1.1                          A bill for an act
  1.2             relating to higher education; requiring a study of 
  1.3             teacher persistence. 
  1.4   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.5      Section 1.  [TEACHER PREPARATION AND PERSISTENCE.] 
  1.6      Subdivision 1.  [EVALUATION.] The independent office of 
  1.7   educational accountability under Minnesota Statutes, section 
  1.8   120B.31, must design and implement a data collection effort to 
  1.9   evaluate the persistence of students in teacher preparation and 
  1.10  teacher education programs and in the teaching profession.  Data 
  1.11  collection must be done in cooperation with post-secondary 
  1.12  institutions, Minnesota state colleges and universities, and the 
  1.13  board of teaching.  The University of Minnesota and private 
  1.14  four-year post-secondary institutions are requested to cooperate 
  1.15  and participate in the data collection effort. 
  1.16     Subd. 2.  [DATA COLLECTION.] (a) For all students who 
  1.17  enroll in a post-secondary teacher preparation program, the 
  1.18  following information must be collected annually for each 
  1.19  institution: 
  1.20     (1) the number of students enrolled in a teacher 
  1.21  preparation program; 
  1.22     (2) a comparison of admission measures including the scores 
  1.23  of students in teacher preparation programs and the scores of 
  1.24  the student body on the institution's admission criteria 
  2.1   including class rank, ACT or SAT score, and other measures used 
  2.2   in the admission decision; and 
  2.3      (3) the number of students who complete the teacher 
  2.4   preparation program. 
  2.5      (b) For students who graduate from a teacher preparation 
  2.6   program at a Minnesota institution, data must be collected 
  2.7   annually on the persistence of graduates in the teaching 
  2.8   profession by year of graduation and institution including: 
  2.9      (1) the number of students who become licensed teachers in 
  2.10  Minnesota; and 
  2.11     (2) the number of Minnesota graduate licensed teachers by 
  2.12  length of employment in Minnesota measured from the year of 
  2.13  graduation. 
  2.14     The office must summarize and report the information 
  2.15  gathered through the data collection as part of its regular 
  2.16  reporting cycle.