South Carolina General Assembly
104th Session, 1981-1982

Bill 2120

                    Current Status

Bill Number:               2120
Ratification Number:       11
Act Number                 80
Introducing Body:          House
Subject:                   Period extended for basic skills
                           examination
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(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

(A80, R11, H2120)

    AN ACT TO AMEND ACT 187 OF 1979, RELATING TO THE TRAINING, EMPLOYMENT AND EVALUATION OF PUBLIC EDUCATORS, SO AS TO EXTEND THE PERIOD IN WHICH THE BASIC SKILLS EXAMINATION, TEACHER EVALUATION INSTRUMENT AND TEACHING EXAMINATION SHALL BE VALIDATED AND READY FOR USE TO NOT LATER THAN JULY 1, 1982.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
Period extended for basic skills examination
    SECTION 1. Item (e) of Section 2 of Act 187 of 1979 is amended by striking on line two "1981-82" and inserting "1982-83". The item when amended shall read:
    "(e) Adopt program approval standards so that beginning with the 1982-83 school year all colleges and universities in this State that offer undergraduate degrees in education shall require that students successfully complete the basic skills examination that is developed in compliance with this act before final admittance into the undergraduate teacher education program. These program approval standards shall include but not be limited to the following:
        (1) A student may initially take the basic skills examination during his first or second year in college.
        (2) Students may be allowed to take the examination no more than three times.
        (3) If a student has not passed the examination, he may be conditionally admitted to a teacher education program. Such admittance shall not exceed one year. If he has not passed the examination within one year of the conditional admittance he shall not be allowed to continue in the teacher education program."
Date required for student teaching extended
    SECTION 2. Item (h) of Section 2 of Act 187 of 1979 is amended by striking on line two "1981-82" and inserting "1982-83". The item when amended shall read:
    "(h) Adopt program approval standards so that beginning with the 1982-83 school year all colleges and universities in this State that offer undergraduate degrees in education shall require that students pursuing courses leading to teacher certification successfully complete one semester of student teaching."
    Period when examination to be validated and ready for use extended
    SECTION 3. Subitem (2) of item (b) of Section 3 of Act 187 of 1979 is amended by striking on line seventeen "1981" and inserting "1982". The subitem when amended shall read:
    "(2) Development or selection of South Carolina Teaching Examinations that can measure the cognitive teaching area competencies desired for initial job assignments in typical elementary and secondary schools in this State. The examinations shall contain a minimum amount of common or general knowledge questions. They shall be designed so that results can be reported in a form that will provide a student with specific information about his strengths and weaknesses. Procedures, test questions and information from existing examinations and lists of validated teacher competencies shall be used to the maximum extent in the development of the examinations. An examination that is completely developed by an organization other than the special project may be considered for use as a whole only if the project director and a majority of the members of the Educator Improvement Task Force conclude that the development and maintenance of a specific area test is impractical or would necessitate exorbitant expenses. The examinations shall be validated and ready for use as soon as practical but not later than July 1, 1982. The teaching examinations shall be developed or selected only for those areas in which area examinations of the National Teacher Examinations are not available."
Time for administration of examination extended
    SECTION 4. Item (c) of Section 3 of Act 187 of 1979 is amended by striking on the last line "1981" and inserting "1982". The item when amended shall read:
    "(c) Cause the basic skills examination, the teacher evaluation instrument and the teaching examinations to be administered on or before July 1, 1982."
Use of National Teacher Examination extended
    SECTION 5. Subitem (3) of item (i) of Section 3 of Act 187 of 1979 is amended by striking on line one "1981" and inserting "1982". The subitem when amended shall read:
    "(3) From the effective date of this act until July 1, 1982, or as soon as the teaching examinations are prepared and validated, use the Common Examinations of the National Teacher Examination for certification in those areas in which area teaching examinations of the National Teacher Examinations are not available. The qualifying score on the common examinations shall be set at the same level at which it is now set. The qualifying score may be adjusted if new legal requirements or validity studies indicate such adjustments are necessary."
Time effective
    SECTION 6. This act shall take effect upon approval by the Governor.