Not later than January 1, 2019, the Department of Education, in consultation with the Minority Teacher Recruitment Policy Oversight Council, shall (1) identify relevant research and successful practices to enhance minority teacher recruitment throughout the state, (2) identify and establish public, private and philanthropic partnerships to increase minority teacher recruitment, (3) utilize, monitor and evaluate innovative methods to attract minority candidates to the teaching profession, particularly in subject areas in which a teacher shortage exists, as determined by the Commissioner of Education pursuant to section 10-8b, (4) modernize the process for educators to obtain educator certification under this chapter by eliminating obstacles to certification to increase competitiveness with other states, (5) identify and utilize high-quality, affordable and bias-free educator assessments, (6) adopt cut scores for educator assessments, that do not exceed the multistate cut scores, to increase competitiveness with surrounding states, (7) support new and existing educator preparation programs that commit to enrolling greater numbers of minority teacher candidates in a manner that supports interstate reciprocity, (8) monitor, advise and support, and intervene in when necessary, local and regional boards of education's efforts to prioritize minority teacher recruitment and develop innovative strategies to attract and retain minority teachers within their districts, and (9) (A) on and after July 1, 2019, include a question regarding the demographic data of applicants for positions requiring educator certification in the department's annual hiring survey distributed to local and regional boards of education, and (B) not later than July 1, 2020, and annually thereafter, submit a report, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a, on the applicant demographic data collected pursuant to subparagraph (A) of this subdivision to the minority teacher recruitment task force, established pursuant to section 10-156aa, and to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to education. For purposes of this section, “minority” has the same meaning as provided in section 10-156bb.
(P.A. 18-34, S. 1.)
History: P.A. 18-34 effective July 1, 2018.