6 EDCAL November 20, 2017
CTC works on teacher shortage, credentialing issues
ACSA
Commission
on
Teacher
Credentialing Liaison Doug Gephart submit-
ted the following report on the commission’s
most recent meeting.
Teacher shortage reported in data
California school districts have strug-
gled for many years with teacher short-
ages, resulting in districts scrambling to find
classroom leaders using myriad emergency
and temporary teaching authorizations.
Embedded in a Title 2 report to the
Department of Education, the CTC report-
ed a total of 34,838 candidates enrolled in
teacher education programs in 2010-11,
followed by notable declines to a low of
18,984 candidates in 2013-14. Even with
enrollment on the rise to a total of 21,365 in
2015-16, California continues to experience
a severe shortage of teachers.
There have been some efforts to address
this shortage politically, but the shortage
continues because the teaching profession is
not fully supported by our elected officials.
Periodically a show of effort is put forth
to calm concerns from the public, but in
reality the number of teacher vacancies in
our public schools illustrates the failure of
the Legislature to provide the level of sup-
port and incentives required to address this
problem.
School districts are demonstrating that
they are not willing to simply accept the
reality of teacher shortages and are initiat-
ing steps to address these concerns internal-
ly by more aggressively developing district
sponsored induction programs and applying
to the CTC to train teacher candidates for
a Preliminary Credential.
Initial institutional approval
Atwater Elementary School District
submitted an application and supporting
documents to the CTC to offer credential
programs for teacher induction. There are
12 eligibility criteria that must be met by
the institution before it can receive com-
mission approval. CTC staff review the
first nine criteria, and the commission must
approve the last three. Based on the thor-
oughness of the supporting documentation,
Atwater ESD was approved for Stage 2 of
the initial institutional process.
Atwater ESD joins Las Virgenes Unified
School District and Santa Barbara USD in
assuming responsibility for teacher induc-
tion programs and/or preliminary creden-
tial programs. This trend may continue
to expand as school districts seek greater
autonomy over the new teacher induction
programs, as well as the preliminary creden-
tial program. This autonomy provides great-
er access by teacher candidates and serves as
a recruitment incentive for new teachers to
pursue employment with a school district
capable of providing services directly to the
new teacher or prospective teacher.
These efforts provide a level of support
for teachers in training and ongoing support
for new teachers that aim to improve their
teaching skill level, as well as a strong level
of support to retain these teachers within
the profession.
Institutional program capacity
In light of the steep decline in the num-
bers of teachers enrolled in and completing
teacher preparation programs, the CTC
surveyed teacher preparation programs for
their ability to expand capacity.
The California Department of Education
projected a need to hire 23,000 new teach-
ers in 2016-17. The commission issued just
under 16,000 new teaching credentials in
2015-16, with almost 4,000 teachers pre-
pared outside California, leaving a gap of up
Paid Advertisement
to 7,000 potential vacancies.
In order to meet the actual 2016-17
need, the CTC issued just under 6,000
Provisional Intern Permits and Short Term
Staff Permits, and just over 5,000 intern
credentials in 2016-17. These numbers are
an increase of 80 percent over the prior year.
Early completion interns
The Early Completion Option for mul-
tiple and single subject intern candidates
was established to enable individuals to earn
the Preliminary Credential on an expedited
basis if their teaching expertise and experi-
ence is justified by passing portions of the
full range of coursework and field experi-
ences within a teacher preparation program.
Successful completion of the requirements
for the ECO allows a candidate to waive the
program preparation coursework, typically
15 to 20 semester units, and the program
fieldwork.
ECO candidates must meet several stat-
utory requirements, including:
• Satisfying the entrance requirements
to an intern program.
• Passing a written assessment of teach-
ing foundations adopted by the CTC.
• Passing the teaching performance
assessment on the first attempt.
• Passing the Reading Instruction
Competence Assessment.
• Meeting the professional fitness
requirements.
Currently ECO candidates are also
required to pass Task 1 of an approved
Teacher Performance Assessment before
being able to pursue the ECO. The Teacher
Performance Assessment Task 1 ECO
requirement was intended to ensure that
a candidate had some level of pedagogical
competence at the beginning of the ECO
experience.
Given the difficulty of identifying a sub-
ject-specific, pedagogy-focused “first task”
within the updated Teacher Performance
Assessment models and the coverage of
this important skill-set in the Assessment
of Professional Knowledge, staff recom-
mended removal of the requirement from
the ECO entry requirements.
ECO candidates would still be required
to pass all components of the TPA on their
first attempt to earn a credential through
the ECO option. The CTC deferred its
decision to a future date, when staff will
provide additional background and impact
of the recommendation.
Appeals and Waivers Committee
Normally, the Appeals and Waivers
Committee would hear appeals and then
report out to the CTC. However, the com-
mission in 2006 abolished the committee.
Staff recommended that the full com-
mission reestablish the committee to expe-
dite the waiver review process and defer the
recommendation of the wavier request to
a committee in lieu of a review by the full
commission.
Once reviewed, an Appeals and Waiver
Committee recommendation would be sub-
mitted to the full commission for consid-
eration. This process is expected be more
efficient and a better use of commissioners’
time. The CTC approved an amendment to
its Policy Manual.
CSET passing score standards
The California Subject Examinations
for Teachers are required to be aligned with
the state-adopted content standards for
students. As these content standards change
over time, the corresponding CSET exami-
nations are updated to remain in alignment
with the most current sets of California
TK-12 content standards.
Field-testing of new and revised test
items for multiple subjects and science was
conducted between fall 2016 and winter
2017, after which the results were analyzed
and decisions made about the final bank of
items for operational use with candidates
who take the examination.
Standard setting is a common and estab-
lished process for determining valid and
defensible minimum passing scores for
standardized examinations. Standard set-
ting allows an authoritative body, in this
case the CTC, to make an informed deci-
sion when establishing cut scores, instead
of arbitrarily selecting a minimum passing
standard.
The term “standard” as it is used in
standard setting refers to a performance
standard, or minimum level of acceptable
performance on an examination.
For criterion-referenced examinations
like the CSET, standard setting is a con-
tent-focused, structured process in which
a panel of content area experts reviews the
content of an examination and carefully
considers the knowledge and skills being
measured.
The CTC adopted passing score stan-
dards for the CSET science-related exami-
nations, and notification will be posted on
the CSET website and distributed to the
field.
Candidates who took the updated/
revised versions of these assessments will
be calculated based on the adopted passing
standard. Individual examinee score reports
will then be distributed within three to four
weeks of the CTC’s decision.
The passing standard adopted by the
commission will be applied to all subse-
quent administrations of the CSET sci-
ence-related examinations.
More information on CTC items can be
accessed in the CTC agenda at www.ctc.ca.gov.
New 2018 rules take effect aimed at protecting
students from unintended pesticide exposure
The California Department of Education
has noted that new rules were adopted
by the state Department of Pesticide
Regulation to further protect students and
school communities from pesticide expo-
sure. These rules will take effect on Jan. 1
and regulate agricultural pesticide use near
schools and licensed child-care facilities.
“Children, teachers, school staff, par-
ents and school communities need safe
healthy school environments to learn and
succeed, and that includes protection from
unintended, unhealthy pesticide exposure,”
Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom
Torlakson said.
ACSA supported the goals of the new
regulations and worked hard to make them
reasonable for the field to implement. ACSA
still has concerns that the rules do not prop-
erly differentiate between the roles of a site
leader vs. a district leader. Notifications
under the new rules will not go to the dis-
trict, which can address any issues, but will
be sent to the school site leader. ACSA will
still work to see that requirement changed
to make notifications sent to the appropri-
ate person in district leadership.
With the new regulations, California
growers must tell schools in advance what
pesticides will be used nearby.
Starting Jan. 1, public K-12 schools,
licensed day-care facilities, and county
agricultural commissioners must be pro-
vided annual notification of the pesticides
expected to be used within a quarter mile of
schools and facilities in the upcoming year.
Pesticide applications will be prohibited
within a quarter mile of these schools and
facilities between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday
through Friday.
Although numerous local rules already
exist to protect students from pesticide
applications near schools, this is the first
consistent statewide standard. The policy
was created during a two-year process that
included discussions with groups directly
affected, including farmers, school commu-
nities and 19,000 public comments.
The rules are expected to affect about
4,100 public K-12 schools and licensed
child daycare facilities and approximately
2,500 growers, according to the DPR. In
addition to increasing restrictions, the pol-
icy is designed to increase communication
between growers and school facilities. The
new regulation and more information can
be found at this DPR webpage at https://
goo.gl/VHdmMP.