Senate Bill 1286
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida Senate - 1999 SB 1286
By Senator Dyer
14-530A-99 See HB 203
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to personnel of the school
3 system; creating s. 231.315, F.S.; providing
4 for the establishment of model peer assistance
5 and review programs; providing minimum
6 standards; providing for technical assistance
7 and allocations; amending s. 231.600, F.S.,
8 relating to the School Community Professional
9 Development Act; including additional
10 professional development activities; requiring
11 an assessment of expenditures for professional
12 development; amending s. 236.0811, F.S.;
13 providing requirements for educational training
14 for support staff; providing for additional
15 days of inservice training; providing an
16 effective date.
17
18 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
19
20 Section 1. Section 231.315, Florida Statutes, is
21 created to read:
22 231.315 Peer assistance and review.--
23 (1) The Legislature, the education community, and the
24 public expect high standards of professional practice from
25 school administrators and instructional staff. To promote high
26 professional standards, administrators and instructional staff
27 must develop a system of shared accountability. Peer
28 assistance and review is a process in which highly skilled
29 instructional personnel serve in a consulting role with their
30 peers to improve the quality of classroom instruction. Peer
31 assistance and review allows administrators and instructional
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Florida Senate - 1999 SB 1286
14-530A-99 See HB 203
1 personnel to share the responsibility of mentoring, training,
2 assisting, and reviewing the professional standards and
3 practices of instructional personnel.
4 (2) Peer assistance and review programs must meet the
5 following minimum standards:
6 (a) Program provisions must be developed through the
7 collective bargaining agreement between the teachers'
8 association and the school district.
9 (b) A joint instructional personnel and school
10 district governing body must be created with responsibility to
11 review recommendations of the consulting peer instructional
12 personnel.
13 (c) Consulting peer instructional personnel must be
14 recognized by their peers as highly skilled practitioners and
15 must be selected by their peers.
16 (d) Consulting peer instructional personnel must be
17 properly compensated and trained.
18 (e) Consulting peer instructional personnel must
19 provide assistance and review for instructional personnel with
20 the same area of expertise as the consulting peer
21 instructional personnel member.
22 (f) Consulting peer instructional personnel must not
23 be considered administrative personnel and must retain status
24 within the employees' collective bargaining unit.
25 (3) For fiscal years 1999-2000 and 2000-2001, up to
26 six school districts may be selected to establish model peer
27 assistance and review programs. At least one district selected
28 must have less than 6,000 students and at least one district
29 selected must have more than 100,000 students. Districts that
30 wish to apply for selection must submit an application to the
31 Department of Education by September 1, 1999, which includes
2
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida Senate - 1999 SB 1286
14-530A-99 See HB 203
1 the agreement between the teachers' association and the school
2 district. By October 1, 1999, the department shall select the
3 participating districts based on the quality of their
4 applications.
5 (4) The department shall provide technical assistance
6 to selected school districts to establish model peer
7 assistance and review programs.
8 (5) The school districts selected to establish model
9 peer assistance and review programs shall receive an
10 allocation from the department as established in the General
11 Appropriations Act.
12 (6) During the 2000-2001 fiscal year, the department
13 shall assess the results of the selected model peer assistance
14 and review programs and shall submit a report to the Governor,
15 the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of
16 Representatives by March 1, 2001. The report must include the
17 department's recommendation as to the continuation or
18 expansion of peer assistance and review programs.
19 Section 2. Subsections (3) and (5) and paragraph (b)
20 of subsection (4) of section 231.600, Florida Statutes, 1998
21 Supplement, are amended to read:
22 231.600 School Community Professional Development
23 Act.--
24 (3) The activities designed to implement this section
25 must:
26 (a) Increase the success of educators in guiding
27 student learning and development and identifying and meeting
28 state standards for student learning so as to implement state
29 and local educational initiatives.;
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31
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Florida Senate - 1999 SB 1286
14-530A-99 See HB 203
1 (b) Assist the school community in developing in
2 school children the dispositions that will motivate them to be
3 active learners.; and
4 (c) Provide continuous support, rather than temporary
5 intervention, for improving the performance of teachers and
6 others who assist children in their learning.
7 (d) Convey to the school community the adopted best
8 practices for effective teaching.
9 (e) Examine elements of successful schools and the
10 roles of instructional personnel, administrators, parents, and
11 other school community members in those schools.
12 (f) Encourage instructional personnel to design
13 personal professional development plans to improve
14 professional practice and increase student performance.
15 (4) The Department of Education, school districts,
16 schools, and public colleges and universities share the
17 responsibilities described in this section. These
18 responsibilities include the following:
19 (b) Each district school board shall consult with
20 instructional personnel teachers and representatives of
21 college and university faculty, community agencies, and other
22 interested citizen groups to establish policy and procedures
23 to guide the operation of the district professional
24 development program. The professional development system
25 must:
26 1. Require that schools identify student needs that
27 can be met by improved professional performance, and assist
28 schools in making these identifications.;
29 2. Provide training activities coupled with followup
30 support that is appropriate to accomplish district-level and
31 school-level improvement goals and standards.; and
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Florida Senate - 1999 SB 1286
14-530A-99 See HB 203
1 3. Provide training and other professional development
2 at the school level which is appropriate to the needs of the
3 students of the school and consistent with the school
4 improvement plan.
5 4.3. Provide for systematic consultation with regional
6 and state personnel designated to provide technical assistance
7 and evaluation of local professional development programs.
8 (5) Each district school board shall provide funding
9 for the system as required by s. 236.081, and shall direct
10 expenditures from other funding sources to strengthen the
11 system and make it uniform and coherent. A school district
12 may coordinate its professional development program with that
13 of another district, with an educational consortium, or with a
14 college or university, especially in preparing and educating
15 personnel. School districts, in coordination with school
16 personnel and the school community, shall develop an ongoing
17 assessment of the effectiveness of current expenditures for
18 professional development with an emphasis on increasing
19 student performance and improving professional performance.
20 Section 3. Paragraph (a) of subsection (2) of section
21 236.0811, Florida Statutes, is amended, and subsection (3) is
22 added to that section, to read:
23 236.0811 Educational training.--
24 (2)(a)1. Pursuant to rules of the Commissioner of
25 Education, each school board shall develop and annually
26 approve a master plan for inservice educational training. The
27 plan shall include all inservice programs for all district
28 employees from all fund sources and shall be updated annually
29 by September 1 using criteria and procedures for continued
30 approval as specified by rule of the commissioner.
31 Verification that the plan meets all requirements of this
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Florida Senate - 1999 SB 1286
14-530A-99 See HB 203
1 section and s. 231.600, where applicable, must be submitted
2 annually to the commissioner by October 1. The plan must be
3 based on an assessment of the inservice educational training
4 needs of the district conducted by a committee that includes
5 parents, classroom teachers, and other educational personnel.
6 This assessment must identify districtwide inservice needs and
7 the inservice training needs of local schools. The plan must
8 include, at a minimum, the inservice activities that are
9 necessary for implementation of the schools' improvement plans
10 during the current fiscal year. The plan must include, but is
11 not limited to, components addressing: competencies in the
12 identification, assessment, and prescription of instruction
13 for exceptional students; competencies in the identification,
14 assessment, and prescription of instruction for child abuse
15 and neglect prevention and for substance and alcohol abuse
16 prevention; and competencies in instruction for multicultural
17 sensitivity in the classroom. In addition, the plan must
18 include a component to provide regular training to classroom
19 teachers on advances in the field of normal child development
20 and the disorders of development. The plan must also include
21 components that may be used to satisfy the certification
22 requirements applicable to teachers of students with limited
23 proficiency in English and components that may be used for the
24 renewal of a certificate in each of the following areas: a
25 study of the middle grades, understanding the student in the
26 middle grades, organizing interdisciplinary instruction in the
27 middle grades, developing critical thinking and creative
28 thinking in students in the middle grades, counseling
29 functions of the teacher in the middle grades, developing
30 creative learning materials for the middle grades, and
31 planning and evaluating programs in the middle grades. The
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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida Senate - 1999 SB 1286
14-530A-99 See HB 203
1 plan must include inservice activities for all district
2 employees from all fund sources.
3 2. Classroom teachers and guidance counselors shall be
4 required to participate in the inservice training for child
5 abuse and neglect prevention, for alcohol and substance abuse
6 prevention education, and for multicultural sensitivity
7 education, which may include negotiation and conflict
8 resolution training.
9 3. Training for support staff shall emphasize the
10 working partnership of support staff with instructional staff
11 and methods for increasing effectiveness in the instructional
12 process.
13 (3) In addition to the 196 days of service for
14 10-month personnel, 2 additional days of inservice training
15 shall be provided to all instructional personnel and
16 instructional specialists. These 2 days of training should
17 emphasize professional development at the school level that is
18 appropriate to the needs of the students of the school and
19 consistent with the school improvement plan. Compensation for
20 these days shall be based on the employee's daily rate of pay
21 and shall be contingent upon funding included in the annual
22 General Appropriations Act.
23 Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 1999.
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26 LEGISLATIVE SUMMARY
27
Provides for the establishment of school district model
28 peer assistance and review programs. Provides additional
school district professional development activities and
29 requires an assessment of certain expenditures. Provides
requirements for educational training for support staff.
30 Provides for additional days of inservice training for
certain school personnel.
31
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