MA Educator Licensure Regulations Update Including June 2017

MA Educator Licensure Regulations Update Including June 2017 revision

Influences on Educator Licensing • • Regulatory Changes June 2017 RETELL (SEI) Educator Evaluation Framework New Professional Standards for Teachers • New Standards for Administrative Leadership • New Performance Assessments CAP, PAL

Stages of MA Teaching Licenses Optional License Stage Required License Stages Provisional Temporary (Preliminary) Initial Professional

Educator Testing • In place since 1998 • Contract awarded 2016 -2021 Pearson Evaluation Systems Group • Web site: www. mtel. nesinc. com - Practice tests - Info booklets - Registration information - Scores - SEI “test out” option

Stages of Teaching Licensure Provisional (formerly Preliminary) • Possess a bachelors degree • Pass all required sections of MTEL • Communication & Literacy Skills • Appropriate subject test(s) • For some fields targeted seminars/courses • Valid for “five years of employment” – NO renewal

Stages of Teaching Licensure Initial • Bachelors degree • Approved Program including Practicum and CAP (Candidate Assessment of Performance) • Pass all required sections of MTEL • Valid for “five years of employment” • SEI endorsement for core academic teachers as of July 1, 2014

Administrator Licensure Initial Communication and Literacy Skills MTEL Completed one of the following pathways • A state-approved educator preparation program • An apprenticeship • Panel Review

Administrator Licensure And…. Principal and Supervisor/Director: Sheltered English Immersion Endorsement (SEI) for Administrators As of September 1, 2014, candidates seeking Principal/Assistant Principal at the initial level must complete PAL

Approved Programs List

More Stages of Teaching Licensure Professional • initial license in the same field • one-year induction program with a mentor • at least three full years of employment under the initial license • 50 hours of mentoring beyond the induction year And….

Stages of Teaching Licensure Professional Stage Options Completion of one of the following: An approved professional stage licensure program (usually embedded in a masters degree) or

Stages of Teaching Licensure Professional Stage Options for those that possess a Masters Degree…. 12 credits of graduate level courses in the subject matter knowledge or pedagogy based on the subject matter knowledge of the Professional license sought (may have been earned prior to application for the license)

Stages of Teaching Licensure Professional Stage Options Programs leading to eligibility for master teacher status i. e. NBPTS

Competency Review Retitled to: Structured Guidance & Supports (SG&S) Mechanism for determining whether a candidate has met the subject matter knowledge requirements for a license for which there is no subject matter knowledge test Public comment period closed 4/1/18

Endorsements SEI Teacher SEI Administrator Transitional Bilingual Learning Transition Specialist Autism Academically Advanced

ESE Performance Assessments

CAP = Candidate Assessment of Performance • • • Replaced PPA Program Approval Requirement Aligned with MA Educator Evaluation Tool Locally Evaluated Stronger role for supervising teachers, a. k. a. “practitioners” Full implemented Fall 2016

PAL = Performance Assessment for Leaders • • • Licensing Requirement Vendor: Pearson (NES) 4 Tasks Externally Evaluated Currently required for Principal licenses only

Now, a word about license renewal….

Listen up sonny… License renewal through the MA ESE’s Recertification process only applies to Professional Stage licenses

New License Renewal Requirements 150 PDPs including: At least 15 PDPs related to SEI or English as a Second Language. At least 15 PDPs related to training in strategies for effective schooling for students with disabilities and instruction of students with diverse learning styles. At least 15 PDPs in the content area of the license. At least 15 PDPs in pedagogy.

New License Renewal Requirements The remaining required 90 PDPs may be earned through either “elective” activities that address other educational issues and topics that improve student learning, or additional content, and/or pedagogy.

SEI License Restriction Language CATs who were assigned an ELL at any point during their districts' cohort years (prior to 7/1/16) and failed to earn an SEI Endorsement by the time designated for their cohort, will not be eligible to renew, advance, or extend their educator license until they earn an SEI Endorsement

And… The same is true of principals/assistant principals and supervisors/directors who evaluate or supervise these incumbent core academic teachers of ELLs

Required PDPs Professional development activities should be identified by the educator and supervisor during the development of, and review of, the Individual Professional Development Plan in order to better support student achievement.

Now that you have all that down Here come the regulatory changes…

The biggies: Moved lots of stuff out of regs and into guidelines…. Regs much easier to change and keep current with fluid education landscape MA Ed Lic. Regs

Flashback…. The Preliminary license is retitled Provisional IT license moved back to Specialist Category

And then there’s grade level changes: Elimination of middle school option: biology, chemistry, earth/space science and physics Teaching 5 -12 combo: English, history PRN level collapse (Pre. K-8 and 5 -12)

Changes in Validity period Provisional (formerly Preliminary) Valid for 5 years of employment in total Temporary license validity period extended to full school year

New Licenses and Titles Digital Literacy/Computer Science Social Science good riddance political science/ political philosophy! Earth AND Space Science

Revised License Titles Early Childhood: Teacher of Students With and Without Disabilities School Guidance Counselor Academically Advanced (now an endorsement)

License Renewal Changes Expand targeted PDPs to include: PD related to SEI or ESL instructional strategies for students with disabilities and diverse learning styles decrease in the minimum PDPs required in the content category IPDP = Educator Plan w/exceptions

Questions…. Thoughts? Mary Ann Mc. Kinnon, College of Education mmckinnon@bridgew. edu