the principles and methods of teaching if he or she satisfactorily completes the pilot program established pursuant to section 2 of this bill. Section 2 authorizes institutions within the Nevada System of Higher Education 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 select not more than 100 participants each academic year during the duration of the program; and (3) requires that each participant be an applicant for an initial license to teach who currently holds a provisional license to teach or an endorsement or license to serve as a substitute teacher. 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 by exemption the requirement to complete certain competency tests. Section 2 also requires each institution that established a pilot program to submit: (1) an annual progress report regarding the pilot program to the Commission, the State Board of Education and 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. Section 4 of this bill provides that the pilot program established by section 2 expires by limitation on July 1, 2029.