PA Teacher Certification Update: HOUSSE & Bridge for Equitable Teacher Distribution

1. Edward G. Rendell Gerald L. Zahorchak, D. Ed. Governor Secretary

2. Teacher Certification Update, HOUSSE & Bridge & Equitable Teacher Distribution http://www.pde.state.pa.us Linda J. Benedetto, Chief, Division of Teacher Quality, Bureau of School Leadership and Teacher Quality

3. Participants will learn… • About PA’s new certification requirements; • About new grade level configurations;

4. Participants will learn… • When new certifications will be issued to teachers and administrators; • About HOUSSE & Bridge: other avenues for teachers to become highly qualified;

5. Participants will learn… • About school district responsibilities for the HOUSSE rubric and Individual Professional Development Plans; and • About equitable teacher distribution: purpose, components, why it is important.

6. PK-4 4-8 Special Education PK-8 Special Education 7-12 New Teacher Certificates & New Grade Levels

7. The Architecture: Standards-Aligned System

8. New Program Requirements Beginning in January 2011 all Instructional and Educational Specialist preparation programs must include: • Special Education 9 credits or 270 hours • English Language Learner 3 credits or 90 hours

9. New Teacher Certificates Issued… On or after January 1, 2013 must: • Complete requirements for any of the new certification programs; • Include Special Education and ELL requirements; and

10. PK-8 PK-4 4-8 Reading Specialist 7-12 Secondary content area Reading Specialist Dual Certification Now Required for Special Education

11. New Certificates Will Require… COLLABORATION • Arts & Sciences • Early Childhood • Elementary • Special Education • PreK-12 Teachers and Administrators Across all departments Possibly co-teaching

12. A Brief Look at the Program Guidelines NEW

13. Program Guidelines • Model curriculum presented • Several different models were recommended by each workgroup • Richer content focus • Obtained feedback via regional meetings

14. Elementary/Middle Level Professional Core • Developed to address the broad set of issues and knowledge applicable to middle level teaching and learning • Middle level cognitive development • Early adolescent development & learning theory • Assessment • Middle level instructional methodology • Special Education & ELL requirements

15. 4-8 Current-Option 1Single Area Concentration

16. 4-8 Current-Option 1Single Area Concentration

17. 4-8 Current-Option 1Single Area Concentration • Appendix A in the 4-8 Program Specific Guidelines present single area concentration for English/Language Arts; Science; and Social Studies. • See Tables A1-2, A1-3 and A1-4 on pages 36-37 of the 4-8 Program Guidelines at http://www.teaching.state.pa.us/teaching/lib/teaching/Grades4-8ProgramGuidelines.pdf

18. 4-8 Current-Option 2Two Areas of Concentration

19. 4-8 Current-Option 2Two Areas of Concentration

20. 4-8 Current-Option 2Two Areas of Concentration • Appendix A in the 4-8 Program Specific Guidelines present two areas of concentration for Math & English/Language Arts & Reading; Math & Social Studies; Science & English/Language Arts & Reading; Science and Social Studies. • See Tables A2-2, A2-3 and A2-4 on pages 38-39 of the 4-8 Program Guidelines at http://www.teaching.state.pa.us/teaching/lib/teaching/Grades4-8ProgramGuidelines.pdf

21. To Be Included in ALL Program Guidelines… • Definitions of the assessment types to ensure that all new teachers know what they are and when to use them: • Authentic • Screening • Diagnostic • Formative • Benchmark • Summative

22. Included in ALL Program Guidelines… Field Experiences must be • EARLY • OFTEN • STRUCTURED • Observe • Assist • Teach • Student Teach Observe Assist Teach Student teach

23. Included in ALL Program Guidelines… • Cognitive student development applicable to each grade level

24. PA’s Highly Qualified Teacher Requirements

25. PA’s Highly Qualified Teacher Requirements • Derived from provisions in No Child Left Behind • All public school teachers with primary responsibility for direct instruction in one or more of the following core academic subjects: English Geography Reading/ Civics & Government Language Arts Economics Mathematics History Science Arts Foreign Language

26. In Pennsylvania, who is HQT? • ALL Elementary Certified Teachers who received Instructional certification and who currently teach ELEMENTARY students (see Note for State HOUSSE plan that enables EL ED teachers certified PRIOR to 1988 to be HQT)

27. In Pennsylvania, who is HQT? • ALL Middle & Secondary Core Content Teachers who currently teach IN THEIR CORE ACADEMIC SUBJECT and instruct students in GRADES 7-12

28. ALL ESL teachers who hold an Instructional I in the CORE ACADEMIC SUBJECT they are instructing and who teach ESL populations ALL ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION teachers who hold an Instructional I in the CORE ACADEMIC SUBJECT they are instructing and who teach ALT ED populations In Pennsylvania, who is HQT?

29. In Pennsylvania, who is HQT? • ALL Special Education Certified Teachers who are teaching ELEMENTARY LEVEL Special Education Students or students taking an Alternative Assessment and who took and passed the Praxis: Fundamental Subjects or its predecessor (thus proving ‘subject matter competency’)

30. How Do PA Teachers Become HQT? To satisfy the definition of a highly qualified teacher, public school teachers must: • Hold at least a bachelor’s degree; • Hold a valid Pennsylvania teaching certificate (i.e., Instructional I, Instructional II or Intern certificate but not an emergency permit); and • Demonstrate subject matter competency for the core academic subjects they teach.

31. What If a Teacher is Not HQT? There are three basic ways for teachers to demonstrate subject matter competency: • Pass the Praxis! (ALL teachers) • Complete a graduate degree or subject area major (Middle and Secondary teachers) • National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Certification (NOT New to the Profession, 3 years + experience)

32. The Tricky Part: Demonstration of Subject Matter Competency “Demonstrate subject matter competency for the core academic subjects they teach.” In PA, subject area competency is traditionally demonstrated through the successful completion of the appropriate Praxis exams. Thus, the FASTEST way to achieve HQT status is to TAKE THE TEST!

33. What is HOUSSE? • Highly Objective Uniform State Standard of Evaluation • It enabled experienced teachers who taught multiple core content and • Who did NOT have the appropriate Instructional Certificate in the CORE ACADEMIC SUBJECT to accumulate 100 points on the HOUSSE Rubric to earn an HQT Designation HOUSSE IS NOT A PROGRAM TO EARN CERTIFICATION, RATHER IT IS AN HQT DESIGNATION. Teachers teaching multiple core content: Special Education ESL Alternative Education

34. HOUSSE - Flexibility Under IDEA New (first-year) special education teachers • who teach multiple core academic subjects in middle or secondary settings and who have a content certificate; • have passed a content test, or hold a degree in math, science, or language arts; • have up to two years from their date of hire to demonstrate content expertise in the remaining core academic subject(s) they teach. These teachers may use PA’s HQT HOUSSE to accrue 100 points in each remaining core academic subject or may pass relevant core academic subject exam(s).

35. What if teachers were not highly qualified by June 30, 2007? Any teacher who did not accumulate 100 points on the HOUSSE rubric must develop, in consultation with his/her school district, an Individualized Professional Development Plan (IPDP) to attain highly qualified teacher status by December 31, 2008.

36. HQT Individualized Professional Development Plan… The teacher and the district must create the HQT Individualized Professional Development Plan (IPDP) before June 30, 2007. The teacher must complete the HQT Individualized Professional Development Plan (IPDP) on or before December 31, 2008.

37. District responsibilities for HOUSSE or IPDPs… • Validate accuracy of teacher’s HOUSSE Rubric, certificate status, transcripts of academic courses for content, professional development experiences; • Meet regularly with teachers to monitor and discuss their progress on completing their IPDP and thus earning 100 points on the HOUSSE rubric; • Maintain a copy of each teacher’s signed HOUSSE Rubric and IPDP;

38. District responsibilities for HOUSSE or IPDPs… • Maintain notes relating to meetings held to discuss progress on IPDP; • Sign HOUSSE Rubric after IPDP is completed; • Submit individual teacher records via the PA Department of Education’s of website www.teaching.state.pa.us for educators to attain HQT designation.

39. HQT and IPDP… Teachers who are neither highly qualified nor engaged in an Individual Professional Development Plan should not be assigned as the teacher of record for a core content subject area.

40. BRIDGE: Phase I and II… • PA’s Bridge certificate is a HOUSSE process developed to assist teachers to become highly qualified. • PA’s Bridge closed July, 2006. • Unless teachers are ALREADY on the Bridge, they may not use the PA Bridge to become highly qualified. • Once on the bridge, a teacher must make progress by earning 30 points from the date of entering the Bridge program. • Teachers have 3 years from the date they entered the Bridge program to complete it and achieve an Instructional I certification.

41. Equitable Teacher Distribution Requirements and Expectations

42. What is an equitable distribution plan… 2 provisions of ESEA help us understand the purpose of and responsibilities associated with an equitable distribution plan: • Section 1111(b)(8)(C) of the ESEA (pertains to State Education Agencies) • Section 1112(c)(1)(L) of the ESEA (pertains to LEAs)

43. Section 1111(b)(8)(C) of ESEA states that… each SEA plan must include “steps that the State educational agency will take to ensure that poor and minority children are not taught at higher rates than other children by inexperienced, unqualified, or out-of-field teachers, and the measures that the State educational agency will use to evaluate and publicly report the progress of the State educational agency with respect to such steps.”

44. Section 1112(c)(1)(L) of the ESEA states that… each LEA plan must include an assurance that the LEA will “ensure, through incentives for voluntary transfers, the provision of professional development, recruitment programs, or other effective strategies, that low-income students and minority students are not taught at higher rates than other students by unqualified, out-of-field, or inexperienced teachers.”

45. Who Must Develop an Equitable Teacher Distribution Plan… • All LEAs must develop an equitable teacher distribution plan Even if they have: • Achieved 100% HQT and • Met AYP

46. This means that… • LEAs and SEAs must analyze data: • to identify why teachers are not highly qualified; • to determine if novice (less experienced) teachers are concentrated in specific schools

47. This means that… • to measure progress; • to determine if strategies in the plan are working or should be changed; • to revisit the plan regularly and update as needed.

48. PA’s Non-HQT Data Tell Us… • Schools in urban areas are more likely to have higher numbers of non-HQT • High-poverty schools have the greatest proportion of assignments taught by non-HQTs: Math (22%) Science (22%) Foreign language (20%) Social studies (17%) English (16%)

49. PA’s Non-HQT Data Tell Us… • As poverty-level, racial/ethnic minority enrollment and the proportion of assignments taught by non-HQTs increase, the mean of students’ reading and math performance gradually decline

50. PA’s Non-HQT Data Tell Us… • As the percentage of minority students increases, non-HQT assignments also increase • PA schools with higher poverty-levels are more likely to have higher numbers of non-HQT than those with lower poverty-levels