PAGE TO TESTIFY AT PSC HEARING ON MAJOR CHANGES TO CERTIFICATION RULES

The Professional Standards Commission (PSC) is proposing a set of major revisions to the rules regarding teacher certification. PAGE has requested an opportunity to speak at the public hearing to be held January 7th in Atlanta.

PAGE members can go to the PSC website www.gapsc.com for additional information on the proposed rule changes and an explanation of the rationale behind the changes which were initiated at the December 11th PSC meeting.

The PSC has provided a list of the major changes that are being contemplated. PAGE’s planned testimony follows these highlights.

HIGHLIGHTS OF PROPOSED CERTIFICATE CHANGES

  1. Combine Provisional (B), Probationary (PA), Emergency (E) and Conditional (C) certificates into one certificate known as Non-Renewable Professional Certificate (N), which is valid, in most cases, for 5 years.
  2. Create new “Technical Specialist” certificate for specified Technology/Career Education fields.
  3. Expand college accreditation from “Regional” to agencies approved by U.S. DOE and/or Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).
  4. Replace 2.5 GPA for initial certificate with more consistent requirement of: bachelor’s degree or higher from PSC-approved accredited institution, PRAXIS I, PRAXIS II and the employer interview. NOTE: Higher Education institutions, NCATE, etc. will maintain their GPA requirements.
  5. If currently hold a Clear Renewable certificate in a TEACHING field, may add new TEACHING fields by either: passing PRAXIS II or completing a state-approved program.
  6. Specified out-of-state experience to exempt selected Special Georgia Requirements of content assessment, special education course, recency and teaching of reading and writing.
  7. Renewal requirement course work focused on student achievement and school improvement plans. Will accept specified college courses, Professional Learning Units (PLUs) or Continuing Education Units (CEUs).
  8. Local school systems have option of hiring, at their discretion, a building principal who does not have 3 years of public school teaching experience.
  9. PRAXIS I requirement added to Permit and Technology/Career Education fields, not as initial but at 3-year conversion point.
  10. New Route to Certification: Hold a bachelor’s degree or higher; Pass PRAXIS I; Pass PRAXIS II; Pass PRAXIS Principles of Learning and Teaching (PLT); be offered a teaching job and the employing school system may request a 5-year (N) certificate. During that period: complete all Special Georgia Requirements; a 1-year supervised practicum; and be recommended by an approved provider for a Clear Renewable certificate.

COMMENTS OF THE PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA EDUCATORS (PAGE) ON PROPOSED PSC RULES
January 7, 2004

PAGE has been supportive of the efforts by the PSC to ensure an adequate supply of high-quality teachers for the classrooms of today and tomorrow. We have also supported alternative approaches to certification, provided that program quality issues are adequately addressed. However, we are concerned about the following issues:

2.5 GPA REQUIREMENT:
While we understand the situation of a “second career” certification applicant whose transcript may be decades old, we also appreciate the need for quality standards of classroom achievement. We do not agree with the proposal to eliminate this requirement altogether. We recommend, instead, that the rule be rewritten to address the recency of study of a candidate and that evaluative judgment be exercised rather than simply eliminating the GPA requirement.

PRAXIS “TEST OUT” OPTION:
A candidate who has a major in a given field and can pass the Praxis I and II, along with the Principles of Learning and Teaching test, may - under certain circumstances – be considered for certification. However, we believe this option should be limited only to those who have at least a bachelor’s degree in the teaching field for which they seek certification. We do not believe this option should be available for any applicant simply because they have earned a bachelor’s degree in any subject.

EDUCATOR LEADERSHIP:
Recent state and federal school improvement initiatives place a substantial burden upon school principals to be strong instructional leaders. Principals are also called upon to make “high stakes” performance appraisals for each member of their instructional staffs. PAGE believes that the quality of a principal’s performance in both roles is critical to the success of any school. We do not believe that hiring principals “from outside the public school arena” is a sensible way to proceed, given the current environment, and we believe the rule governing certification of building principals should not be changed.

CONSISTENCY BETWEEN “HIGHLY QUALIFIED” UNDER NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND (NCLB) AND PSC CERTIFICATION RULES:
Based on experiences related to us by our members, and our review of PSC information, we are increasingly concerned at the lack of consistency regarding the “Highly Qualified Teacher” requirement which is part of the federal, No Child Left Behind legislation and PSC certification. We hope that you are making certain that PSC rules are consistent with the NCLB implementation plan as approved by the US DOE.

As an example of this disconnect, we are aware of one veteran high school teacher who has a masters in math, and who is “highly qualified” under HOUSSE, but will not be given a certificate in math from the PSC because she has not taken the PRAXIS II.

This teacher has been teaching 14 years, has 11 content courses in math as well as a masters degree in math. In addition, she is highly qualified according to NCLB standards. Wouldn’t it make sense that she should also be eligible to receive a concentration area in math in order to be “certified” to teach math?