Improving teacher prep in Michigan, Lame Duck update & more from Ed Trust-Midwest. Update for Dec. 11, 2018

Dec 11, 2018 by Brian Gutman

House Makes Progress on Teacher Prep Bills

Last week, the Michigan House of Representatives passed five bills aimed at improving teacher preparation in Michigan. The bills – supported by The Education Trust-Midwest – were approved with bipartisan support.

The legislative package, which now moves to the Michigan Senate for consideration, includes:

House Bill 5598 (Garcia – R) would require the faculty of teacher preparation programs to complete at least 30 hours of continuing education each school year, that meet specific requirements. The bill passed the House 60-48.
HB 5602 (Kelly – R) would establish an educator corps program to provide expertise on policymaking, collaborate on pilot programs and provide professional development to other educators. The bill passed the House 98-10.
HB 5603 (Kelly – R) would require elementary teacher candidates to take more reading coursework as a part of their teacher preparation program, and demonstrate key reading instruction skills, in order to earn their teaching certificate. The bill passed the House 98-10.
HB 5604 (Hornberger – R) would require teacher preparation programs to offer a range of student teaching experiences and to ensure that student teachers are introduced to systems for educator evaluation and feedback, and the use of data to improve instruction. The bill passed the House 88-20.
HB 5605 (Lilly – R) would require that teacher preparation programs incorporate education on the use of data, classroom management skills, and teaching students with differing needs (including students with disabilities, English language learners and student from high-poverty communities). The bill passed the House 91-17.

The greatest in-school factor for improving student outcomes is the quality of the classroom teacher. These bills have the potential for improving the preparedness of new teachers.

Capital Update

The State Board of Education will convene for the final time in 2018 today, December 11 at 9:30 a.m. at the John A. Hannah Building. The agenda is available here. When the State Board of Education reconvenes in January 2019, Democrats will have a two-seat majority, as Democrats Judy Pritchett and Tiffany Tiley replace outgoing Republican members Eileen Weiser and Richard Zeile.

The Senate Education Committee will meet today at noon in room 1300 of the Binsfeld Building to consider a package of bills aimed at improving teacher preparation (House Bills 5598 and 5602–5605), and potentially HBs 6314–6315 (Kelly – R) which would establish a new classification of for some public schools and districts as “public innovative” schools and districts, exempt from certain requirements of state education law.