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December 9, 2019
This newsletter provides key updates and policy changes that were presented at the November board meeting. See additional actions and annotations from this meeting.
Agency snapshot report
PESB's annual agency snapshot is now available. This report offers high level highlights, accomplishments, and data points around the work of agency programs and initiatives.
Micro-credentials in Washington
Micro-credentials are a portfolio assessment of a specific competency used to develop educators and improve their practice. Since 2016, PESB has offered three iterative micro-credential pilot grants, each with increasing scale and purpose. Based on a review of these pilots, a report is now available highlighting lessons and recommendations to address in future micro-credential structures.
Paraeducator pilot final report
The paraeducator certificate program was established to provide consistent, statewide professional development training to instructional paraeducators to support the successful academic
outcomes of Washington's students. Between August 2018 and July 2019, four school districts and two Educational Service Districts piloted specific training elements of the certificate program to over 200 paraeducators. A new report explores learnings from each pilot site, and offers recommendations for program implementation.
Recruiting Washington Teachers annual report
Recruiting Washington Teachers (RWT) is a high school teacher academy program that works
to address the under-representation of multicultural and multilingual teachers in Washington’s
teacher workforce by recruiting, developing, and supporting diverse students in their own
communities. The annual RWT report is now available, which highlights evidence and data collected from teacher academies for the 2018-19 school year, and illustrates the impact RWT programs can have on students. Districts interested in implementing a teacher academy can learn from each sites’ successes and challenges, supporting the larger goal of scaling the RWT teacher academy model statewide.
At the November 2019 board meeting, members from the Professional Educator Standards Board approved eliminating the Student Voice rubrics from edTPA, effective Fall 2020. Student Voice is one element of the Washington edTPA, a subject-specific performance assessment used by teacher preparation programs. Stakeholders expressed that Student Voice rubrics in edTPA created multiple unintended consequences, outweighing the benefits. Read the announcement to learn more.
The Alternative Routes Block Grant (ARBG) provides funding for preparation programs, districts, and candidates to support "grow your own" teacher strategies. Grants are awarded competitively on a two-year cycle to approved alternative routes programs. We recently announced the awardees for the 2020-22 biennium.
Educator shortage is a critical issue; it impacts almost every aspect of the education system in Washington. PESB has developed a series of maps noting regional and statewide shortages in teacher endorsements, CTE areas, Educational Staff Association (ESA) roles, as well as these areas combined.
The shortage definition used for these lists includes educators with a limited certificate in a certain content area plus educators assigned out-of-endorsement in that same content area. These shortage lists will be used in scholarship programs and educator preparation. Learn more.
The Board approved the proposed amendment to WAC 181-78A-232 incorporating the SEL standards into preparation program standards for teachers and principals.
The Board also approved to incorporate the SEL standards into:
For more information, view the meeting materials.
When an individual applies for a certificate, the OSPI certification office either issues the certificate or denies the application. The OSPI office of professional practice issues reprimands, certificate suspensions, certificate revocations, and application denials.
PESB approved an amendment to WAC 181-86-145 which clarifies the period of time an individual has to appeal one of these decisions, and allows notifications to the educator to be made electronically or through postmarked mail. Learn more.
PESB and the OSPI office of professional practice are convening a workgroup to review the Washington State educator discipline system. This workgroup is a result of HB 1139, and will make recommendations on:
- Improvement of the discipline system
- Alternative forms of discipline
- Whether to establish a process for expungement of reprimands
This workgroup will begin meeting in December 2019, and will provide a report with recommendations to the Board and Legislature in Fall 2020. Learn more.
In 2018, the Legislature mandated that all educator candidates engage in learning experiences involving the Since Time Immemorial curriculum on tribal sovereignty. The use of this tribal sovereignty curriculum has been endorsed by all 29 federally recognized tribes in Washington State. In order to meet these legislative requirements, PESB and the OSPI Office of Native Education are working to create official guidance for educator preparation program leaders to ensure that all educator candidates meaningfully engage with this curriculum during their pre-service experience.
PESB has awarded eight $15,000 grants to organizations supporting educator learning through professional growth plans (PGPs). Grant recipients were able to choose professional learning community work aligned to one of three focus areas:
- National Board Five Core Propositions
- Washington State Social Emotional Learning (SEL) standards
- Collaboration across roles, including teacher, administrator, educational staff associate (ESA), and paraeducator.
The grant period runs November 1, 2019 through May 15, 2020. For more information, view the meeting materials.
On November 13, the Paraeducator Board heard presentations and took action on several policies, including:
- Discussed how the Fundamental Course of Study will incorporate Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) standards to the paraeducator standards of practice. The Fundamental Course of Study will include SEL training beginning in January 2020. The online course, “Paraeducators: what we do matters”, will be updated to address the new standards.
- Listened to representatives from Longview and Vancouver school districts on their approaches to implementing the Fundamental Course of Study.
- A joint presentation from PESB and the OSPI Certification Office on how the paraeducator certificate fees were established
- An update on how community colleges are providing the Fundamental Course of Study with EDUC 101.
- A presentation on the paraeducator apprenticeship program
For a complete review of the board meeting, including summaries for each agenda item, please visit the meetings material folder.
- January 16-17, Hilton Garden Inn, Olympia
- March 19-20, Marriott Seattle Airport, SeaTac
- May 21-22, The Hampton Inn, Richland
- July 16-17, TBD
- September 24-25, Ruby River Hotel, Spokane
- November 5-6, The Heathman Lodge, Vancouver
- Funds available to explore bilingual high school teacher academy (December 5)
- Student Voice eliminated from edTPA (December 3)
- November paraeducator certificate program newsletter (November 22)
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