New
York State Teacher Education Regulations
The link above goes to the Table of Contents of the new regulations governing teacher education program standards in New York State.
Each section of the regulations is a link to an ordinary webpage (requires only a browser such as you are using to view this page) with the full text of that section.
The current version is dated July, 1999 and is scheduled to be adopted in September by the Regents. If there are any changes made before the final vote, I will note them here.
Note that these Part 52.21 regulations do not include the Part 80 regulations which govern standards for teachers themselves (as opposed to teacher education programs). The new Part 80 regulations are to be approved in December.
Highlights
At the request of many colleagues, I include here various comments that highlight particular sections of the new regulations that may have significant impact on our own curriculum planning process. (You can search through these comments in your browser by hitting Control-F and entering a keyword or phrase.)
Vocabulary
Certificates. There will be an Initial Certificate, requiring the Bachelor's degree and completion of an approved teacher education program; valid for three years only. The Professional Certificate requires completion of the Master's degree and an approved advanced teacher education program, and must be kept in good standing by completing 175 hours of professional development work every five years. These certificates will be issued beginning February 2004 for teaching starting September 2004.
There is also a Transitional Certificate; this is meant only for post-baccalaureate students who are enrolled in an approved Intensive teacher education program with supervised full-time classroom teaching. It is valid for a maximum of two years, only while enrolled in the program.
Certificate Titles. These are highly specialized and their number is legion. See the draft of Part 80. Note the following general terminology. The age ranges for each certificate overlap with those above and below it.
ECE = Early Childhood Education = Birth to Grade 2
CE = Childhood Education (formerly elementary) = Grade 1 to 6
MCE = Middle Childhood Education = Grade 5 to 9
AE = Adolescence Education (formerly secondary) = Grade 8 to 12
General Requirements
These apply to all programs:
written statement of philosophy
demonstrated cooperation with arts and sciences faculty
majority of courses must be offered by fulltime faculty
admissions assessments for all students to the program
For programs leading to Initial Certificates (mainly undergrad), all students must have a general education Core. The general education core requirement generally fits with the BC core, but Arts, Communication, and Information Retrieval (i.e. library and internet skills) may not be fully covered. This is a college-wide issue.
Students' subject area content should be consistent with NYS Learning Standards; this requires us to assist colleagues in other departments to be in compliance.
The Pedagogical Core (click link to see details) includes, for ALL teachers knowledge about:
students with disabilities and special health-care needs
language acquisition and literacy development (equivalent of 6 credits)
multiple, research-validated instructional strategies
uses of educational technology by teachers and by students (also an NCATE standard)
This is in addition to the most common and expected education skills.
at least 100 clock hours of field experiences PRIOR TO student teaching
TWO student teaching experiences of at least 150 clock hours EACH
Range of student teaching experiences (by grade and type of school), specified for each certificate specialization (see below).
Specialized Requirments, by Program
Note: If you have trouble getting information from the NYSED website via these links, try our local back-up copies: NYSED B (General Requirements, Fieldwork, Professional Certificates); NYSED C (Specialized Requirements, first 7 programs above), NYSED D (Other Programs above).
Annotations and Extensions
A student who holds a valid Initial or Professional Certificate may apply for an Extension (major additional requirements) or an Annotation (lesser requirements). Annotations apply to teaching the gifted/talented and teaching students with multiple/severe disabilities. Extensions apply to Bilingual Education and two separate levels of Middle Childhood Education:
AE to MCE: Programs leading to extensions to authorize the teaching of a subject in grades 5 and 6 for certificates in teaching biology, chemistry, earth science, English, mathematics, physics, or social studies (Grades 7 through 12) shall require study of at least 6 semester hours in middle childhood education.
CE to MCE: Programs leading to extensions to authorize the teaching of a subject in grades 7 through 9 for certificates in childhood education (Grades 1 through 6) shall require study of at least 30 semester hours in the subject to be taught and at least 6 semester hours in middle childhood education.
Professional Certificate Programs (Master's Degree)
For ECE, CE, and MCE (generalist option): the program shall lead to a master's or higher degree that includes at least 12 semester hours in graduate study that links pedagogy and content in each of the following areas of the State Learning Standards for students: English language arts; mathematics, science and technology; and social studies. Such programs shall be jointly designed by faculty of these content areas and faculty of education to link content and pedagogy.
For AE and MCE (specialist option): the program shall lead to a master's or higher degree that includes at least 12 semester hours in graduate study that links pedagogy and content in the subject of the certificate or a related subject. Such programs shall be jointly designed by faculty of these content areas and faculty of education to link content and pedagogy.
For details, click on link above, or NYSED B (and use Control-F "Professional" to find the relevant subsections).