Lessons from the Hoosier State

Dr. Tony Bennett – May 10, 2011

Transforming Teacher Preparation and Development

Teacher Preparation and LicensingREPA – Rules for Educator Preparation and Accountability

Objectives •Increase teachers’ content knowledge and instructional skill.•Increase student achievement to meet state goals. •Increase administrators’ flexibility to make innovative changes to improve student achievement. •Clean up the bureaucratic red tape that slows down teacher and administrator efforts to relicense and improve instructional quality. •Update regulations and remove redundancies and outdated provisions.

REPA – 2010 Emphasis on Content Knowledge •Secondary teachers (grades 5 through 12) must earn a baccalaureate degree consisting of any applicable content-area major — as well as a minor in education.•Elementary teachers (K through 6) must earn a baccalaureate degree consisting of an education major with a content-area minor OR a content-area major with an education minor.

Focus on Flexibility •Allows current teachers to add content areas more easily by passing Praxis Exam.•Allows current teachers to use in-service credits for license renewal.•Opens door to non-traditional administrators - school boards may hire superintendents outside of the traditional education system.

REPA – 2011New teacher standards•From InTASC to Indiana-specific standards based on Common Core Standards (CCS) and Indiana Academic Standards. •Focus on content and being measurable. •Pedagogy and content are outcomes based.•All teachers trained on scientifically based reading instruction.

School leadership •Standards aligned to evaluations.

Senate Enrolled Act 1 – Impact on REPA Streamlined Process •Professional Standards Board eliminated. •Non-traditional certification programs. •Moving beyond higher-ed.

Meaningful Evaluations •Targeted professional-development directly tied to evaluation results.

Helpful Links

REPA www.doe.in.gov/repa

Senate Bill 1www.in.gov/legislative/session/

Indiana’s Academic Standardswww.doe.in.gov/standards