January 31, 2006

Chair Report

Three new commissioners were introduced and took the oath of office:

• Cindy Dodge – School nurse
• John Kenney – Physics teacher
• Paula Cordeiro – Dean, School of Leadership and Education Sciences, University of San Diego

Executive Director’s Report

Special recognition was given to Amy Jackson, Administrator in the Professional Practices Division, who will be leaving the CCTC after many years of excellent service.

Special thanks was given to Dale Janssen and 16 local college students for their excellent service to the commission.

Several CCTC staff members attended the Western States Certification Conference held in San Francisco. Dr. Swofford announced that California is leading the nation in the on-line credential renewal process.

Professional Practices Committee

Two members of the Committee of Credentials were approved for reappointment:

• Rita Bianchi – Public representative
• Mark Rickabaugh – School Representative

Fiscal Policy & Planning Committee

The 06-07 budget released by Governor Schwarzenegger includes minor adjustments to the Commission’s budget. No agency-wide staffing reductions were included and it did not propose additional reductions in operations. The budget proposes backfilling the Teacher Credentials Funds with a loan from the Test Development Administration account and proposes to redirect vacant positions in the Professional Practices division to the Certification Assignment and Waivers Division.

Four programs applied and successfully met the requirements necessary for the Paraprofessional Teacher Training Program Grant Award. Three of the programs have expenditures of over $100,000 and require approval from the Commission for the Executive Director to execute*. Approval was given for the following programs:

• Imperial County of Education* 60 participants Total Grant award of $180,000
• Kern County Superintendent of Schools*  180 participants Total Grant award of $540,000
• San Joaquin County Office of Education*  175 participants Total Grant award of $525,000
• Sonoma County Office of Education  20 participants Total Grant award of $60,000

Approval was given for staff to release the Competitive Grant Process for the Intern and Paraprofessional Teacher Training Programs (PTTP). These grant funds assist interns and paraprofessionals in pursuing a teaching credential by defraying some of the costs associated with college education, i.e. tuition, books and fees.

Approval was given to amend the current BCLAD contract for one fiscal year. This will keep the current examination schedule stable for another year while awaiting outcomes of the policy discussions that are being convened by the BCLAD panel.

Credentialing and Certificated Assignments Committee

Dale Janssen, Director of the Certification, Assignment and Waivers Division, reported on the current and future technology efficiencies planned to improve service and make the commission more efficient. Some of the current efficiencies include:

• Virtual Credentialing Officer – Offers on-line renewal of credentials
• IHE on-line recommendations – Allows colleges and universities to submit credential applications on-line.
• Email Notification – Sends email notification to teacher applicants when their applications have been received, granted and mailed.
• Paperless Certificates of Clearance – Sends IHEs email notification that a clearance has been issued and that verification is also available on the on-line look-up web system. Paper certificate has been eliminated.

Some future efficiencies will include:

• Paperless county copies of documents – Counties will be able to access & download credential data in an Excel format
• Submission of county & school district on-line applications - County office and school districts will be able to submit 30-day sub permit applications on-line.
• IHE on-line recommendation Virtual Credential Officer – No manual processing by CCTC staff will be required for IHE on-line recommendations
• Paperless credential – No paper credential will be issued, rather the on-line lookup system will become the official record.

Appeal and Waivers Committee

• Minutes from the November 2005 meeting – Approved
• Consent Calendar – Approved
• Conditions Calendar – Approved
• Denial Calendar – Approved

February 1, 2006

Alan Bersin, Secretary of Education, shared his vision for a standards-based education system where outcomes can be measured against a fixed set of standards.

His vision includes three focus areas:

1. Instruments for measuring outcomes – find a way to consolidate exams required for teachers and these exams should measure knowledge of subject matter as well as pedagogical methods. The exams must be more cost effective.
2. Structure of credentialing – make it more understandable by credential type what the teacher is capable of doing, i.e. the Level I Intern Credential could signify the candidate is subject matter ready and has all the requirements needed to enter the classroom, the Level 2 or Associate Credential would signify pedagogical competence:  candidates have completed teacher training coursework and a capstone assessment and are ready to move into induction, and Level 3 or the Professional Clear Credential would indicate the candidate has been fully inducted into the profession and would have completed 2-3 years of an induction program.
3. Accreditation and Assessment – How do we hold ourselves responsible for the outcomes of our students?

Secretary Bersin will return to the April Commission meeting to discuss these issues.

Legislative Committee

Two bills were presented to the commissioners for consideration:

1. AB 49 (Benoit) would exempt prelingually deaf candidates from the CBEST requirement
2. AB476 (Baca) would enable already credentialed teachers wanting to pursue a Math or Science authorization to qualify for APLE (Assumption Program of Loans for Education)

The commission voted to support both of these bills.

Professional Services Committee

• Passing standards for the American Sign Language CSET exam were approved.
• Passing standards for the CTEL (California Teacher of English Learners) exam were approved.
• Commissioner Leslie Peterson Schwarze was nominated and approved to be the commission liaison to the RICA Validity Study Design Team.
• The Committee on Accreditation and the work group have designed a field survey that has been posted the CCTC website and will remain open for responses until Feb 10.
• The Annual Report of the Committee on Accreditation was accepted. The complete report can be found on the website at www.ctc.ga.gov.
• The Bilingual Certification Advisory Work Group has been charged to review bilingual certification and report back to the commission on their findings. At this point they have conducted an on-line survey which generated 350 responses and they are holding stakeholders meetings throughout the state. Results of the survey will be posted on the CCTC website.
• CCTC currently has examination routes for 10 languages other than English, which are necessary to fulfill credential subject matter requirements. More local communities are asking schools to teach languages reflective of their communities. The commission will be called upon to establish alternative routes to evaluate content knowledge in these languages.  Ed Code 44280 states that the Commission “may establish guidelines for accepting alternative assessments performed by organizations that are expert in the language and culture assessed.” To date the Commission has not established those guidelines.  The Commission determined the next step is to do an in depth study of the need, a cost analysis of development, a plan for upcoming language evaluations and to evaluate alternative test routes.

• Jan Jones Wadsworth, consultant for the commission, reported on some current issues in the area of special education which may have implications for the commission:

  1) Education Specialist credential programs are not required to include English Language Learner content in their instruction. This is posing a problem when these candidates seek employment and are told that they must complete ELL training.

  2) Candidates who complete dual programs for a multiple subject teaching credential and an Education Specialist credential are currently required to complete 4 years of induction: 2 years for the MS credential and 2 years for the Education Specialist credential.

  3) Authorization of the Education Specialist should be reviewed to see if more or less flexibility for grade level and subject matter assignment should be incorporated.

  4) Since the Education Specialist, Multiple Subject and Single Subject are all basic credentials, requirements for consistency should be reviewed.

   

Next meeting April 4, 2006