Posted by Heather
Here’s a recap of today’s Professional Educator Standards Board meeting. Handouts are not online yet, but some are worth a read once they are (or contact PESB staff next week and they will email them to you).
To start, David Kinnuen, Corrine McGuigan, JoLynn Berge and Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson presented on certification fees for FY 2007-08. Certification fees are collected to finance certification office expenditures. Previously, revenues from certification fees exceeded expenditures, but now, the opposite is true. OSPI would like to 1) revamp the accounting system for cert fees (to make things more transparent) and 2) talk to all parties about raising certification fees (but won’t be asking to do so in the 2009 legislative session).
Next, Jennifer Wallace (PESB) presented on the work of the PESB Task Force – Ensuring an Adequate Supply of Well-Qualified Math and Science Teachers (summary materials from August meeting available here). I won’t rehash the entire summary — the meeting summary on the PESB website does it well enough. This Task Force has taken on a large task and it will be interesting to see what its final recommendation is. After Ms. Wallace’s presentation, Chair Van Glubt required every PESB member to comment on the issue. Below are questions and comments raised:
- Are math and science teachers on Task Force? They should be included.
- Pedagogy and subject-area knowledge are important.
- Need to look beyond UW-Seattle to supply teachers.
- Access is an issue: subject-area courses are often offered during the day, which are hard for working individuals to attend.
- Teacher compensation needs to be looked at.
- Easier access to information for interested candidates, maybe one person/group as the information source.
- Teachers don’t know about retooling, don’t feel incentive ($) to retool.
- Concern over differential pay; try loan forgiveness instead. How will English teachers feel? What about elementary teachers who teach all subjects?
- Why can’t we recruit teachers? Money is an issue. Maybe embed teaching course requirements into math and science majors.
- We need a substantial mentorship program, 5-10 years.
- Need to change image of teaching: salary, challenges under NCLB, etc. No one saying “this is a great profession.”
Ms. Wallace then presented on out-of-state and online teacher preparation programs that operate field experiences in Washington State. The PESB is putting together a policy framework for working with these programs. This proposal outlines requirements for these programs, including conducting a needs assessment and agreements with school districts.
After lunch, Nasue Nishida (PESB) put forward three legislative budget and policy requests to be made to the Office of Financial Management and Gov. Gregoire. (These handouts are suggested reading)
1) Educator Workforce Data System: This proposal will be made with the State Board of Education and wants a data system by the end of the 2010-11 school year. The system should respond to the needs of stakeholders and include, at minimum, whether and where teachers are assigned, teaching assignments versus qualifications, and teacher qualifications related to student demographics by school.
2) Institutional Priority for Teacher Education Task Force: This Task Force would “raise the level of awareness, attention and dialogue addressing how Washington’s state institutions will better reflect and prioritize the need to produce more teachers, particularly in hard-to-fill subject areas and hard-to-staff locations.” Members of the Task Force will come from the PESB, public universities, the Higher Education Coordinating Board, OSPI and K-12. The Task Force has a list of directives and will need to make recommendations by September 2010. (Price tag: $59,500)
3) Preparation Program Quality and Teacher Effectiveness: This proposal seeks to revamp the evidence-based pedagogy assessment teacher candidates must take, increase response rates on beginning teacher survey, and fully funding the Teacher Assistance Program (linked to teacher survey). (Price tag: $695,288)
The final two agenda items — the biennial SBE-PESB report and changing program administrator certification requirements — need follow-up, so I’ll leave them for now.
