Article 1. General Provisions of California Education Code >> Division 3. >> Title 2. >> Part 25. >> Chapter 2. >> Article 1.
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Teacher
Credentialing Law of 1988" or "The Bergeson Act."
It is the intent of the Legislature that the Commission for
Teacher Preparation and Licensing shall exercise authority over all
services provided to pupils in grade 12 or below. It is not the
intent of the Legislature to authorize the commission to issue
credentials authorizing service in grades 13 and 14, or in any
institution of higher education.
In this chapter the following terms shall be defined as
specified in this section:
(a) "Professional teacher certification requirements" means a
policy of requiring each beginning teacher to complete a program of
planned support and systematic assessment, as determined by the
commission, as a condition for earning a professional teaching
credential.
(b) "Beginning teacher support" means a combination of assistance,
guidance, encouragement, and diagnostic assessment that helps the
holders of preliminary teaching credentials to fulfill their
professional responsibilities effectively during the first year or
two years of classroom teaching, and that satisfies standards of
support adopted by the commission.
(c) "Beginning teacher assessment" means a process that has been
adopted or approved by the commission for measuring the performances
of the holders of preliminary teaching credentials in order to help
them improve, and to determine whether their performances satisfy the
commission's standards of performance for earning the professional
teaching credential.
(d) "Authorization" means the designation that appears on a
credential, certificate, or permit that identifies the subjects and
circumstances in which the holder of the credential, certificate, or
permit may teach, or the services which the holder may render in the
public schools of this state.
(e) "Basic teaching credential" means either of the following:
(1) A credential that authorizes the holder to teach the subjects
named on the credential, and for which possession of a baccalaureate
degree from a regionally accredited institution and completion of a
professional preparation program that includes student teaching are
minimum requirements.
(2) A clear designated subjects teaching credential that
authorizes the holder to teach the subjects named on the credential
on a full-time basis if the holder also possesses a baccalaureate
degree from a regionally accredited institution and has passed the
state basic skills proficiency test.
A basic teaching credential meets the prerequisite teaching
credential requirement for any other teaching, specialist, or service
credential the commission is authorized to issue.