161.1222 Pilot teacher internship program -- Report to Interim Joint Committee on Education -- Appropriated funds. (1) Whereas, the Education Professional Standards Board is studying the value of modifying the current teacher internship program under KRS 161.030 to provide improved support for beginning teachers, and whereas, the Education Professional Standards Board has received a federal Teacher Quality Enhancement Grant under incentives provided by the 1999 amendments to the Higher Education Act, Pub. L. No. 105-244, to support a pilot program to address this issue and other improvements to teacher preparation, the board is authorized, notwithstanding the requirements of KRS 161.030(5), to conduct a pilot program to study a two (2) year internship program. The pilot program may serve up to eight hundred (800) interns. The program shall be conducted between July 1, 2003, and June 30, 2007. (2) All interns in the pilot program shall be governed by the provisions of KRS 161.030, except requirements specified in subsections (5), (6), (7), and (9) of KRS 161.030 which the board may deem inappropriate to the pilot program and which shall be modified in administrative regulations promulgated by the board. The board shall promulgate administrative regulations that specify: (a) Conditions under which prospective intern candidates shall be chosen for participation; (b) Incentives to encourage participation in the two (2) year pilot program; (c) Responsibilities of the beginning teacher committee; (d) Duties of teacher mentors; (e) Certification options for interns who may leave the pilot program or lose employment during the pilot years or who have not successfully completed the internship within the two (2) year period; (f) Time, content, and assessment requirements during the mentoring and assessment phases of the internship period; and (g) Other provisions necessary to implement the pilot program. (3) The two (2) year internship period shall be counted as experience for teachers for the purpose of continuing contract status, retirement eligibility, and benefits for single salary experience increments. (4) A professional teaching certificate shall not be awarded to a participant in the pilot project until successful completion of the pilot internship program. (5) Participation in the pilot internship program shall not exempt the interns from personnel evaluations to be conducted under KRS 156.557. (6) The board shall collect data, conduct formal evaluations throughout the pilot project, and complete analyses of the data. The board shall provide preliminary findings to the Interim Joint Committee on Education by October 1, 2005, and October 1, 2006, and a final report by October 1, 2007. The reports shall provide data and information relating to the value and costs of a two (2) year internship program, including the benefits of additional mentoring for new teachers, the impact on the retention of new teachers, and the impact on student learning. (7) Notwithstanding KRS 45.229, beginning with the 2003-2004 fiscal year, the board may carry forward general funds appropriated for the internship program into the next fiscal year and each subsequent fiscal year through fiscal year 2006-2007 in an amount necessary to support the interns' second year internship experience and to match the federal funds appropriated under the grant described in subsection (1) of this section. Effective: June 20, 2005 History: Amended 2005 Ky. Acts ch. 111, sec. 4, effective June 20, 2005. -- Created 2003 Ky. Acts ch. 6, sec. 1, effective March 7, 2003.