DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
P.O.
SUPTS. MEMO NO. 7
September 29, 2006
REGULATORY
|
TO: |
Division
Superintendents |
|
FROM: |
Billy K.
Cannaday, Jr. Superintendent
of Public Instruction |
|
SUBJECT: |
Transmittal
of Statement of Administrative Impact and Projected Costs of Implementation
for the Promulgation of the Proposed Regulations
Governing the Review and Approval of Education Programs in |
As part of
its responsibility for promulgating new regulations or revisions to existing
regulations, the Board of Education is required to develop a statement of the
economic impact and projected cost to school divisions of implementing and
complying with such regulations. The Board
and the Department of Education are required to send a copy of the statement to
each division superintendent.
As stipulated in Section 22.1-298 of the Code of Virginia, the Board of Education
prescribes the requirements for the licensure of teachers and establishes other
requirements for teacher preparation. The last comprehensive review of the licensure and
approved program regulations was conducted in the mid-1990s with regulations
becoming effective July 1, 1998. The
regulations need to be revised based on federal and state legislation, as well
as to address recommendations to change requirements for licensure. Due to the number of revisions in both
documents, the current regulations will be repealed, and new regulations will
be promulgated by the Board of Education.
The full text
of both sets of proposed regulations may be accessed at the websites listed on
the next page.
Regulations Governing the Review and
Approval of Education Programs in
Regulations Governing the Licensure of
Schools Personnel
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/VA_Board/Meetings/2006/ItemF-jun.pdf
Administrative Impact and Projected Costs of Implementation
Regulations Governing the Review and
Approval of Education Programs in
The Regulations Governing the
Review and Approval of Education Programs in Virginia defines the
standards that must be met and the review options available for the
accreditation of teacher education programs.
The regulations provide three options for accreditation: 1)
a state review process for which the teacher education program must meet the
standards established by Board of Education regulations; 2) the National
Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) process for which
the teacher education program must meet the boards teaching area requirements
and the NCATE standards; or 3) the Teacher Education Accreditation Council
(TEAC) process for which the teacher education program must meet the Boards
teaching area requirements and the TEAC standards.
Under the proposed regulations, the
Department of Education will no longer evaluate professional education units if
the professional education unit has obtained and maintained national
accreditation from NCATE or TEAC. As a
result, these units will save preparation and meeting time as well as the cost
of materials and personnel.
The proposed
regulations affect
The proposal
to deny approval for education programs that cannot meet basic accountability
criteria requirements may reduce employment in institutions that have programs
unable to meet these requirements.
Private institutions with education programs that do not meet basic
accountability requirements will likely take new actions to meet these
requirements. Those that cannot meet
the requirements will likely no longer offer those programs. The value of these private institutions may
moderately decrease as a result. Other
institutions that have education programs that are approved may obtain students
that otherwise would have attended one of the programs that cannot obtain
approval. The value of these
institutions would moderately increase commensurately. The proposal to rate
individual education programs also will be beneficial in that the public will
become better informed concerning the performance of education programs. This information may potentially assist
program applicants in making choices in applying to and perhaps attending an
institution. The proposed regulations do
not significantly affect small businesses.
Regulations Governing the Licensure of
School Personnel
(8 VAC 20-22)
The Board of Education
proposes to concurrently repeal the Regulations Governing the Licensure of
School Personnel
text of the current regulations and promulgate
new regulations with the same title. The proposed regulations contain numerous
changes. Potential impact on each is
noted below:
1
Amending
the requirements for teachers with out-of-state experience to qualify for
exemption from
Overall it appears likely that the benefit of reducing the
prevalence of students having teachers that do not possess what is considered
the minimum necessary knowledge to teach competently outweighs the introduced
costs of fees and time for some applicants with out-of-state experience.
2
Requiring
applicants for endorsement in early/primary education prek-3, elementary
education preK-6, special education-general curriculum, special
education-hearing disorders, special education-visual impairments and as a
reading specialist to obtain passing scores on a reading instructional
assessment.
The total fee for this exam is $105.50. The fees and time involved are not negligible,
but their magnitudes are unlikely to discourage most potential applicants with
out-of-state experience from pursuing teaching positions in
3
Requiring
that individuals seeking initial licensure demonstrate proficiency in the use
of educational technology for instruction.
If
each school division does in practice accurately identify which teachers have
met this requirement, the proposed amendments will create a net benefit in
regard to early/primary education preK-3 and elementary education preK-6
endorsed teachers. Thus, there will be savings in time and dollars to allow
computer competent individuals to test out of the computer class requirement.
4
Increasing
the required hours of student teaching from 300 to 500.
Additional
time spent as a student teacher likely has some benefit, but it has costs as
well. Individuals who pursue the career switcher route will continue to be able
to obtain licensure with considerably less student teaching time in practice.
5
Requiring
that Provisional license holders pass the professional teachers assessments
within the first year of contract.
This requirement will likely reduce the frequency that
6
Permitting
all individuals obtaining licensure through alternative routes to substitute
experiential learning in lieu of coursework.
These individuals will save the time and tuition associated with
completing the exempted coursework. Additionally, the reduction in cost for
fees and time may be enough to encourage some individuals who are
highly-knowledgeable in specific fields to pursue teaching in their area of
expertise who otherwise might not have chosen a teaching career. Thus, this
proposal will likely produce a net benefit.
7
Establishing
the International Educator License
To
the extent that the individuals awarded the International Educator License are
truly competent to teach the courses they end up in teaching in practice, the
introduction of this license will likely produce a net benefit.
8
Establishing
the Career Teacher, Mentor Teacher, and Teacher as Leader designations
The
Career Teacher designation will not likely have much effect. It does not
indicate anything beyond the teacher having had their license renewed. The
Mentor Teacher and Teacher as Leader designations are not required by
regulations or the Code of Virginia
for teachers to do any particular work or fill any particular function. However,
school divisions may find the designations useful and may choose to only hire
or have hiring preferences for individuals who have gained one of these
designations for specific jobs. Divisions may also wish to pay more to
individuals who have achieved one of these designations.
9
Incorporating
descriptions of professional development options that satisfy renewal requirements
into the regulations.
10 Eliminating peer observation
and educational travel as options for professional development.
Though
some teachers may not be happy with the reduction in options, this proposal
will likely produce a net benefit since more teachers participating in more
effective training will likely result in some degree of improved student
performance.
11 Establishing the school
manager license.
It
is not clear that schools would be prohibited from hiring individuals to
administer non-instructional responsibilities without this license; thus, the
introduction of this endorsement may have little effect.
12 Removing competencies for
endorsement areas.
Removing
this language does not diminish the readers understanding of the endorsement
requirements, and may increase the ease of finding relevant information due to
the reduction of extraneous information.
13 Allowing individuals who
hold a teaching license to add an additional endorsement by passing a rigorous
academic subject test prescribed by the Board.
This
proposal will potentially save candidates a significant amount of time and
tuition. If the prescribed tests are sufficiently well-designed to accurately
assess the candidates relevant knowledge in the respective endorsement areas,
then those individuals that obtain additional endorsements by passing a
rigorous academic subject test should be at least as able to teach competently
in their field as someone who took all the courses in the traditional route,
other attributes being equal.
Also,
the reduction in cost for fees and time may be enough to encourage some
individuals to seek an additional endorsement who otherwise may not have. This
will likely produce an increase in the number of teachers technically qualified
to teach in fields that have shortages. Thus, this proposed amendment will
likely produce a net benefit.
14 Changing the required
minimum in-car instruction from 20 to 14 hours of actual behind-the-wheel
supervised teaching experience and requiring 2 hours of basic evasive maneuvers.
15 Reducing the total semester
hours of required coursework for the health and physical education preK-12
endorsement, and the history and social science endorsement.
Presuming
that the endorsement candidates can acquire the necessary knowledge to teach competently
with the smaller number of course hours, the proposed reductions in minimum
required semester hours for endorsements should provide a net benefit in that
candidates can choose to use the time and fees that would have been spent on
those additional courses on other pursuits.
16 Permitting middle education
endorsement in only one area.
This
is beneficial in that it allows candidates to not spend time and funds on a
field for which they have no desire or intention to teach.
17 Amending the nature and names
of special education endorsements.
Insufficient
information is available to evaluate the impact of this proposed change in
endorsement categories.
18 Establishing Level II
endorsement for administrators.
Divisions
may choose to only hire or have hiring preferences for individuals who have
gained Level II endorsement for specific jobs. Divisions may also wish to pay
more to individuals who have achieved Level II.
19 Establishing the speech
language pathology assistant endorsement.
There
has been a shortage of qualified speech language pathologists in
20 Establishing the mathematics
specialist endorsement.
School
divisions will be required to hire individuals as mathematics specialist for
elementary and middle education endorsement if funding is provided through the
Standards of Quality.
21 Discontinuing the visiting
teacher endorsement.
No
visiting teacher programs exist at
Finally, the proposed
regulations affect the 132 school divisions, approximately 110,000
instructional personnel, 37 accredited institutions that offer education
programs, students in the Commonwealth, and all
If you have
any questions, please contact the Division of Teacher Education and Licensure
at (804) 371-2522, or mail to: Dr. JoAnne Y. Carver, director of teacher
education at (804) 371-2475, or e-mail to: JoAnne.Carver@doe.virginia.gov,
or Mrs. Patty S. Pitts, director of licensure at (804) 371-2471, or e-mail to: Patty.Pitts@doe.virginia.gov.
BKC/JYC