Revises provisions governing language education. (BDR 34-31)

Existing law requires the Council to Establish Academic Standards for Public Schools to establish standards of content and performance for courses of study in foreign or world languages. (NRS 389.520) Existing law also requires a teacher to obtain an endorsement in a field of specialization to be eligible to teach in that field of specialization. (NRS 391.019) In order to receive an endorsement to teach a world language, existing regulations require a teacher to: (1) hold an elementary or secondary license or a license to teach middle school or junior high education; and (2) have majored or minored in the world language to be taught. (NAC 391.235) Section 1 of this bill defines “language other than English” to mean a form of human communication, other than the English language, that consists of a system of sounds, letters, symbols or signs and meets certain other requirements. Sections 2 and 3 of this bill replace the term “world language” with “language other than English” in existing law, and section 5 of this bill directs the Legislative Counsel to make conforming changes to existing regulations when codifying the Nevada Administrative Code. Existing regulations require a teacher to have received certain training in language acquisition and methods of teaching and assessing English learners in order to receive an English language acquisition and development endorsement. (NAC 391.237) Section 4 of this bill requires the Department of Education to: (1) study the possibility of imposing similar requirements in order to receive an endorsement to teach a language other than English; and (2) submit and present a report of the results of the study to the Legislature.