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Texas Teacher Supply Could Drop More Than 50 Percent, Warn Advocates of the Alternate Route to Certification
Compliance With Proposed TEA Rules to Require Hundreds of Thousands of New Hours of Teacher Observations Is "Nearly Impossible"
| Source: Texas Teachers ACP
AUSTIN, TX--(Marketwire - October 21, 2008) - Advocates for alternative teacher certification
programs are voicing concerns about new rules proposed by the Texas
Education Agency (TEA) that could radically reduce the ranks of teachers in
Texas. At issue are newly proposed rules from the State Board for Educator
Certification (SBEC) that regulate the alternate route to teacher
certification. The proposal would require local school districts to begin
to offer hundreds of thousands of new hours of teacher observations this
school year.
Speaking this week in Austin, an official with TEA admitted that capacity,
logistics and timing issues make the SBEC's proposal almost impossible to
comply with. Dr. Karen Loonam made the admission at a meeting of the trade
association of Alternative Certification Programs (TACA) and Texas
Association of Certification Officers (TACO). She stated in her
presentation that it would be very difficult for new teachers to gain the
proposed observation hours in a timely manner for them to be eligible to
get hired by school districts next August.
SBEC suggested the only possible solution is for local school districts to
change their observation policies to increase their offerings in order to
accommodate this tidal wave of new demand set to come next year. Statewide,
observers estimate that the Texas teaching supply could be slashed by more
than half due to the inability of local school districts to comply with the
proposed observation requirements.
The state's suggestion blind-sided school districts that were not aware
they would be expected to shoulder the responsibility for providing
increased observation hours to help new teachers comply. It also fails to
account for the fact that most districts are already at or near maximum
capacity. In fact, some districts such as the state's largest, Houston
Independent School District, are scheduled to scale back their offerings
next year. It has become too much of a disruption to the learning
environment in schools.
"It appears the anticipated collision between reality and ideology is
here," said Vernon Reaser, the President of Texas Teachers
(www.texasteachers.org), which is the largest alternative certification
program and the single largest producer of new teachers in Texas.
Many advocates for alternative teacher certification are calling on the
Texas State Board of Education to send this proposal back to SBEC to be
corrected. The Board will consider the proposal on November 20, 2008.