Currently browsing Commission on Teacher Credentialing
State toughens regs for interns teaching English learners
The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing will now require non-credentialed Teach For America teachers and other intern teachers to receive more training in how to teach English learners and to get weekly on-the-job mentoring and supervision. The Commission’s unanimous vote last week followed two hours of public testimony and debate among commissioners over 14 separate recommendations aimed at improving the rigor and preparation of interns to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to teach the state’s 1.4 … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commission on Teacher Credentialing, English learners, Featured, Preparation, Reporting & Analysis, Teachers
Higher standards coming for state’s intern teachers
The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing signaled Thursday its intention to increase training requirements for intern teachers, including Teach for America members, before they’re allowed to teach any of the state’s 1.4 million students who are English learners. At a packed, highly charged meeting in Sacramento, Commission members staked out a compromise position to avert threatened lawsuits from supporters, who had urged the Commission to severely restrict districts’ ability to hire intern teachers, and opponents, who argued that intern … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commission on Teacher Credentialing, English learners, Equity issues, Featured, Reporting & Analysis, Students, Teachers
Bill would open the door to undergraduate teaching credentials
For the first time in decades, aspiring teachers in California would be able to major in education as undergraduates and get both a preliminary teaching credential and a baccalaureate degree in four years if a bill in the Legislature becomes law. Senate Bill 5, sponsored by Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Los Angeles, could result in a dramatic shift in teacher preparation. Distinct among the states, students wishing to become teachers in California are required to major in subjects … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commission on Teacher Credentialing, Featured, Reporting & Analysis, Teachers
State’s D in teacher prep nearly average
There’s no sign of a bell curve in the latest scores of state teacher preparation programs. California received an overall grade of D on the 2012 State Teacher Policy Yearbook released by the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ). No, that’s not great, but it may be easier to bear knowing that the national average was a whopping D+. “With so much attention on the issue of teacher effectiveness, the relative lack of attention to how … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commission on Teacher Credentialing, Preparation, Reporting & Analysis, Teachers
Darling-Hammond elected new chair of Credentialing Commission
The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing has elected Linda Darling-Hammond as its chair, placing one of the nation’s foremost authorities on education in a position to shape the state’s policies affecting the recruitment and training of teachers and principals in a year where major changes are in the works. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commission on Teacher Credentialing, Featured, Quick Hits
Credentialing commission imposes tougher test to become school administrator
Alone among states, California has permitted passing a primarily multiple-choice exam as one path to become a school or district administrator. That will change. The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) on Friday voted to require aspiring administrators to pass a more challenging “performance-based assessment,” showing how they’d handle complex situations that administrators face on the job, like designing a school improvement plan and evaluating teachers. The new test will replace the current exam, the California … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commission on Teacher Credentialing, Featured, Principals and Administrators, Reporting & Analysis
Credentialing Commission receptive to Torlakson’s Task Force reforms
If “Greatness by Design,” the hot-off-the-press report by State Superintendent Tom Torlakson’s Task Force on Educator Excellence is going to have any legs, the state Commission on Teaching Credentialing may provide the first, important steps. The Commission oversees the preparation and initial on-the-job training of teachers and administrators, and, to a lesser extent, the equitable placement of teachers in the classroom. Many of the dozens of recommendations in the Task Force’s report, released last month (see coverage … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commission on Teacher Credentialing, Equity issues, Preparation, Reporting & Analysis, Teacher Collaboration, Teachers, Weighted Student Funding (Local Control Funding Formula)
Once castigated, Commission on Teacher Credentialing is praised
Eighteen months ago, State Auditor Elaine Howle called the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing one of the “worst-run” agencies she had investigated in a comment to the Sacramento Bee. Howle had conducted a review at the Legislature’s request after reports surfaced that the Commission had been slow in investigating thousands of reports of arrest and prosecution against teachers – some involving criminal charges requiring automatic revocation of teaching credentials. There were also complaints of nepotism and … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commission on Teacher Credentialing, Featured, Reporting & Analysis
Far-reaching plan to strengthen teaching in California
To reinvigorate its force of teachers and principals, California doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel. It could start by fixing the one that’s bent and broken because of years of neglect. That’s one of the messages from Greatness by Design, an extensive report from Superintendent Tom Torlakson’s 48-member Task Force on Educator Excellence, cochaired by Stanford University education professor Linda Darling-Hammond and Long Beach Unified superintendent Christopher Steinhauser. On Monday, the task force released its 90-page … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commission on Teacher Credentialing, Featured, Preparation, Reporting & Analysis, Teacher Collaboration, Teacher Pay, Teachers, Tenure
Undiscussed in Chicago: Recruiting the best to teach the poorest
September 23rd, 2012 | 13 Comments | By Benjamin Riley
“Our most glaring problem is still recruitment/preparation of good teachers & principals and that’s no closer to being solved.” So tweeted Seth Lavin (@SethLavin), a teacher in Chicago, in reaction to the recent settlement of the high-profile teachers strike in that same city (a strike he supported). Not only do I wholeheartedly agree with Seth, but I believe the entire political-spectacle-slash-debacle we just watched unfold in the Windy City illustrates everything, and I mean everything, that … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commentary, Commission on Teacher Credentialing, Evaluations, Featured, Teacher Pay, Teacher Unions, Tenure