Date: 02/20/2013
Final
Presentation on Teacher Licensure by CDE
COMMITTEE ON JOINT EDUCATION
| Votes: View--> | Action Taken: |
| <none> | <none> |
08:26 AM -- Presentation on Teacher Licensure by CDE
Representative Hamner asked Dr. Goetz to begin her presentation on teacher licensure. Dr. Goetz described the role of the Office of Professional Services and Educator Licensure, at CDE, stating that staff members review and evaluate all applications for teacher licensure, approve all teacher preparation programs, and perform all background checks.
Senator Todd asked about the time it takes to process background checks. Dr. Goetz explained that all background checks for teacher licensure must go through the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and that process takes about six months to complete. She stated that CDE has been working with CBI on a new system that will be available in March 2013 and should speed up the process. She said that the new system will allow licenses to be accessed electronically. She said that it costs $39.50 to perform a background check with CBI, and that all funds go to CBI. She said that fingerprinting is still done on a fingerprinting card that is are delivered to the CBI, and that sometimes it has to be redone due to unclean prints.
Dr. Goetz responded to a committee question about how the teacher licensure test lines up with the state standards for what teachers should know. She stated that she is not sure how well these tests predict good teaching and that more attention needs to be paid to this. She stated that CDE offers 30 different kinds of educator licenses, and that the department reviewed 37,387 applications last year. She said that the application review and evaluation process is now down to two weeks which was made possible by the department receiving continuous spending authority. She said that the application review and evaluation process used to take six months.
Dr. Goetz discussed teacher preparation programs and said that there are 19 traditional programs and 26 alternative preparation programs. She stated that the teacher preparation program administrators are being trained on what teachers will be expected to know and do, and are adjusting their curriculum to align with those requirements. She discussed the licensing process and professional development requirements.
08:33 AM
Dr. Goetz continued her presentation and discussed the e-licensing system. She stated that the department will stop printing paper licenses very soon and that this will save time and money. Ms. Hawley responded to a question about the teacher licensure testing and the alignment of those tests with the teacher evaluation system. Ms. Hawley stated that degrees and content knowledge are not always the best predictors of effective teaching. She discussed a nationwide effort to look at performance assessments and their ability to predict how teachers might perform in the classroom. She said that over twenty states are piloting the system. Dr. Goetz responded to questions from the committee about how Colorado's colleges and universities are preparing teachers and how standards are being aligned.
Committee discussion about the Troops to Teachers program ensued. Dr. Goetz said that Colorado has about 75 teachers who go through the program every year and that the retention rate of teachers going through the program is about 85 percent after five years. She said that nationally, there are about 2000 teachers that go through the program.
08:49 AM
Representative Hamner thanked the presenters and the committee adjourned.