PSC’s Proposed Special Education Rule Changes
UPDATE - 7/13/2005
On July 11, 2005 the Georgia Professional Standards Commission (PSC) held a public hearing on the issue of certification changes for special education teachers. PAGE Assistant General Counsel Margaret Elliott spoke on behalf of PAGE members to express concerns about proposed certification changes. (Information on the proposed changes and a letter to Dr. F.D. Toth, Executive Director of the PSC, which formed the basis of PAGE comments can be found on the PAGE website.) After the hearing, Dr. Toth and the PSC board members met to discuss all the concerns presented at the hearing.
The following day, July 12, 2005 at the regular meeting of the PSC, Dr. Toth gave a report regarding the proposed rule changes. He noted that many of the people who spoke at the hearing stated that more time was needed for special education teachers to become "highly qualified" based on the requirements under "No Child Left Behind." The current deadline is June 30, 2006 and PAGE specifically asked the PSC to re-visit this issue with the U.S. Department of Education to implement a new deadline of June 30, 2007. Dr. Toth stated that the Georgia PSC would meet again with the U.S. DOE and to make this request, because of the critical need to keep special education teachers in the classroom in Georgia. It was pointed out that the result of the current June 30, 2006 deadline might result in a great many long term substitute teachers being placed in special education classrooms in the fall of 2006.
Next, Dr. Toth stated that federal funds sent to Georgia school systems under Title II A can be used to pay for classes that special education teachers need to complete in order to be "highly qualified." It is our understanding that this Title II A money can also be used to pay the cost of Praxis II exams that special education teachers may take as an alternative to coursework in order to be "highly qualified." During the public hearing, PAGE made the suggestion that the state or the school systems bear the cost of the Praxis II exams for special education teachers.
Dr. Toth did not address PAGE’s request to have the PSC’s college course content requirement reduced from five to four college classes, in the academic content area. He also did not address PAGE’s request that PSC work with the Educational Testing Service (ETS) to create a "Fundamentals of High School Academic Subjects" Praxis II test so that high school special education teachers will not have to take all five Praxis II tests to be highly qualified in every academic subject area. The PSC is in the process of changing testing companies and so we can continue to advocate that PSC work with the new testing company to create such a test for high school special education teachers.
Dr. Toth did not address PAGE’s request for PSC/DOE to create delivery models to assist school systems in implementing plans where the regular education teacher would be the "teacher of record" and the special education teacher would collaborate with the regular education teacher. At this point, it appears that each school system will be responsible for developing their own delivery models concerning "teacher of record." However, the "teacher of record" issue was addressed in the area of CPI forms (school personnel count forms submitted to the state for funding) and FTE count. PSC will work with DOE to change the CPI forms so that the special education teachers will not have to be the teacher of record. This would mean that the special education teachers could remain at their current school without having to be the "teacher of record" for a certain number of students.
The PSC then voted to approve the proposed rules as currently written. These will go into effect August 15, 2005.
ORIGINAL INFORMATION - 5/18/2005
Proposed changes to special education certification rules were re-initiated at the May 12, 2005 PSC meeting. The PSC made changes to the proposed rules after meeting with the US Department of Education. The new proposed rule changes are posted on the PSC website at www.gapsc.comand the PSC will be accepting public comment during the next 30 days. There may be a vote at the PSC meeting on July 14, 2005, and if that vote takes place, the rule change would take effect August 14, 2005. However, if the PSC receives a great deal of feedback, they may decide to re-write these rules and repeat the initiation phase.
Highlights of the proposed rule changes for special education:
- Previously, via the "Test-Out" route, teachers could take the Praxis II later. Under the proposed rule they must successfully complete the Praxis I, Praxis II and Praxis PLT. Teachers will then be monitored for one year by their system. This has been the requirement for other subject area teachers, but now it will also apply to special education teachers.
- Because of the "No Child Left Behind" legislation, the major proposed change for special education certification remains focused on content skills of those special education teachers who will be the "teacher of record" for special education students. After meeting with the US DOE, the PSC has decided to look at the cognitive level of the student which is found in the student’s IEP. The students’ cognitive level will determine what type of add-on certification is required. If the special education teacher is going to be assigned as the "teacher of record" they must have an add-on certificate in the academic area they teach. From PSC presentations, it appears that if the special education teacher is not the "teacher of record," the teacher will not have to meet any new requirements.
- For example, based on PSC presentations, this rule change for elementary school special education teachers would require them to take the Praxis II in Early Childhood, which would serve as an add-on certificate if the teacher is to be the "teacher of record" for students and this would certifiy them to teach in ALL academic areas. Also, middle school or high school specical education teachers might also take the Praxis II in early childhood, if their students are functioning on a cognitive level of K-5. Any special education teacher (including: BD, LD, MOID, SID MID, etc.) that is in a self-contained classroom may be identified as the "teacher of record" for these students for all areas; unless another regular education teacher is assigned to that classroom as well to be the "Teacher of Record." Also, please be aware the passing scores for some Praxis II tests have been lowered (for example - early childhood). Check the PSC website for more details.
- For a special education teacher teaching in the middle grades - (grades 4-8) the teacher must have 15 semester hours of undergraduate or graduate classes in each academic area in order to be certified as the "teacher of record" for said subject area; or the middle grades teacher could take the Praxis II in each academic area of middle grades subjects and gain the add-on certification. But the easiest approach seems to be to take the new Praxis II test called "Fundamental Subjects Test" (#0511 on the Praxis website). This test will provide the teacher with add-on certification in all academic areas except reading. For reading, the teacher can take the reading endorsement class or the Praxis II in reading to get add-on certification-if the special education teacher will be the "teacher of record" for reading.
- For high school - the same requirements as middle school would apply. The four academic subject areas are math, science, language arts and social studies - again the teacher can get the add-on certification by having 15 semester hours or passing the Praxis II. The fifth academic subject area is reading. High school teachers can also take the reading endorsement class or Praxis II in reading if they are to be the "teacher of record for reading." The new test "Fundametal Subject Test" (#0511) will also give many high school add-on certification- but check with the PSC as it does not cover all subject areas.
- The PSC has changed the deadline to meet these new requirements to June 30, 2006, to be in accordance with "No Child Left Behind" deadlines.
- The PSC also announced that the HOUSSE document will help veteran special education teachers (who have taught special education for the last 3 out of 5 years) get add-on certifcation in academic subject areas. The teacher must be able to score 100 points in order to achieve "highly qualifed" status but if the teacher has 100 points in a subject area then she/he will not be required to have 15 semester hours or take the Praxis II in that subject area. The teacher and the principal must complete this document together and then submit it to the personnel department to be sent to the PSC.
- Currently, the PSC is reviewing college transcripts of 13,000 special education teachers to determine which teachers have five classes in an academic subject area. The PSC will automatically give these teachers an add-on certificate in the appropriate academic subject area. However, if a special education teacher is not listed as a special education teacher on the system’s CPI form, then PSC will not automatically review his/her college transcript for course work and these teachers need to contact PSC to make this request.