Proposed certification changes

Information every local leader should know

CEAPolicy & Prof. PracticeAll Presidents Meeting

March 8, 2010

SDE proposing major certification changes in 3 areas

Special education – major change in requirements forinitial certification

Teacher leader – new certificate SDE would require

Literacy – combines current reading teacher & reading consultant certificates

~ All changes would become effective July 1, 2014 ~

Proposed special education teacher & intervention specialist certificate

Eliminates initial certification through bachelor’s level program

Requires master’s degree for initial certification

Requires prior certificate or passing Praxis II in any content area

Requires minimum 75 hours of CEUs in areas specified by SDEto advance to professional certificate

only teaching certificate that would have these requirements

Impact on teachers & students

Unclear if all special educators would be grandfathered

Cost for teachers to meet requirements for initial certificateincreases by thousands of dollars

Districts would be forced to hire at master’s level – financiallyhard for many districts, so would limit number of special educators hired

Broad range of responsibilities allowed under one certificate toomany for any teacher to handle, & still service students well

Districts might focus assignment of special educators to deal mostlywith tasks other than direct service to students; e.g., training paras, diagnostics, facilitating PPTs, etc

Will take longer to prepare special educators - initially may creategreater shortage of special ed teachers

Preparation program too broad for 30 credits – results in underpreparedteachers

Special educators from out of state not certifiable unless they havemaster’s in special ed – further decreases number of special educators in CT

Requiring master’s for initial certificate eliminates teacher’s ability toearn master’s degree (for professional certificate) in area of choice

Impact on teachers & students

CEA proposals for Special Education certificate

Based on focus groups, survey, & work with special educators, CEA proposed the following regarding special education certification:

2 levels of special education certification

Teaching - level 1; preparation to work with students withmild to moderate disabilities

Specialist – level 2; preparation to work with students withsevere disabilities, and for other responsibilities

Must hold teaching certificate before advancing to specialist certificate

Proposed teacher leader certificate

Required for teacher working more than 40% of time in position such as: teacher leader team leader content coach curriculum specialist any other similar title

Requires master’s degree and 12 graduate credits & field experiences in specific areas

SDE pushing certificate based on erroneous assertion thatthere are national standards for TLs, and ETS has developedperformance-based assessment for TLs

Impact on teachers & students

Teachers currently working in such positions would notbe grandfathered – would have to earn certificate

Cost to teachers for additional coursework

District training provided to teacher leaders only ‘counts’ toward certification if district designs, and has approved, 180-hour program

Prescribed coursework might not match needs for position inyour district

Certification changes expected to be in place for 15+ years

Proposed literacy specialist certificate

Combines 2 current remedial reading & reading consultants into 1 certificate – “administrators don’t understand differencebetween them, & use educators interchangeably”

For initial certificate - requires master’s degree/30 graduate credits; study in curriculum development, children’s literature, adolescent literature

For professional certificate – requires 12 credits beyond those forinitial certificate

All teachers currently working as literacy coaches, coordinators,lead teachers, etc. would have to have certificate – no grandfathering

Teachers who now provide early intervention services to studentsoutside regular classroom would have to hold certificate

Cost to earn initial certificate increases – more credits required

Cost to earn professional certificate – 12 additional credits

Wider range of responsibilities under one certificate – currentlyunder two certificates

Preparation program too broad for 30 credits – results in underprepared teachers

Impact on teachers and students

CEA proposals for Literacy Specialist certificate

2 levels of literacy certification Literacy teacher – focus on working with students and their

teachers (one-on-one or small group)

Literacy specialist – focus on training paras, tutors, coaches,etc.; program development & coordination; full diagnosis & intervention/remediation planning

Must have experience as literacy teacher before specialist

Separate preparation & responsibilities allows greater depth ofknowledge & skill…..more effective services to students

Get involved in CEA campaign to change certification!

Read more details about certification proposals on CEA web site – encouragemembers to do same : http://www.cea.org/profdev/cert/index.cfm

Participate in public hearings on certification regulations: Monday, April 5 – CREC (Hartford) Tuesday, April 6 – CES (Trumbull) Monday, April 12 – EASTCONN (Willimantic) Thursday, April 29 – ACES (Hamden)

Work with Uni Serv rep to organize teachers …… attend hearings; use CEA resources to write testimony for CEA to send to State Board & SDE

Let CEA know what needs clarification