Alabama Administrative Code
Title 290 - ALABAMA STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
Chapter 290-3-3 - TEACHER EDUCATION - PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
Section 290-3-3-.08 - Elementary Education (Grades K-6)
Universal Citation: AL Admin Code R 290-3-3-.08
Current through Register Vol. 42, No. 11, August 30, 2024
(1) Rationale. This document brings attention to those elements that are distinctive to the elementary education program. These elements represent the essential elementary curriculum, instructional knowledge and abilities, and professionalism for the preparation of teacher candidates for Grades K-6. These standards build upon the Alabama Core Teaching Standards.
(2) Program Curriculum. In addition to meeting Rules 290-3-3-.03(6)(a)1. -4., 290-3-3-.03(6)(e)1. and 2.(i) and (vii), 290-3-3-.04, and 290-3-3-.05, the elementary education curriculum shall require a teaching field of at least 30 semester hours with at least 18 semester hours of upper-division credit. For candidates unconditionally admitted to a program December 15, 2020, and thereafter, the program shall require no less than nine semester hours of reading or literacy coursework, or both, based on the science of learning to read, including multisensory strategies in foundational reading skills.
(a)
Development, Learning, and
Motivation. Candidates know, understand, and use the major concepts,
principles, theories, and research related to development of children and young
adolescents to construct learning opportunities that support individual
students' development, acquisition of knowledge, and motivation.
(b)
Curriculum.
1.
Reading, writing, and oral
language. Candidates demonstrate a high level of competence in the use
of English language arts to ensure student learning and achievement using
explicit instruction, facilitating active inquiry, providing opportunities for
collaboration, and promoting positive interactions. Candidates know,
understand, and use theories from reading, language, and child development to
teach reading, writing, speaking, viewing, listening, and thinking skills.
Candidates help students successfully apply their developing skills to many
different situations, materials, and ideas within and across all content areas
in order to provide relevant learning experiences for all students. Prior to
program completion, candidates demonstrate ability to:
(i) Use a variety of strategies (to include
explicit and systematic instruction, guided practice, error correction and
corrective feedback, and multisensory language instruction) to teach
foundational reading skills based on the science of learning to read, to
include oral language development, phonological awareness, phonics instruction,
writing, vocabulary, and comprehension, in accordance with the Alabama
Course of Study: English Language Arts.
(ii) Incorporate all the interrelated
components of English language arts into a cohesive learning
experience.
2.
Science. Candidates know, understand, and use fundamental concepts
of physical, life, and Earth/space sciences, as well as engineering and
computer sciences. Candidates can design and implement age-appropriate inquiry
science lessons with the goal of achieving scientific literacy for all
students. According to the conceptual framework of the 2015 Alabama
Course of Study for K-12 Science, "A scientifically literate person is
one who has a foundation in science knowledge, a technological understanding of
problem solving, and the ability to design scientific solutions." Prior to
program completion, candidates demonstrate ability to:
(i) Understand the current Alabama
Science Course of Study: Science and interpret three dimensional
(Scientific and Engineering Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Disciplinary
Core Ideas) expectations outlined by appropriate grade-level standards.
(ii) Create a collaborative,
student-centered classroom environment that provides opportunities for
scientific investigation, technology, and engineering design that allows
students to connect the classroom to the outside world.
(iii) Use diagnostic feedback from
appropriate ongoing formative assessment to modify teaching and learning
activities and summative assessments to determine student achievement at the
end of a unit of study.
(iv)
Provide differentiated instruction through intervention and acceleration based
on assessment results.
(v)
Determine appropriate instructional and learning targets used for the
development of lesson plans using a designated instructional model.
Instructional models may include, but are not limited to the 5E+IA
Instructional Model, as suggested and outlined in Alabama's 2015 College and
Career-Ready Science Standards, or the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study 5E
Instructional Model. The Five E+1A Instruction Model supports the use of
inquiry-based instruction and prepares prospective teachers to:
(I) Engage. Student interest is stimulated,
and connections are made to prior knowledge and between past and present
experiences. Student thinking is focused on learning outcomes as they become
mentally engaged in the practices, crosscutting concepts, and the core ideas of
the unit or lesson.
(II) Explore.
Students investigate initial ideas and solutions in a context within which they
can identify. Using investigation, research, discourse, text, and media,
students actively explore situations and build common experiences that serve as
a basis for developing an understanding of the concepts within
context.
(III) Explain. Students
are provided the opportunity to collaborate, communicate, and construct meaning
from their experiences based on an analysis of the exploration. This phase
emphasizes the importance of students developing evidence-based explanations
founded upon their observations and experiences obtained through
investigations. Teachers clarify understanding through definitions, labels, and
explanations for abilities, concepts, practices, and skills.
(IV) Elaborate. Students reflect upon,
expand, and apply conceptual understanding of scientific concepts to new and
unfamiliar situations in order to cultivate a broader and deeper understanding
of concepts through new experiences within new contexts and
situations.
(V) Evaluate. Students
are assessed on understanding of scientific concepts. Assessment provides
opportunities for teachers to evaluate understanding of concepts and practices
identified in the standards. This phase helps teachers know if students are
learning in order for appropriate next steps to occur.
(VI) Intervene or
Accelerate. When some students do not learn the first
time, intervention strategies may be implemented to further explain and
elaborate upon concepts to a greater extent in order to clarify understanding.
Students who have demonstrated proficiency may be able to enrich or accelerate
learning through more challenging, engaging, and exploratory
experiences.
3.
Mathematics. Based on the
State Course of Study: Mathematics, candidates know,
understand, and use the major concepts, procedures, and practices that define
counting and cardinality, number and operations with base 10 and fractions,
algebraic thinking, measurement and data, and geometry. In doing so, they
consistently engage in problem solving, reason abstractly and quantitatively,
construct viable arguments, model with mathematics, use appropriate tools
strategically, attend to precision, make use of structures, and express
regularity in repeated reasoning. Prior to program completion candidates
demonstrate ability to:
(i) Make sense of
problems, justify solutions with supporting evidence, use mathematical tools,
make conjectures and connections, and provide student feedback that builds
conceptual understanding and procedural fluency.
(ii) Explain students' strategies while
connecting and generalizing ideas, anticipating responses and misconceptions,
applying reason, and representing and articulating relationships between
mathematical concepts.
(iii) Find,
adapt, or create rigorous tasks with various entry levels and exit points for
engaging all students in real-life problematic situations that orchestrate
mathematical discourse and productive struggles for students.
4. Social studies. Candidates are
knowledgeable about the Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies, C3 Framework,
concepts, facts, tools, disciplinary structures of inquiry, and disciplinary
forms of representation in civics, economics, geography, history, and the
social/behavioral sciences. Prior to program completion, candidates demonstrate
ability to:
(i) Demonstrate an understanding
of how the disciplines--civics, economics, geography, and history, and the
social/behavioral sciences--create knowledge through disciplinary inquiry to
inform action in civic life.
(ii)
Plan learning sequences that leverage social studies knowledge and literacies,
technology, and theory and research to support the civic competence of
learners.
(iii) Understand and be
fluent in the methods of those disciplines and the ways conclusions of inquiry
are communicated through disciplinary forms of representation.
(iv) Design and implement instruction and a
range of authentic assessments, informed by data literacy and learner
self-assessment, that measure learners' mastery of disciplinary knowledge,
inquiry, and forms of representation for civic competence and demonstrate
alignment with state required content standards.
(v) Plan and implement relevant and
responsive pedagogy, create collaborative and interdisciplinary learning
environments, and prepare learners to be informed advocates for an inclusive
and equitable society.
(vi) Use
theory and research to continually improve their social studies knowledge,
inquiry skills, and civic dispositions, and adapt practice to meet the needs of
each learner.
(vii) Explore,
interrogate, and reflect upon their own cultural frames to attend to issues of
equity, diversity, access, power, human rights, and social justice within their
schools and/or communities.
5.
The arts. Candidates have a
thorough knowledge of the 2017 Alabama Course of Study for K-12 Arts
Education, including the four artistic processes - creating,
responding, connecting, and either performing (dance, music, theatre) or
producing (media arts) or presenting (visual arts) -- and the eleven anchor
standards shared across the arts. According to the conceptual framework of the
2017 Alabama Course of Study for K-12 Arts Education, "Arts
literacy is the goal of arts education in Alabama. Arts literacy consists of
the knowledge, understanding, and skills required to participate authentically
in the arts." Prior to program completion, candidates demonstrate ability to:
(i) Use the 2017 Alabama Course of
Study: Arts Education to design and implement age-appropriate inquiry
arts lessons and projects with the goal of achieving artistic literacy for all
students.
(ii) Create an
individual and/or collaborative, student-centered classroom environment that
provides opportunities for risk-free creative exploration and investigation to
conceive and develop artistic ideas and work.
(iii) Demonstrate how the arts may be used to
provide authentic alternative assessments (such as portfolios, rubrics, artist
statements, etc.) both within the arts and in other subjects.
(iv) Use at least one of the arts disciplines
to support learning and assessments in other subjects by providing authentic
arts integrated lessons that allow students through imagination, investigation,
construction and reflection to connect the classroom to the outside world
through creative production.
6.
Health education. Based on
the State Course of Study: Health Education, candidates know,
understand, and use the major concepts in the subject matter of health
education to create opportunities for student development and practice of
skills that contribute to good health. Prior to program completion, health
literate candidates demonstrate ability to:
(i) Assess needs to determine priorities for
school health education.
(ii) Plan
effective comprehensive school health education curricula and
programs.
(iii) Use multiple
instructional strategies that reflect effective pedagogy, and health education
theories and models that facilitate learning for all students.
(iv) Assess student learning by developing
assessment plans and analyze assessment results to guide future
instruction.
7.
Physical education. Based on the State Course of Study:
Physical Education, candidates know, understand, and use human
movement and physical activity as central elements to foster active, healthy
lifestyles and enhanced quality of life for elementary students. Prior to
program completion, candidates demonstrate ability to:
(i) Understand the relationship and
contributions of the physical education program within the elementary school
curriculum and process.
(ii)
Demonstrate academic knowledge and methods to plan and provide integrated and
developmentally appropriate learning experiences for elementary students in
accordance with local, state and/or national standards for elementary physical
education.
(iii) Understand the
emotional, social, and health-related needs of elementary students.
(iv) Demonstrate knowledge of the importance
of physical activity within the elementary school program as it relates to the
impact on classroom and academic performance.
(v) Identify the basic movement patterns
(locomotor, manipulative, stability, and perceptual motor) and
principles.
(vi) Demonstrate
knowledge of current local, state, and national trends, programs and
initiatives including but not limited to Comprehensive School Physical Activity
Program (CSPAP) as part of the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child
(WSWC) model, and the Alabama Champions for Healthy Active Schools.
8.
Special education.
Prior to program completion, candidates shall demonstrate the ability to use
knowledge acquired and abilities demonstrated in the survey of special
education course and discipline-specific methods courses to effectively
collaborate with special education teachers to adapt curriculum and activities
to accommodate the unique needs of special education students, including gifted
students, in regular class environments and to help plan support activities to
be provided by special education teachers.
(c)
Instruction. Candidates
demonstrate the ability to teach according to the Alabama College and Career
Ready Standards for K-6.
1.
Integrating and applying knowledge for instruction.
Candidates plan and implement instruction based on knowledge of students,
learning theory, connections across the curriculum, curricular goals, and
community.
2.
Adaptation to students from diverse populations.
Candidates understand how elementary students differ in their development and
approaches to learning and create instructional opportunities that are adapted
to students from diverse populations.
3.
Development of critical
thinking and problem solving. Candidates understand and use a
variety of teaching strategies that encourage elementary students' development
of critical thinking and problem solving.
4.
Active engagement in
learning. Candidates use their knowledge and understanding of
individual and group motivation and behavior among students at the K-6 level to
foster active engagement in learning, self-motivation, and positive social
interaction and to create supportive learning environments.
5.
Communication to foster
collaboration. Candidates use their knowledge and understanding of
effective verbal, nonverbal, and media communication techniques to foster
active inquiry, collaboration, and supportive interaction in the elementary
classroom.
(d)
Assessment for Instruction. Candidates know, understand, and use
formal and informal assessment strategies to plan, evaluate, and strengthen
instruction that will promote continuous intellectual, social, emotional, and
physical development of each elementary student.
(e)
Professionalism.
1.
Professional growth,
reflection, and evaluation. Candidates are aware of and reflect on
their practice in light of research on teaching, professional ethics, and
resources available for professional learning; they continually evaluate the
effects of their professional decisions and actions on students, families, and
other professionals in the learning community and actively seek out
opportunities to grow professionally.
2.
Collaboration with families,
colleagues, and community agencies. Candidates know the importance
of establishing and maintaining a positive collaborative relationship with
families, school colleagues, and agencies in the larger community to promote
the intellectual, social, emotional, physical growth, and well-being of
children.
(3) Faculty. The faculty must include at least three full-time persons with doctorates and with professional educational work experience in Grades K-6. At least one faculty member shall have a major specialization in elementary education and one in reading.
Previous Rule.06 was renumbered.08 per certification published August 31, 2021; effective October 15, 2021.
Author: Dr. Eric G. Mackey
Statutory Authority: Code of Ala. 1975, §§ 16-3-16, 16-23-14.
Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. Alabama may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
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