Certification 101

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Certification 101

• Professional Education and Certification, OSPI

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Presenters

• Connie Reichel, Program Specialist
• Larry Lashway, Program Specialist

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(No Transcript)
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Professional Education and Certification
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What We Do
Higher Education
P-12 Schools
We Implement the Mission by Bridging the Gap to
Help Improve Student Learning
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What We Do

• Prepare WAC regulations for PESB consideration to
  implement legislation and fulfill Board and
  agency goals
• Provide technical assistance to 67 educator
  preparation programs at 22 IHEs
• Interface with advisory groups and IHEs to ensure
  guidance, contribution, and feedback for IHE
  programs to meet state goals and EALRs
• Evaluate educator preparation programs for
  approval to ensure quality standards and state
  goals and EALRs/GLEs are met
• Bring contributions to Washington from national
  educator preparation programs

• Evaluate, issue, print, mail over 30,000
  certificates or certificate changes annually
• Serving over 60,000 employed educators, updating
  certificates
• Maintain records on 420,000 individuals who have
  been certified
• Add 12,000 new first-time certificates annually
• Interface with IHEs and ESDs in certificate
  actions.

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Teacher Assistance Program

• TAP provides funds for mentoring, training, and
  release time for observations for first year
  educators
• Mentoring Strand at Summer Institutes-See program
• Mentor Academies
• June 26-30 Seattle, Seattle Pacific University
• July 31-August 4 Seattle, SPU

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Troops to Teachers

• Federally funded program
• Recruit military personnel and spouses to the
  teaching profession

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Endorsement Changes

• Competency Based System
• Content Testing (WEST-E/Praxis II)
• New Options for Adding an Endorsement
• Pathway 1 Test Only
• Pathway 2 Test and Pedagogy Assessment
• Pathway 3 Traditional full program

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Continuing Education Requirement

• Continuing and Professional Certificates must be
  maintained with 150 clock hours every five years
• New Options for Earning Clock Hours
• Professional Growth Team Member-up to 20/year
• Intern Supervisor- up to 20/year
• Professional Growth Planning
• Certification 201 after lunch
• National Board (NBPTS) Certification
• Can apply directly for Professional Certificate
• Renewal and Maintenance of Professional or
  Continuing
• Can earn 45 clock hours for completing assessment
  process and an additional 45 for certifying

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Professional Certification for Teachers

• Residency Reissuance
• Common Sequence
• Pre-Assessment
• Core
• Culminating
• 17 approved programs
• Certification 102, next session

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Professional Certification for Administrators
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Guiding principles

• Student learning the measure of success
• Job-embedded professional development
• Partnership Higher education, AWSP, WASA, OSPI,
  districts
• Support

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Certification timeline

5-year certificate
Undated certificate
End of 2nd year
Residency certification
Pro Cert Program (1-3 years)
Hiring
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Certificate requirements

• Completion of approved professional certificate
  program
• Satisfactory evaluations while serving as
  principal or assistant principal
• 3 contracted years employment as a principal or
  assistant principal

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What it would look like
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Entry Seminar

• Assess professional needs
• Review existing evidence
• Formulate Professional Growth Plan

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Review Existing Evidence

• 360 assessment (How does my perception of my
  leadership skills compare to the perceptions of
  others?)
• Job evaluations (What strengths and needs has my
  supervisor identified?)
• SIP (What does the school improvement plan tell
  me I should be focusing on?)
• Other Any other evidence that shows my impact on
  student learning and well-being. E.g., a
  discipline plan that has reduced suspensions
  implementation of a new math curriculum that has
  resulted in improved student learning
  development of an after-school tutoring program
  etc.

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360 Assessment

• Survey developed by AWSP in collaboration with
  the Center for Educational Effectiveness
• Provides feedback aligned with ISLLC standards
• Completed by the candidate, the candidates
  supervisor, and a number of teachers selected by
  the candidate
• Candidate results can be compared with aggregate
  results of all other leaders who have taken the
  assessment

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360 Assessment

• Designed to be used as a formative professional
  development tool, not as a summative evaluation
• The candidate chooses the teachers to whom the
  survey is administered
• Results are owned by the candidate they are
  typically shared with the university advisor, but
  not the candidates supervisor (unless the
  candidate wishes to share and discuss with the
  supervisor)

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Assess Professional Needs

• 1. What has happened since I did my draft PGP in
  the residency program? Have I strengthened the
  areas I wanted to focus on? Have I identified new
  needs?
• 2. What are the key questions, issues, and
  dilemmas I need to resolve in order to improve
  student learning in my school?

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Formulate Professional Growth Plan

• In what areas do I already have evidence that I
  meet the benchmarks?
• In what areas do I probably meet the benchmarks
  but need more evidence?
• In what areas do I need to concentrate my efforts
  to achieve the standards?
• What can I do within my plan that will be most
  beneficial to the students in my school?

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Implementing the PGP (Core)

• Depending on the plan, may involve any of the
  following, as appropriate
• Targeted professional development
• AWSP/WASA conferences
• OSPI conferences
• Similar opportunities
• College/university courses
• Action research
• Seminars/collaborative work groups focused on
  specific issues
• Professional reading
• Other

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Presenting the evidence (panel)

• Panel consists of university instructors and
  practicing administrators (including PEAB
  members)
• Candidates can sign up for a panel whenever they
  have completed their PGP

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Scenario

• Scenario 2 Anne Evanoff is in her 3rd year as
  principal of a K-6 elementary school in a
  small/medium-sized district that has one other
  K-6 school, a 7-8 middle school, and a high
  school. The first two years have gone without
  major incident the school appears to be
  operating smoothly, and she has received good
  performance evaluations. She has been
  particularly pleased with the results of an
  anti-bullying program she developed in
  collaboration with the school counselor
  disciplinary referrals are down, and a number of
  teachers have commented on the reduced conflict
  among students.

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• Nonetheless, she has struggled with a number of
  issues. Most notably, the district faces a need
  to adopt a new math curriculum textbook series
  in the next year. Although the faculty seems to
  recognize that student achievement on the math
  WASL is not satisfactory, there is little
  consensus on what should be done and a great deal
  of negativity surrounding the issue. Teachers
  have not formed hard-core factions, but readily
  find fault with any suggestions that are put
  forward, so progress has been slow. Some teachers
  have expressed cynicism, saying, The board will
  just do what they want anywayjust like last
  time, or Eastside the other K-6 school always
  gets what they want, so why spend a lot of time
  talking about it? In her conversations with
  teachers, she senses that a number of them seem
  insecure about their own understanding of math.

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• The situation has a few additional
  complicating factors
• The decision must be made collaboratively with
  the other elementary school, where faculty
  already seem to have reached consensus on the
  choice.
• A small but vocal group in the community has been
  lobbying for adoption of Saxon math they have at
  least one ally on the school board.
• The superintendent is willing to support the
  recommendation of the two schools, as long as it
  represents a strong staff consensus that it will
  improve student math performance.
• The faculty is congenial and cooperative, but
  does not have a history of deep collaboration.

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Looking at the standards

• The entry seminar began by reviewing the
  benchmarks for the Professional Certificate and
  discussing the kinds of evidence that could be
  used to show the benchmarks had been achieved.
• Participants in the seminar then engaged in a
  self-assessment based on the benchmarks, using a
  variety of evidence, including the 360
  assessment, job performance evaluations, and
  other evidence.

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Entry seminar

• Working with the university facilitator and her
  peers, Evanoff found that she already had some
  evidence to support some of the benchmarks. For
  example, she decided that her success with the
  anti-bullying program provided good evidence
  about the benchmark, Ensuring efficient and
  effective management of the organization.
• However, her analysis also identified a number
  of benchmarks as areas to concentrate on,
  including several that seem especially pertinent
  to her dilemma with the math adoption
• Standard 1, Strand 1 Creating a Vision for
  learning While a district/school vision is in
  place, the principal realizes there is no real
  vision for math instruction.
• Standard 2, Strand 1 Advocating, nurturing, and
  sustaining a school culture. The existing
  culture clearly does not facilitate major
  decisions such as the math curriculum.
• Standard 2, Strand 3 Advocating, nurturing, and
  sustaining Professional Development If teachers
  are not secure about their own capacity with
  math, professional development will be a key part
  of the solution.

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Developing strategies

• The remainder of the entry seminar was spent in
  developing strategies to meet the benchmarks.
  This was done in consultation with her advisor
  (as well as collaboration with peers), but the
  final menu of activities was her choice.
• Because of her concern over the math issue, she
  organized much of her work around the goal of
  helping her faculty reach an informed consensus
  on the choice of math materials.
• To help achieve this goal, she found a number of
  strategies and resources that proved helpful

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PGP implementation

• Workshops offered by AWSP Project Leadership
  provided focused guidance on
• Use of WASL data to drive instructional decisions
  
• Professional reading on using data to drive
  instructional decisions
• OSPI conference
• Math Helping Corps Various ways to involve
  parents and community members in Student Learning
• From Compliance to Commitment A report on
  effective school districts in the state
• Teachers Teaching Teacher The Power of Staff
  Development from within (focus mathematics)
• Book study on developing and communicating vision
  and collaborating with stakeholders
• Seeking advice from experienced principals or
  other Pro Cert candidates grappling with the
  similar issues (via the OSPI-maintained
  discussion forum or through contacts established
  by the university)

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PGP implementation

• After reviewing her growth plan, and
  considering her work schedule, Evanoff estimated
  that she could complete it in about a year (some
  of her peers chose shorter or longer timelines).
  During this phase of the program, she
  participated in a seminar that involved periodic
  meetings with her university advisor and peers.
  The sessions sometimes focused on common topics
  of concern, but also allowed time for her to
  raise individual issues she was encountering as
  she pursued her growth plan, and to engage in
  collaborative problem-solving with other
  candidates.

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What about assistant principals?

• Assistant principals go through the same process
  and meet the same standards as principals.
  However, in some cases the nature of their work
  environment may require special reflection and
  strategizing.

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Challenges.
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Designing meaningful work

• Identifying real-world tasks that exemplify ISLLC
  standards
• Determining what will count as evidence that
  benchmarks have been met
• Balancing commonality and flexibility
• Meeting the needs of all candidates (does this
  process work equally well for those serving as
  assistant principals?)

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(What we dont want.)
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Assuring capacity support

• What resources are needed for all partners to
  carry out their roles?
• What support will be provided to candidates?
• How do we sustain the partnership?

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Program delivery and access
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Feedback needed

• What do you see as the major strengths of this
  approach?
• What are the major concerns you have about it?
• What are the unanswered questions that you have?

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Professional Certification for ESAs
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ESA Roles

• School Nurse
• School Occupational Therapist
• School Physical Therapist
• School Speech Language Pathologist or Audiologist
• Initial/Continuing
• No changes made

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ESA Roles

• School Counselors
• School Psychologists
• School Social Workers
• Initial
• Issued until 8/31/05
• Continuing
• Issued as long as Initial certificate is valid
• Residency
• Issued beginning 9/1/05
• Professional
• Currently under development

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Residency ESACounselor, Psychologist, Social
Worker

• Masters Degree
• State Approved Preparation Program
• Valid until completion of two years of contracted
  service in the ESA role in a Washington School
  District
• Reissued with as five-year expiration date
• Enroll in a Professional ESA program within the
  five-year validity period

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Professional ESA Program

• Purpose of program
• Complete program through an in-state
  college/university with approved program
• Program consists of three parts
• Pre-Assessment Seminar (including a professional
  growth plan)
• Core
• Culminating Seminar

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MAIN AREAS OF PROGRAM FOCUS

• Evidence of Professional certificate-level
  knowledge, skill, and performance
• Positive Impact on Student Learning
• Specification of areas for continuing education
  and development

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Intended Outcomes for Participants

• Ability to self-evaluate
• Opportunity to reflect
• Challenge to move to the next level
• Documentation of application to the context
• Opportunity for collaboration

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Questions