New Basic Skills and Subject Matter Requirement Options!

New Basic Skills and Subject Matter Requirement Options!

On July 9, 2021, Governor Newsom signed the TK-12 Education Trailer Bill (AB 130) creating new options for aspiring teachers to demonstrate they have the subject matter and basic skills knowledge necessary to begin a teacher preparation program.  It is important to note that the Basic Skills Requirement and Subject Matter Requirements remain necessary for issuance of a California Credential.  This legislation provides expanded choices to teacher candidates to include relevant Collegiate-level coursework to be used to meet the Basic Skills and Subject Matter requirements.  This coursework would be used in lieu of or combination with the California Basic Education Skills (CBEST) and the CA Subject Examination for Teachers (CSET).

 

Basic Skills Requirements:

  • All teacher credentialing candidates must meet the Basic Skills Requirement prior to beginning a teacher preparation program.
  • The new Basic Skills flexibility creates the option for aspiring teachers to meet this requirement by completing full-credit, college-level coursework with a letter grade of B or higher in the subject areas of reading (including courses in critical thinking, literature, philosophy, reading, rhetoric, or textual analysis), writing (including courses in composition, English, rhetoric, written communications, or writing), and mathematics (including courses in geometry, mathematics, quantitative reasoning, or statistics).
  • Individuals may also seek approval from a California teacher preparation program to mix-and match from among all the options permitted under current law, including the CBEST subtests.

 

Subject Matter Requirements:

  • The approved measure expands the options available to aspiring teachers by allowing the approved preparation program to accept subject-relevant coursework that meets or exceeds the Commission’s subject matter requirements.

 

For detailed information, please see the official CTC release for details. https://www.ctc.ca.gov/docs/default-source/commission/coded/2021/coded-21-05.pdf?sfvrsn=ac402ab1_2