MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1997 Regular Session

To: Education

By: Senator(s) Harden

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 37-9-11, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO DIRECT THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO APPOINT A COMMITTEE TO DEVELOP RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ALTERNATIVES TO THE NATIONAL TEACHER EXAMINATION AND TO MAKE A REPORT THEREON TO THE 1998 REGULAR SESSION OF THE LEGISLATURE; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 37-9-11, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

37-9-11. (1) The State Board of Education is authorized and directed to require tests such as the common and teaching areas of the National Teacher Examination or an examination of achievement as one of the requirements for the issuance of public school professional certificates issued after January 1, 1972, to any person applying for the first time for a professional certificate.

Scores on said test or tests shall be made a part of the record of the applicant and maintained in the files of the Office of Teacher Certification Division of the State Department of Education.

The State Board of Education is further authorized, at its discretion, to make determinations of minimum scores required of a person applying for the first time for a professional certificate.

The State Board of Education shall, at its discretion, determine conditions that would prevail should a person desire to take said test or tests more than once.

(2) The State Board of Education shall appoint a committee to develop recommendations for alternative examinations of achievement in addition to, or similar to, the National Teacher Examination and to address assessments in such areas as basic skills, general knowledge, subject content, pedagogy and observation of teacher in-class performance as one of the requirements for the issuance of a teacher certificate. The committee shall be appointed within sixty (60) days after the effective date of Senate Bill No. 2304, 1997 Regular Session, and shall consist of the following members: the State Superintendent of Education, who shall serve as chairman; the deans of the schools of education of each state institution of higher learning; one (1) representative from the schools of education of independent institutions of higher learning; and two (2) members of the Commission on Teacher and Administrator Education, Certification and Development. The committee shall meet upon the call of the chairman, and an appropriate school member of the State Department of Education shall be designated by the chairman to serve as executive secretary and coordinator for the committee. It shall be the duty of the committee to review current testing requirements, to develop recommendations on adding alternative testing components to the National Teacher Examination, and to make a report thereon to the 1998 Regular Session of the Legislature on or before January 1, 1998. Upon the submission of the report, the committee shall be dissolved.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.