HB 18-1189: Expanding Effective Teacher Residency Programs 

The bill creates the teacher residency expansion program (program) in the department of education (department). The goal of the program is to identify and communicate to school districts, charter schools, and boards of cooperative services that operate public schools (local education providers) the best practices, effective strategies, and critical components of effective teacher residency programs and thereby facilitate expansion of the effective teacher residency programs across the state. To implement the program, the department will contract with an institution of higher education (institution) and an alternative teacher program (alternative program), each of which is currently operating an effective teacher residency program with a local education provider. The institution and alternative program will expand their respective teacher residency programs with other local education providers as pilot programs that must include specified components. The institution and alternative program will share the specified components with the department, which will share them with other local education providers, institutions, and alternative programs that are not participating in the pilot programs. After the pilot programs have operated for a year, and annually thereafter, the department will evaluate the success of the pilot programs based on specified criteria. The department will submit a report concerning the evaluation to the state board of education, the Colorado commission on higher education, the executive director of the department of higher education, the governor's office, and the education committees of the general assembly. The department will also post the report on its website. The department will distribute to the institution and alternative program that contract with the department an amount to offset a portion of the costs of implementing the pilot program. The institution and alternative program must agree to provide matching funds equal to 100% of the amount distributed to the institution and alternative program by the department. The program is repealed in 5 years. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)  

CEA supports this bill because teacher preparation programs that help prepare educators for the classroom and provide them the skills and support to succeed for years to come need to be supported and ideally replicated. This bill looks to ensure residency programs are effective and funded.