A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to ESTABLISH a pilot for redesigning teacher education preparation programs to produce highly effective teachers.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  The State Board of Education shall issue a request for proposals from approved teacher education programs at constituent institutions of The University of North Carolina for a pilot redesign of the teacher education program at that constituent institution.  The proposal shall provide a detailed plan of how the constituent institution will revise the program to ensure that graduates are prepared to be highly effective teachers immediately upon entering the classroom.  The proposal shall include information on the following:
(1)	Detailed plans for vigorous recruitment strategies and stringent admissions criteria to ensure that only outstanding candidates with strong academic credentials are admitted to the teacher education program.
(2)	Proposed revisions to curriculum, including examples of cooperation with other departments and colleges outside the teacher education program; coursework in candidates' major course of study that are successfully completed in the relevant college or university department rather than through the teacher education program; and close cooperation with local school administrative units and schools to ensure that teacher education students are effectively prepared in content area knowledge applicable to their future profession.
(3)	Redesign of clinical experiences to ensure that teacher education students have embedded classroom experiences spanning the course of one instructional year in a partner elementary or secondary school setting mentored by teachers who have been identified as highly effective on the North Carolina teacher evaluation rubric, that clinical coursework is reflective and connected to embedded classroom experiences, and that a nationally normed and valid pedagogy assessment is used to determine clinical practice performance.
A constituent institution who submits a proposal must commit to implementation of the pilot redesign of the teacher education program beginning in the 2016‑2017 instructional year and to reporting on outcomes of graduates of the redesigned program to the State Board of Education and the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee for five years, beginning October 1 following the graduation of the first cohort to complete the redesigned program. Graduate outcomes shall include, at a minimum, academic growth of the students for which the graduate serves as teacher of record and recruitment, retention, and evaluation ratings of each student cohort. The constituent institution awarded funding shall report to the State Board of Education and the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee on the redesign and implementation of the revised program by December 31, 2017.
SECTION 2.  The State Board of Education shall require proposals to be submitted no later than October 15, 2015, and shall award funding to one institution of higher education no later than December 15, 2015, for personnel and other costs associated with the pilot redesign.
SECTION 3.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Public Instruction the sum of three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) for the 2015‑2016 fiscal year and the sum of three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) for the 2016‑2017 fiscal year to be awarded to the constituent institution of The University of North Carolina whose proposal is selected by the State Board of Education.
SECTION 4.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2015.