Article 4.5. California Peer Assistance And Review Program For Teachers of California Education Code >> Division 3. >> Title 2. >> Part 25. >> Chapter 3. >> Article 4.5.

(a) There is hereby established the California Peer Assistance and Review Program for Teachers. The governing board of a school district and the exclusive representative of the certificated employees in the school district may develop and implement a program authorized by this article that meets local conditions and conforms with the principles set forth in subdivision (b).
  (b) The following principles, at a minimum, shall be included in a locally developed program authorized by this article:
  (1) A teacher participant shall be a permanent employee in a school district with 250 or greater units of average daily attendance or a permanent or probationary employee in a school district with fewer than 250 units of average daily attendance and volunteer to participate in the program or be referred for participation in the program as a result of an evaluation performed pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 44664. In addition, teachers receiving assistance may be referred pursuant to a collectively bargained agreement.
  (2) Performance goals for an individual teacher shall be in writing, clearly stated, aligned with pupil learning, and consistent with Section 44662.
  (3) Assistance and review shall include multiple observations of a teacher during periods of classroom instruction.
  (4) The program shall expect and strongly encourage a cooperative relationship between the consulting teacher and the principal with respect to the process of peer assistance and review.
  (5) The school district shall provide sufficient staff development activities to assist a teacher to improve his or her teaching skills and knowledge.
  (6) The program shall have a monitoring component with a written record.
  (7) The final evaluation of a teacher's participation in the program shall be made available for placement in the personnel file of the teacher receiving assistance.

A consulting teacher participating in a program operated pursuant to this article shall meet locally determined criteria and each of the following qualifications:
  (a) The consulting teacher shall be a credentialed classroom teacher with permanent status or, in a school district with an average daily attendance of less than 250 pupils, a credentialed classroom teacher who has completed at least three consecutive school years as an employee of the school district in a position requiring certification qualifications.
  (b) The consulting teacher shall have substantial recent experience in classroom instruction.
  (c) The consulting teacher shall have demonstrated exemplary teaching ability, as indicated by, among other things, effective communication skills, subject matter knowledge, and mastery of a range of teaching strategies necessary to meet the needs of pupils in different contexts.

(a) The governance structure of a program designed pursuant to this article shall include a joint teacher administrator peer review panel that shall select consulting teachers, review peer review reports prepared by consulting teachers, and make recommendations to the governing board of a school district regarding participants in the program, including forwarding to the governing board the names of individuals who, after sustained assistance, are not able to demonstrate satisfactory improvement.
  (b) The majority of the panel shall be composed of certificated classroom teachers chosen to serve on the panel by other certificated classroom teachers. The remainder of the panel shall be composed of school administrators chosen to serve on the panel by the school district.
  (c) The panel's procedures for selecting consulting teachers, at a minimum, shall require the following:
  (1) Consulting teachers shall be selected by the majority vote of the panel.
  (2) The selection process shall include provisions for classroom observation of the candidates for consulting teacher by the panel.
  (d) The panel shall also annually evaluate the impact of the district's peer assistance and review program in order to improve the program. This evaluation may include, but is not limited to, interviews or surveys of the program participants. The panel may submit recommendations for improvement of the program to the governing board of the school district and to the exclusive representative of the certificated employees in the school district, if the certificated employees in the district are represented by an exclusive representative.

(a) The governing board of a school district that accepts state funds for purposes of this article agrees to negotiate the development and implementation of the program with the exclusive representative of the certificated employees in the school district, if the certificated employees in the district are represented by an exclusive representative. In a school district in which the certificated employees are not represented, the school district shall develop a Peer Assistance and Review Program for Teachers consistent with this article in order to be eligible to receive funding under this article.
  (b) Functions performed pursuant to this article by certificated employees employed in a bargaining unit position shall not constitute either management or supervisory functions as defined by subdivisions (g) and (m) of Section 3540.1 of the Government Code.
  (c) Teachers who provide assistance and review shall have the same protection from liability and access to appropriate defense as other public school employees pursuant to Division 3.6 (commencing with Section 810) of Title 1 of the Government Code.
  (d) It is the intent of the Legislature that school districts be allowed to combine, by mutual agreement, their programs of peer assistance and review with those of other school districts.
  (e) Not more than 5 percent of the funds received by a school district for the Peer Assistance and Review Program for Teachers may be expended for administrative expenses. For the purposes of this article, administrative expenses shall include expenditures for the personnel costs of program administration and coordination, the cost of consulting teacher selection, and indirect costs associated with the Peer Assistance and Review Program for Teachers.

(a) Except as provided in Section 44505, the California Peer Assistance and Review Program for Teachers shall become fully operational on July 1, 2001, on which date it shall completely replace the California Mentor Teacher Program established pursuant to Chapter 1302 of the Statutes of 1983 and set forth in Article 4 (commencing with Section 44490). This article is applicable to all school districts that elect to receive state funds for the California Peer Assistance and Review Program for Teachers. Commencing with the 2001-02 fiscal year, funding shall only be made available for purposes authorized by this article. A school district that elects to participate in the program established pursuant to this article shall certify to the Superintendent of Public Instruction by August 1, 2001, that it has implemented a Peer Assistance and Review Program for Teachers pursuant to this article.
  (b) A school district that does not elect to participate in the program authorized under this article by July 1, 2001, is not eligible for any apportionment, allocation, or other funding from an appropriation for the program authorized pursuant to this article or for any apportionments, allocations, or other funding from funding for local assistance appropriated pursuant to Budget Act Item 6110-231-0001, funding appropriated for the Administrator Training and Evaluation Program set forth in Article 3 (commencing with Section 44681) of Chapter 3.1 of Part 25, from an appropriation for the Instructional Time and Staff Development Reform Program as set forth in Article 7.5 (commencing with Section 44579) of Chapter 3, or from an appropriation for school development plans as set forth in Article 1 (commencing with Section 44670.1) of Chapter 3.1 and the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall not apportion, allocate, or otherwise provide any funds to the district pursuant to those programs.
  (c) Commencing February 1, 2002, a school district that elects not to participate in the program authorized under this article shall report annually at a regularly scheduled meeting of the governing board of the school district on the rationale for not participating in the program.

(a) Between July 1, 1999, and June 30, 2000, a school district may notify the Superintendent of Public Instruction that it plans to implement, commencing July 1, 2000, a Peer Assistance and Review Program for Teachers pursuant to this article. Upon receipt of the notification by the school district, the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall apportion to the school district two thousand eight hundred dollars ($2,800) or an amount equal to the number of mentor teachers that the state calculated the school district is entitled to in the 1999-2000 fiscal year pursuant to Article 4 (commencing with Section 44490) multiplied by two thousand eight hundred dollars ($2,800), whichever is greater.
  (b) A school district that notifies the Superintendent of Public Instruction that it plans to implement a Peer Assistance and Review Program for Teachers by July 1, 2000, pursuant to subdivision (a), shall certify to the Superintendent of Public Instruction that it has implemented a program by August 1, 2000. In addition to the certification, the Superintendent of Public Instruction may request a copy of the signature page of the collective bargaining agreement implementing the program required pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 44503. A school district that fails to provide the required certification is not eligible to receive an apportionment for the Peer Assistance and Review Program for Teachers pursuant to subdivision (a) of this section or subdivision (a) of Section 44498 in the 2000-01 school year, or in any year thereafter. The school district, however, may be eligible to receive an apportionment for the Peer Assistance and Review Program for Teachers pursuant to subdivision (c) of this section and subdivision (a) of Section 44498 in the 2000-01 school year, and in each year thereafter, if the school district complies with the requirements set forth in subdivisions (c) and (d).
  (c) Between July 1, 2000, and May 31, 2001, a school district may notify the Superintendent of Public Instruction that it plans to implement, commencing July 1, 2001, a Peer Assistance and Review Program for Teachers pursuant to this article. On or before June 29, 2001, the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall apportion to every school district that provides this notification an amount equal to the number of mentor teachers that the state calculated the school district is entitled to in the 1999-2000 school year pursuant to Article 4 (commencing with Section 44490) times a maximum of one thousand dollars ($1,000). Any school district that provides this notification shall receive at least the amount that would be received pursuant to this section by a school district with one state funded mentor in the 2000-01 school year pursuant to Article 4 (commencing with Section 44490).
  (d) A school district that notifies the Superintendent of Public Instruction that it plans to implement a Peer Assistance and Review Program for Teachers by July 1, 2001, pursuant to subdivision (c), shall certify to the Superintendent of Public Instruction that it has implemented a program by July 1, 2001. In addition to the certification, the Superintendent of Public Instruction may request a copy of the signature page of the collective bargaining agreement implementing the program required pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 44503. A school district that fails to provide the required certification is not eligible for any apportionment for the Peer Assistance and Review Program for Teachers received pursuant to subdivision (c) of this section, and subdivision (a) of Section 44498 in the 2001-02 school year, or in any year thereafter.
  (e) The funding provided pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (c) of this section and subdivision (a) of Section 44498 shall be provided to eligible school districts in each year that the school operates a Peer Assistance and Review Program for Teachers.
  (f) The maximum amount of funds available for apportionment to school districts by the Superintendent of Public Instruction for allocation pursuant to subdivision (c) shall be the amount appropriated pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 6 of the act adding this section, minus any funds apportioned by the Superintendent of Public Instruction to school districts pursuant to subdivision (a) as of June 30, 2000.
  (g) A school district may use funds apportioned pursuant to this section for activities necessary to implement the Peer Assistance and Review Program for Teachers.

(a) The state funding for this article subsequent to the 1999-2000 fiscal year is subject to an appropriation in the annual Budget Act.
  (b) A school district that receives funds for purposes of this article also may expend those funds for any of the following purposes:
  (1) The Marian Bergeson Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment System as set forth in Article 4.5 (commencing with Section 44279.1) of Chapter 2.
  (2) A district intern program as set forth in Article 7.5 (commencing with Section 44325) of Chapter 2.
  (3) Professional development or other educational activities previously provided pursuant to Article 4 (commencing with Section 44490) of Chapter 3, as it read prior to January 1, 2002.
  (4) A program that supports the training and development of new teachers.
  (c) (1) The Superintendent shall determine a base funding unit rate for the California Peer Assistance and Review Program for Teachers that is equal to the total amount provided for the California Mentor Teacher Program in subdivision (b) of Section 6 of Chapter 4 of the Statutes of 1999 for the First Extraordinary Session, divided by the total number of mentor teachers that the state calculated the school district is entitled to in the 1999-2000 fiscal year.
  (2) The Superintendent annually shall apportion to each school district that certified implementation of the Peer Assistance and Review Program for Teachers pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 44505, an amount equal to 5 percent of the prior year count of certificated classroom teachers employed by the school district, multiplied by a rate that equals the sum of (i) the base amount per funding unit as calculated in paragraph (1) of subdivision (c), adjusted annually pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 42238.1, and (ii) two thousand eight hundred dollars ($2,800); adjusted annually pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 42238.1.
  (3) The Superintendent annually shall apportion to each school district that certified implementation of a Peer Assistance and Review Program for Teachers pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section 44505, an amount equal to 5 percent of the prior year count of certificated classroom teachers employed by the school district, multiplied by a rate which equals the sum of (i) the base amount per funding unit as calculated in paragraph (1) of subdivision (c), adjusted annually pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 42238.1, and (ii) the per mentor teacher unit amount provided to the district pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 44505, adjusted annually pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 42238.1.
  (4) In paragraphs (2) and (3), 5 percent of the certificated classroom teachers employed by the district shall be rounded to the next whole integer.
  (5) If at the end of a fiscal year, an amount of funds available for purposes of the Peer Assistance and Review Program remain unallocated, the Superintendent shall use the unallocated amount to increase the base funding rate calculated under paragraph (1) for the succeeding fiscal year.

Subject to the availability of funding in the annual Budget Act, the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall contract with an independent evaluator on or before December 15, 2002, to prepare a comprehensive evaluation of the implementation, impact, cost, and benefit of the California Peer Assistance and Review Program for Teachers. The evaluation shall be delivered to the Legislature, the Governor, and interested parties on or before January 1, 2004. As a condition of receiving funding, school districts implementing programs pursuant to this article shall provide data, as requested by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, to provide baseline information for the evaluation.

For purposes of this article, "school district" includes a county office of education.