Licensing Advisor Weekly Newsletter
June 2, 2006
Important Information
This week's licensing advisor weekly update is full of vital and urgent information. I would encourage all of you to read carefully the items below.
Thanks.
Shawn Sriver
Operations Manager
Please welcome Nicole Reid as the new Operations Manager for the Division of Professional Standards. Nicole will be supervising the processing and customer service areas in the DPS.
Transition to Teaching Permits
Beginning July 1, 2006, Indiana will offer a new Transition to Teaching Permit, per Indiana Code 20-28-4-11, as added by P.L.150-2006 (Senate Enrolled 172). The law applies to teaching areas or school corporations designated by the State Board of Education as having an insufficient supply of teachers. The State Board must review the eligible school corporations and subject areas not more than two years following the initial designation. The transition-to-teaching permit program allows superintendents to request a permit for an applicant in the designated subject area or in a designated school corporation if:
- there is no fully certified teacher and highly qualified teacher available for the position; and
- the program participant is the best qualified candidate for the position.
This application for this permit will work in much the same way that the emergency permit works. We have created a separate application for the Transition to Teaching permit that is very similar to the one used for the emergency permit. Below, I have highlighted several other important facts about this permit:
- The permit will be valid for three (3) years and is non-renewable.
- Applicants may complete the mentoring part of the Indiana Mentoring and Assessment (IMAP) program during their first two years under this permit.
- Upon successful completion of the transition to teaching program, the candidate will receive an initial practitioner license. They will be required to complete the assessment portfolio portion of IMAP during the first two years under the initial practitioner license. They will not be required to repeat the mentoring phase of the program.
- Prior to obtaining the initial practitioner license, all transition to teaching permit holders will still be required to complete the required Praxis exams.
The Division of Professional Standards will still need to promulgate the rule to support the statute. Because of the promulgation timeline, we will be unable to promulgate this rule prior to July 1. However, we will use the proposed rule as our guideline in the interim. This rule is attached.
There are three options that will allow a person to be eligible for the Transition to Teaching permit. These are listed below:
Option #1: Eligible School Corporations
The following school corporations may obtain a transition to teaching permit in *any instructional licensing content area:
Anderson Community School Corporation
Blue River Special Education Cooperative
Carmel Clay Schools
Diocese of Fort Wayne
Diocese of Gary
Elkhart Community Schools
Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation
Fort Wayne Community Schools
Gary Community Schools
Goshen Community Schools
Greater Clark County Schools
Greenfield-Central Community Schools
Indianapolis Public Schools
Joint Education Services Indiana Special Education Cooperative
Kokomo-Center Township Consolidated School Corporation
LaPorte Community School Corporation
Logansport Community School Corporation
Madison Area Education Special Service Unit
Michigan City Area Schools
Monroe County Community School Corporation
MSD Lawrence Township
MSD Perry Township
MSD Wayne Township
New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corporation
Office of Catholic Education
Porter County Education Interlocal
Richmond Community School Corporation
School City of East Chicago
School City of Hammond
School City of Mishawaka
South Bend Community Schools
The above school corporations and cooperatives were each selected on the basis of the number of emergency permits requested per school corporation. Each of the school corporations had a minimum of 1% of the approximately 2,000 emergency permits issued during the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 school year.
*Footnote: Communications Disorders is not an area eligible for a transition to teaching permit. This serves as the sole exception to the content areas available for a transition to teaching permit. It is also important to note that this statute only applies to instructional (teaching) licenses. Administration and supervision and school services licensing areas are not eligible areas.
Option #2: Eligible Subject Areas
In November 2005, the U.S. Department of Education approved subject areas submitted by Department staff as Indiana teacher shortage areas eligible for consideration for the Paul E. Douglas scholarship. The Department recommends that the State Board recognize the same shortage areas for the transition to teaching permit, with one addition. Any school corporation may request a transition to teaching permit in the following areas:
- Mild Intervention
- Intense Intervention
- Visually Handicapped
- Hearing Impaired
- Mathematics
- Spanish
- Chemistry
- Earth/Space Science
- Life Science
- Physical Science
- Physics
- English as a New Language
Option #3: Alternative for Schools That Are Not Eligible for a Transition to Teaching Permit In a Non-Shortage Area
School corporations not listed among the approved list of transition to teaching permit corporations may request from the division of professional standards a transition to teaching permit in a non-shortage area by submitting evidence of one or more of the following:
(1) A change in student demographics requiring the school corporation to significantly change its instructional program.
(2) A need for increased emphasis in the requested area to address learning gaps and improve student achievement as identified by ISTEP, AYP, and P.L.221 results; or
(3) Proof that the school corporation is a “hard-to-staff” school corporation, as demonstrated by demographic data, including the complexity index of the school corporation or the number or percentage of students in categories that are included in the complexity index.
In addition to the application form and the evidence of one of the three criteria listed above, the school corporation will provide a written plan on how it will use the candidate.
School districts and licensing advisors will receive an application-information packet from us later this summer. Should you have any questions after receipt of this packet, please contact Ray Graves at rgraves@doe.in.gov.
Social Security Numbers
Effective immediately, we are asking that all staff and licensing advisors stop transmitting social security numbers over e-mail. This is unsafe as identity thieves can intercept e-mail over the internet. We would like for everyone to use the following system:
Full name
Birth date (if possible)
Last four digits of the SSN. We suggest that you replace the first
five numbers with an x
Example
John Doe
Birth date: 03/03/1996
xxx-xx-0000
While it is preferable that you have the birth date, we know that this might always be possible, so while it is preferable, we should be able to find most records without it.
Thanks for your cooperation on this.
Rules 2002 School Services Licenses
In 2002, the decision was made to delay the implementation of the Rules 2002 Indiana Mentoring and Assessment Program (IMAP) requirements for all school services licenses until July 1, 2006. This was to allow each area to develop an IMAP system for their respective areas. In the interim, all four school services areas were issued Rules 46-47 licenses. As we approach July 1, 2006, I would like to update you on the plans for these licenses.
School Counselors have completed their work. The Counselor Portfolio Handbook and assessment is complete. They are currently training mentors and plan to send several people to the scorers training in June. They believe they will have enough trained mentors to begin the IMAP process. School Counselors will be ready to begin the IMAP process July 1, 2006.
Therefore, beginning July 1, 2006, all original school counseling licenses will be issued under Rules 2002. These license holders will receive the initial practitioner license and be required to complete IMAP.
School Social Workers are finalizing their work and are working to complete final revisions and additions to the Social Worker Portfolio Handbook and assessment. They have a plan to begin the initial mentor training and also plan to have people attend the June scorers training. There is concern about the ability to engage a sufficient number of initial mentors in appropriate geographical areas. Barring any unforeseeable problems, the school social workers will be ready to begin the IMAP process July 1, 2006.
Therefore, beginning July 1, 2006, all original school social worker licenses will be issued under Rules 2002. These license holders will receive the initial practitioner license and be required to complete IMAP.
School Nurses are finalizing their work on the Nurse Portfolio Handbook and assessment. They believe they will be able to use much of an existing framework; however they will need to implement mentor training as well as complete the handbook to be ready to begin the IMAP process July 2006.
Therefore, beginning July 1, 2006, all original school nurse licenses will be issued under Rules 2002. These license holders will receive the initial practitioner license and be required to complete IMAP.
School Psychologists are working on the process; however they have been waiting on new standards. This wait has delayed their work. School psychologists will not be ready to begin the IMAP process July 1, 2006.
Therefore, our recommendation to the advisory board and to Dr. Reed will be to delay the implementation of the Rules 2002 licensing program for school psychology licenses and issue Rules 46-47 licenses until July 1, 2007. Please note that this recommendation has not yet been approved. We will inform you when it is official.