(1) The recruiting Washington teachers program is established to recruit and provide training and support for high school students to enter the teaching profession, especially in teacher shortage areas and among underrepresented groups and multilingual, multicultural students. The program shall be administered by the professional educator standards board.

     (2) The program shall consist of the following components:

     (a) Targeted recruitment of diverse students, including but not limited to students from underrepresented groups and multilingual, multicultural students in grades nine through twelve through outreach and communication strategies. The focus of recruitment efforts shall be on encouraging students to consider and explore becoming future teachers in mathematics, science, bilingual education, special education, and English as a second language. Program enrollment is not limited to students from underrepresented groups or multilingual, multicultural students;

     (b) A curriculum that provides future teachers with opportunities to observe classroom instruction at all grade levels; includes preteaching internships at all grade levels with a focus on shortage areas; and covers such topics as lesson planning, learning styles, student learning data and information, the achievement gap, cultural competency, and education policy;

     (c) Academic and community support services for students to help them overcome possible barriers to becoming future teachers, such as supplemental tutoring; advising on college readiness, applications, and financial aid processes; and mentoring; and

     (d) Future teacher camps held on college campuses where students can attend workshops and interact with college faculty and current teachers.

     (3) As part of its administration of the program, the professional educator standards board shall:

     (a) Develop the curriculum and program guidelines in consultation with an advisory group of teachers, representatives of teacher preparation programs, teacher candidates, students, and representatives of diverse communities;

     (b) Subject to funds appropriated for this purpose, allocate grant funds through a competitive process to partnerships of high schools, teacher preparation programs, and community-based organizations to design and deliver programs that include the components under subsection (2) of this section; and

     (c) Conduct an evaluation of the effectiveness of current strategies and programs for recruiting teachers, especially multilingual, multicultural teachers, in Washington and in other states. The board shall use the findings from the evaluation to revise the recruiting Washington teachers program as necessary and make other recommendations to teacher preparation programs or the legislature.

[2007 c 402 § 10.]

NOTES:

     Captions not law -- 2007 c 402: See note following RCW 28A.415.340.