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Re-certification of temporary certified teachers.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

Effective February 2002, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) requires that teachers be recertified every five years with the completion of professional development plan. Teachers are required to develop a five-year plan that includes a series of professional development activities. The author surveyed a group of temporary certified teachers, who are pursuing teacher certification for grades K-9, regarding their perceptions toward the re-certification process. The majority of teachers expressed a positive attitude toward the ISBE recertification initiative but it seems necessary to provide with a wide range of assistance from school principals and district office staff on what entails in the recertification process.

Introduction

A colleague and I meet frequently at state and national conferences. Both of us coordinate graduate-level programs leading to regular teacher certification for teachers that currently hold a temporary teacher certificate (Type 29) in bilingual classrooms. As coordinators and also as advisors to our program participants, one of the most challenging questions from our students has been, "Why do I have to do student teaching, if I have been teaching for the past five years or more?" My colleague responds, "Just like a doctor who needs to do medical internship and a lawyer who needs to pass the bar exam, you need to do student teaching."

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) requires that teachers with temporary certificates secure student teaching supervised by university faculty and 16-week teacher-supervised in-classroom training. These two requirements must be met before they can successfully obtain an Initial Teacher Certificate. This situation has raised some questions regarding these teachers' perceptions about the recently enacted Illinois policy on teacher recertification. For these temporary certified teachers, this recertification policy implies that after receiving their master's degree with the required courses for regular teacher certification, these "newly certified" teachers are entitled to an Initial Teaching Certificate before obtaining a Standard Teaching Certificate. Effective February 15, 2000, the ISBE will require that teachers be recertified every five years upon proof of continuing professional development.

Teachers holding an Initial or Standard Teaching...

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