Bills · 2023-2024 Regular Session
Relating to: requirements for an initial license to teach grades kindergarten to five.
Kindergarten Literacy Public instruction department of Teacher — Certificate
- Introduced, stopped here
- Passes Assembly, not reached
- Passes Senate, not reached
- Governor signs, not reached
- Law, not reached
Unfamiliar terms? Glossary
What this bill does
Plain-language analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau
Under current law, an applicant for certain initial teaching licenses, as a
condition for receiving the license, must pass an examination identical to the
Foundations of Reading test, commonly called the FORT, in addition to all other
requirements for licensure by the Department of Public Instruction. The FORT
requirement applies to the following licenses:
1. An initial teaching license that authorizes the holder to teach in grades
kindergarten to five.
2. An initial teaching license that authorizes the holder to teach in special
education.
3. An initial license as a reading teacher.
4. An initial license as a reading specialist.
Current law also provides an exception to the FORT requirement for an
applicant for a special education initial teaching license, under which the applicant
may demonstrate to DPI that the applicant completed a course of study in the
teaching of reading and reading comprehension, rather than passing the FORT. This
bill extends the exception to applicants for an initial license to teach grades
kindergarten to five. Under current law and the bill, a teacher who passes the FORT
exam must notify DPI and DPI must add a notation to the teacher's license indicating
that the teacher passed the FORT.