Section 44580.

It is the intent of the Legislature to encourage California's institutions of higher education, whether public or private, to enter into cooperative arrangements with local school districts for the provision of training programs designed to improve elementary teachers' instructional skills. The Legislature recognizes that the usual teacher preparation required by law and provided by most teacher-training institutions—while meeting high quality standards—may not provide desirable exposure to the range of new and innovative teaching techniques being developed and tested by and in cooperation with major universities throughout the United States; nor does the usual preparation provide, even with practice teaching, on-the-job experience under the guidance of resource and consulting personnel involved in development of new techniques or of so-called master teachers chosen for their exceptional ability and supplementary research in the field.

The Legislature, therefore, intends, in enacting this article, to facilitate the process whereby institutions of higher education, research centers, or regional educational laboratories may provide resource personnel and special courses under contracts or other cooperative arrangements with local school districts.

(Enacted by Stats. 1976, Ch. 1010.)