Current through Vol. 41, No. 13, March 15, 2024
(a) The following requirements apply to both
undergraduate and graduate programs. The governance and administration of the
total educator preparation program standard is based on the premise that there
must be a recognizable and functioning governance entity within the
institution's administrative structure which has responsibility for designing,
approving and continuously evaluating and developing educator preparation
programs. This governing unit may be a council, committee, department, school,
college, or any other recognizable entity, which includes the administration of
educator preparation as one of its functions. The governing unit membership and
responsibilities include the following:
(1)
Membership on the educator preparation governing unit shall be defined by
written policy to include:
(A) A majority of
the members who have a minimum of three years teaching experience in public
schools;
(B) A majority of the
members in the governance unit who are currently teacher education faculty
members;
(C) Some faculty members
who shall represent the arts and sciences;
(D) A designated director of educator
preparation defined as the institution's official representative for educator
preparation. The authority and responsibilities of this individual shall be
clearly defined in written policies; and
(E) A clearly defined process whereby faculty
members and administrators become members and the terms of office.
(2) The responsibilities of the
educator preparation governing unit shall be defined by written policy to
include:
(A) Responsibilities of the officers
of the unit;
(B) Responsibilities
of the unit's standing committees; and
(C) Responsibilities in the following areas
as they are related to educator preparation:
(i) Admission/retention in educator
preparation;
(ii) Field experience
and student teaching (admission and placement);
(iii) Development of courses and program
curricula; and program review, evaluation and planning.
(3) Program review, evaluation and
revision responsibilities include:
(A) The
governance unit shall conduct at least one systematic review, evaluation, and
when appropriate, revision of all educator preparation programs within each
accreditation period;
(B) Periodic
program reviews and revisions shall be based on, but not limited to, stated
goals and objectives; and
(C) The
process for conducting program review, evaluation, and revision shall include,
but not be limited to, participation by the following:
(i) Educator preparation faculty and arts and
science faculty;
(ii) Graduates of
the programs;
(iii) Students
currently in the program;
(iv)
Teachers and administrators from the public schools;
(v) Parents of P-12 students and business and
community leaders who are actively involved in assisting P-12
schools.
(4)
Documentation related to the budget-making process and level of financial
support shall include the following:
(A) A
clearly defined budget-making process for all teacher education programs;
and
(B) An analysis showing that
the institution's financial support for programs in educator preparation are
maintained at a level appropriate for a professional preparation
program.
(b)
Educator preparation faculty workload policies, including class-size and online
course delivery, should allow faculty members to be effectively engaged in
teaching, scholarship, assessment, advisement, collaborative work in P-12
schools, and service. Faculty loads for teaching on campus and online generally
do not exceed 12 hours for undergraduate teaching and nine hours for graduate
teaching per semester or the equivalent. Supervision of clinical practice does
not generally exceed 18 candidates for each full-time equivalent faculty member
per semester or the equivalent.
(c)
Candidate-related standards are to be consistent with accreditation
standards.
(d) Program decisions of
the professional education unit are to be guided by a conceptual framework,
which establishes the shared vision for the preparation of teacher candidates.
(1) The conceptual framework application for
state initial accreditation.
(2)
The conceptual framework shall consist of:
(A) The program's philosophy, purposes,
professional commitments and dispositions;
(B) A knowledge base that provides the
foundation for the framework;
(C)
Performance expectations for candidates that align with professional, state and
institutional standards; and
(D) A
system by which candidate performance is regularly assessed.
(e) The following
guidelines are to be used to collect and maintain data on each institution's
educator preparation program:
(1) The
institution shall establish a process which seeks information and program input
from educator preparation faculty; faculty from arts and sciences and other
programs and disciplines which are appropriate; candidates within the educator
preparation program; teachers, administrators, parents, guardians or custodians
of students; and business and community leaders.
(2) The institution shall establish
procedures to inform the public regarding the educator preparation program and
to solicit and receive public input.
(3) The self-study shall be accessible to any
interested party under the Oklahoma Open Records Act.
(4) The submitted institutional plan must be
approved by the institution's governing board.
(5) Annual reviews and reports indicating
program changes.
(f) The
following policies, procedures and guidelines are used to direct the content
and candidates' experiences of each institution's teacher preparation program.
(1) Programs require teacher candidates to
have speaking and listening skills at a novice high level in a language other
than English or the knowledge and skills necessary to address the needs of
Emergent Bilingual (English Learner) students in the P-12 classroom and are
proficient in the strategies required for successful delivery of P-12
instruction in that area. The assessment for such competency may occur at any
point in the teacher candidate's program through specified course work,
approved by the Office of Educational Quality and Accountability (OEQA), and as
may be required by the institution.
(2) General studies requirements for
candidates include the arts, communication, history, literature, mathematics,
philosophy, sciences, English, government, and the social sciences.
(3) Programs establish cohort or colleague
groups within the institution to assist teacher candidates in achieving
competencies, better adapting to the school environment and furthering
professional growth.
(4) Candidates
complete a well-planned sequence of courses and/or experiences in pedagogical
studies that ensures student competency in the Oklahoma State Department of
Education Full Subject Matter Competencies for Teacher Licensure and
Certification.
(5) The guidelines
and standards for program reviews representing specialty organizations and
national learned society standards are used in developing programs in each
content area.
(6) Secondary and
elementary/secondary teacher candidates have undergraduate majors or their
equivalents, in a subject area.
(7)
Teacher candidates in early childhood, elementary, and special education have
subject area concentrations, which allow qualification as a generalist. To
qualify as a generalist, candidates must document competency in mathematics,
science, language arts, and social studies as identified in the CAEP
professional learned societies' standards and State Department of Education
Full Subject Matter Competencies for early childhood, elementary and special
education.
(8) Teacher candidate
coursework includes the study of substance abuse symptoms identification and
prevention; mental illness symptoms identification and mental health issues;
classroom management skills; trauma-informed responsive instruction; classroom
safety and discipline issues and multi-tiered systems of support.
(9) Teacher candidate coursework or training
includes the use of digital and other instructional technologies to effectively
maximize student learning.
(10)
Early childhood, elementary education and special education candidates;
training includes research-based instructional strategies for instruction,
assessment and intervention for literacy development for all students,
including advanced readers, typically developing readers and struggling readers
who are coping with a range of challenges, including, but not limited to,
English learners and learners with handicapping conditions and learning
disabilities (including dyslexia).
(11) Teacher candidates must complete and
have a minimum of 60 hours of diverse field experiences prior to their student
teaching internship. Teacher candidates must complete the equivalent of twelve
(12) weeks of student teaching under the direct supervision of a mentor teacher
serving as the teacher of record and has a minimum of three years of teaching
experience in the area for which they are certified.
(12) Teacher candidates are provided with
advisement services to assist them in taking course work designed to maximize
their opportunities for certification and employment. At a minimum, teacher
candidates are provided information on the latest supply and demand information
concerning teacher employment, state salary structure, and teaching shortage
areas.
(13) Substantive
collaboration and classroom interaction with students accompany theoretical
curriculum, thus allowing teacher candidates the opportunity to apply theory to
actual classroom situations.
(14)
Instruction integrates pedagogical competencies or skills with experiences in
the school setting.
(15) Teacher
candidates are provided with opportunities to have parental, family and
community involvement within their pre-service programs.
(16) The unit establishes and publishes a set
of criteria/competencies for exit from each professional education program.
These criteria/competencies reflect the Oklahoma Department of Education
General Teacher Competencies and/or subject matter competencies outlined in the
CAEP national (professional) learned societies' standards.
(17) The unit establishes and publishes the
criteria/competencies for exit and satisfactory completion adhering to all
rules and regulations established by the Oklahoma State Department of
Education.
(18) A candidate's
mastery of a program's stated exit criteria or competencies is assessed through
the use of multiple sources of data such as culminating experience, portfolios,
interviews, videotaped and observed performance in schools, standardized tests
and course grades.
(19) Effective
September 1, 2015 mentor teachers are required to have minimum of three years
of teaching experience in the area in which they are certified.
(g) The following guidelines are
to be used to facilitate the professional learning of faculty: Teacher
education faculty continue their professional learning during their tenure at
an institution of higher education to ensure that the future teachers of
Oklahoma are taught by professional educators fully trained in their areas of
expertise. Professional development for teacher educators and arts and sciences
faculty should be focused on the faculty members' ability to model such
effective teaching strategies as inquiry, group discussions and collaborative
learning.
(h) The following
policies are to be used to evaluate individual program areas at each
institution: The institution shall submit program reviews for each required
program area based upon the CAEP and/or State policies, guidelines and
accreditation schedule. An educator preparation provider that has secured
specialty area accreditation from a specialized accrediting agency that is
recognized by the U.S. Department of Education or CHEA can choose to have any
such accredited program(s) exempted from review.
(i) Gifted Education and Elementary Math
Specialist programs, requiring no more than eighteen hours of graduate level
coursework, designed as endorsement programs for certified educators are
submitted to OEQA for process approval.
