This bill creates new statutory provisions for teacher residency and teacher apprenticeship programs and amends multiple existing education statutes. It adds definitions and minimum requirements for a teacher residency program in chapter 28A.410 RCW (including a formal partnership between a district or state-tribal education compact school and a board‑approved teacher preparation program; cohort grouping; preservice mentors who co-teach; at least 900 hours of preservice clinical practice for undergraduate residents and 450 hours for graduate residents; funding for residents; and stipends for preservice mentors). It creates a statutory definition of a teacher apprenticeship program (added to chapter 28A.410 RCW and a new section in chapter 49.04 RCW) that must be approved by both the Washington apprenticeship and training council and the Washington professional educator standards board (PESB) and that provides 2,000 hours of on‑the‑job mentored teaching using a gradual release method. The bill amends RCW 28B.102.110 to establish an alternative route and teacher residency conditional scholarship program, with eligibility tied to enrollment in an alternative route certification or teacher residency program and intent to pursue an initial certificate with an endorsement in a shortage area, and limits scholarships to up to two academic years. It directs the PESB to prepare to rename the “residency certificate” to “initial certificate” and the “professional certificate” to “continuing certificate,” effective July 1, 2026, and amends provisions relating to First Peoples’ language and culture teacher certification and to basic skills assessment reporting for admission to approved teacher preparation programs. The bill also makes procedural changes to certification and assessment requirements. It requires the PESB to set performance standards and to develop, pilot, and implement a uniform externally administered continuing‑level certification assessment based on demonstrated teaching skill, and to establish a subject‑knowledge assessment for endorsements that does not include instructional methodology; the extracted text includes deadlines for piloting and a stated requirement that passing the subject knowledge assessment be required for endorsements beginning September 1, 2005. The PESB must provide reasonable accommodations for assessments, may contract with third parties (with applicants paying contracted assessment fees directly), and must adopt rules as necessary. The bill further requires program transparency (publication of program completion requirements prior to admission), strengthens principal preparation expectations (candidates for initial principal certificates must demonstrate evaluation knowledge and practice), and directs PESB to revise approval standards and accept proposals from community college and non‑higher‑education providers with specified prior deadlines. Sections 6 through 16 are stated to take effect July 1, 2026. These changes are statutory policy and procedural reforms to educator preparation, approval, assessment, and certification; they do not create a new criminal offense or change criminal penalties in the extracted text. Important details are missing from the provided extracts: several subsections begin or end mid‑sentence, multiple listed RCW amendments and sections referenced in the bill header are not included here, and the extract does not contain full implementation details, funding sources, or other rulemaking or penalty provisions beyond what is shown.

If enacted, school districts, state-tribal compact schools, and approved teacher preparation programs will need to run structured year-long residency cohorts or 2,000-hour teacher apprenticeships that include paid residents and paid mentor stipends, and ensure residents reach minimum clinical hours before taking lead classroom responsibility. That will create new, ongoing personnel and stipend costs for districts and partner programs, add administrative workload for the Washington professional educator standards board and the apprenticeship and training council to approve and oversee programs, and give eligible candidates access to up-to-two-year conditional scholarships that can lower their out-of-pocket training costs. The bill also shifts certain certification labels and assessment duties to PESB—requiring new subject and continuing-level assessments to be developed and published—and tightens what candidates must know and what programs must publish before admission, which raises compliance and reporting duties for educator preparation programs. Important implementation details are missing here, including where the required resident and mentor funding will come from, exact rulemaking or timelines for many procedures, and some assessment and certification specifics, so the practical cost and administrative burden on districts and programs cannot be precisely determined from the provided text.