Lawmakers move to shorten student-teaching requirements, expand work-based learning

Proposed legislation that would shorten student teaching requirements for certain students and expand work-based and other experiential learning programs will move ahead with a promise to address lingering concerns from lobbyists and lawmakers.

Senate Study Bill 3143, which passed out of a three-member Senate subcommittee Tuesday, makes changes to student teaching, work-based learning, career and technical education, and the Future Ready Iowa Last-Dollar Scholarship program.

Sen. Kerry Gruenhagen, R-Walcott, chaired the subcommittee, and was joined by Sen. Molly Donahue, D-Cedar Rapids, and Sen. Jeff Taylor, R-Sioux Center.

Student teaching parameters for certain groups would change under the new bill, shortening the current requirement of 14 weeks student teaching to four. Eligible students would need to have both certification and experience as a substitute teacher or paraeducator, have the primary responsibility of planning, teaching and assessing students while student teaching, and undergo student teaching in the classroom of a cooperating teacher licensed in the subject and grade they’re teaching.

The requirements for shortening student teaching time would also be satisfied if the student is a certified paraeducator, bears the brunt of responsibilities and is supervised by an appropriate teacher for one-half of each school day and works as a paraeducator for one-half of each day during student teaching.

The bill would repeal and consolidate workforce programs that fall under regional and industry sector partnerships and the statewide work-based learning intermediary network. They and similar programs would be funded by a new Workforce Opportunity Fund, established with a $30 million reinvestment from the state’s unemployment compensation reserve fund and handled by Iowa Workforce Development.

Workforce Opportunity Fund dollars would go to maintaining and expanding state workforce programs.

Work-based learning would also be added to career and technical education classes that 9-12 schools are required to offer through this bill, and would allow work-based learning instruction to be offered when school is not in session. The bill also modified the definitions of “work-based learning,” “quality pre-apprenticeship program” and “youth apprenticeship” for the Iowa Registered Apprenticeship Act.

Eligibility for the Last-Dollar Scholarship program would be changed to require students to have an expected family contribution of $20,000 or less, based on the FAFSA. The bill would also expand the eligible programs under the scholarships to include programs approved by the College Student Aid Commission and Iowa Workforce Development that would provide credentials related to at least one of 10 “priority in-demand fields” determined by the Workforce Development Board, according to the bill.

Melissa Peterson, legislative and policy director for the Iowa State Education Association, showed support for expanding opportunities for students in career and technical education programs, but said lessening the required amount of student teaching experience hours for certain people has caused the organization “some heartburn.”

The certification and responsibilities of teachers, paraeducators and substitute teachers are all distinctly different, Peterson said, and each of the professions are experiencing shortages in the state. Other programs are also already in place to help accelerate teaching education and training, she said.

“We want to be really, really cautious, and I hope that we could work with the governor’s office and the Department of Education to ensure we’re not doing anything to dilute the quality of the teacher preparation experiences our education professionals are receiving,” Peterson said.

Peterson also voiced concerns about the changes to the Last-Dollar Scholarship program, saying it could decrease the number of eligible students when waiting lists for funding are already long.

Iowa Board of Regents representative Jillian Carlson also had concerns about how changes to student teaching policies could impact students seeking certain endorsements like special education, where they must fulfill requirements for hours spent in both general education and special education classes. This could shorten the time they spend in both, making them less prepared.

This wouldn’t necessarily shorten the time it takes to earn a degree either, she said. Carlson said another concern is for people trying to get their paraeducator or substitute teacher licensing just to shrink the amount of time they need to student teach.

Margaret Buckton, representing the Urban Education Network and Rural School Advocates of Iowa, brought up the Teacher & Paraeducator Registered Apprenticeship Program as one example of supporting educators in their mission of earning credentials while working in the classroom.

She said it makes sense to shorten the amount of required student teaching time for those who have similar licensure and classroom experience, but it could be a different situation for those looking to work in special education.

Donahue shared the concerns voiced by others in the meeting, and said she knows from her own career as a teacher that four weeks is not enough time to be fully prepared for the profession.

“I would like to see the student teaching stricken from it,” Donahue said. “I think that our universities and our schools will put together a program that is necessary for teachers to be fully prepared to be in a classroom.”

Taylor said that in his discussions with the head of the teacher preparation program at Dordt University where he teaches, a couple of concerns came up related to students not getting enough experience having sole responsibility of a classroom or feeling pressured to get additional credentials in order to get paid while student teaching.

The bill addresses this first concern, Taylor said, by qualifying that the student teaching duration can only be reduced if “the student bears the primary responsibility for planning, instruction, and assessment within the classroom during the student teaching experience,” according to the bill.

With his other concern still standing, Taylor said he’d support the bill going forward.

Representatives from the Iowa Association of Business and Industry (ABI) and Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, also expressed concern about where the funding for the Workforce Opportunity Fund would come from — the Unemployment Compensation Reserve Fund.

JD Davis, ABI vice president of public policy, said money from the reserve fund can only be used to “pay unemployment benefits to the extent that monies in the unemployment compensation fund are insufficient to pay benefits during a calendar quarter.”

“We believe the intent of the unemployment compensation reserve fund is to solely be used for unemployment compensation,” said Peter Hird, lobbyist for the Iowa Federation of Labor. “Our best hope is that we could find some money somewhere else to fund the program.”

Donahue also agreed that pulling $30 million from the unemployment fund is an issue, and said she’d hate to repeal programs the community colleges worked hard to build.

Gruenhagen assured the group when saying he would sign the bill to pass through the subcommittee that they will have more time to tackle any worries that still remain.

“We can continue having those discussions to address those concerns and make sure everything’s covered as we move forward,” Gruenhagen said.

The bill moves to the full Senate Workforce Committee for further consideration.

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