§ 6-17-310 - Office for the Purpose of Teacher Recruitment. - Arkansas Statutes

6-17-310. Office for the Purpose of Teacher Recruitment.

(a) (1) There is established within the Department of Education the Office for the Purpose of Teacher Recruitment for ensuring that the children of our state are taught by highly qualified professionals.

(2) The office may serve as an interagency center focused on teacher recruitment.

(b) The office may have the following duties to:

(1) Develop, disseminate, and distribute written materials and video productions on the importance of teaching as a profession, emphasizing the critical need for teachers in certain geographical areas of the state and the availability of financial scholarships to college students in exchange for service as a licensed teacher in the geographical critical-need area as identified by the Department of Education to assist the Department of Higher Education;

(2) Encourage teachers' aides and paraprofessionals in the public schools to pursue a college education that will enable them to become licensed teachers and to inform all assistant teachers of the availability of financial scholarships to both full-time and part-time college students under the Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship Program;

(3) Actively recruit, both within the state and out of state, teachers to render service to the state as licensed teachers in a geographical area of the state or subject-matter area where there exists a critical shortage of teachers, as designated by the State Board of Education;

(4) Actively recruit, both within the state and out of state, nonpracticing licensed teachers to return to the teaching profession to render service as licensed teachers in a public school district in a geographical area of the state and a subject-matter area where there is a critical shortage of teachers as designated by the state board;

(5) Recruit retired teachers who are willing to teach either full time or part time in public school programs;

(6) Notify teachers of the availability of incentives, including, but not limited to, forgivable loans and scholarships for persons who render service to the state as licensed teachers in a geographical area of the state where there exists a critical shortage of teachers in a subject-matter area, as designated by the state board; and

(7) Develop a statewide database for tracking Arkansas's educator workforce to give the state the ability it currently lacks in tracking Arkansas's ongoing process toward increasing the number of well-prepared and highly-skilled teachers in high-poverty and high-priority schools or districts.

(c) The office may also provide leadership for the following initiatives to:

(1) Initiate and monitor high school programs for teacher recruitment;

(2) Initiate and monitor college-level programs for teacher recruitment;

(3) (A) Facilitate articulation agreements between two-year colleges and four-year higher education institutions to capitalize on the associates of arts candidates of two-year campuses for the purpose of recruiting candidates from underrepresented minorities.

(B) The Department of Higher Education may assist the office with the measure implemented under subdivision (c)(3)(A) of this section;

(4) Develop a plan to provide financial rewards to colleges and universities that prepare teachers and administrators from underrepresented minorities as well as teachers and administrators who teach in geographical areas of the state with a shortage of teachers, subject-matter areas with a shortage of teachers, or both;

(5) Provide additional scholarships for any targeted populations or geographical areas of the state needing potential teachers;

(6) Provide assistance to local school districts in identifying and locating specific teacher needs;

(7) Provide leadership and assistance to schools for developing Teachers of Tomorrow programs and future teacher clubs;

(8) Coordinate an annual teacher-recruitment conference;

(9) Promote Grow Your Own Teacher projects;

(10) Coordinate teacher recruitment activities with the Department of Higher Education;

(11) Develop programs to provide incentives to high-priority schools or districts to encourage changes in teaching and learning environments, to help prevent high-quality teachers from leaving for other schools, and to create the instructional environments that give all students the opportunity to achieve high academic standards;

(12) Develop programs to promote innovative partnerships between schools and health and social service agencies to ensure that students' noneducational needs are addressed through appropriate and effective mechanisms that do not become barriers to teaching and learning; and

(13) Develop programs to promote partnerships between teachers and education programs and grades prekindergarten through twelve (preK-12) school districts with emphasis on partnerships that prepare teachers and administrators to work in high-priority schools or districts.

(d) The Department of Education may develop a supplemental funding program to be known as the "High-Priority Teacher Recruitment Program" that:

(1) Provides financial rewards to colleges and universities that prepare teachers and administrators from underrepresented minorities, teachers and administrators who teach in high-priority schools or school districts, or both;

(2) Provides incentives to high-priority schools or districts to encourage changes in teaching and learning environments, to help prevent high-quality teachers from leaving for other schools, and to create the instructional environments that give all students the opportunity to achieve high academic standards;

(3) Funds innovative partnerships between schools and health and social service agencies to ensure that students' noneducational needs are addressed through appropriate and effective mechanisms that do not become barriers to teaching and learning; and

(4) Funds partnerships between teacher education programs and grades prekindergarten through twelve (preK-12) school districts with emphasis on partnerships that prepare teachers and administrators to work in high-priority schools or districts.

(e) For purposes of this section, a "high-priority school or district" means a school or school district with:

(1) Seventy-five percent (75%) or more of its students scoring below-proficient on fourth grade or eighth grade benchmark exams in the two (2) immediately preceding school years; or

(2) Unacceptably wide achievement gaps as determined by the Department of Education in conjunction with the Commission on Closing the Achievement Gap in Arkansas.