The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing was presented with potential changes to the Accreditation Framework, which sets forth the CTC’s policies on the accreditation of educator preparation programs. Following a two-year period of deep review and development, the CTC adopted a new Accreditation Framework in February 2016 to reflect the new and revised system. Changes to Framework Section 4 reflect the revisions to the Initial Institutional Approval and add detail on the final step in the process whereby the CTC may grant full accreditation to an institution. The framework is currently silent on this part of the process. Some of the specific language contained within the 2016 Accreditation Framework reflects the system as it was envisioned but as not yet implemented. Since that time, the commission staff and Committee on Accreditation have been able to fully implement most aspects of the new accreditation system. Some of these new aspects, such as the annual Accreditation Data System, have taken a number of years to move from conceptual to operational status. Given that it has been four years since adoption of the Accreditation Framework and there have been many positive developments in the implementation of the accreditation system, it has been deemed appropriate that the current system is accurately reflected in the Accreditation Framework language. A summary of the proposed changes to the Accreditation Framework is as follows:

The work to revise the Preliminary Education Specialist credential structure began with a work group that developed a basic set of program standards and Teaching Performance Expectations for this credential. Upon completion of the work group meetings, the CTC adopted a revised credential structure which resulted in five preliminary teaching credentials:  Mild to Moderate Support Needs, Extensive Support Needs, Visual Impairments, Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and Early Childhood Special Education. The commission has since determined that every teacher candidate should take and pass a Teacher Performance Assessment prior to earning the preliminary teaching credential.  One of the important outcomes in the commission’s reform work in both special education and general education over the last several years is the development of a common or universal set of Teacher Performance Expectations that are met by both general education and special education teachers. Universal Teacher Performance Expectations establish a common foundation for all teachers, based on the concept that all teachers are teachers of all students, that all students are general education students first and that all students need intervention at different points in their academic career.  The commission’s goal in establishing universal Teacher Performance Expectations was to ensure that all teachers learn the fundamentals of teaching, ideally in common coursework that allows for collaboration across credential types, and then specialize in the content of their particular Education Specialist credential area.  Institutional approvals Yuba City Unified School District: Yuba City Unified School District seeks to offer a teacher induction program. The district’s Induction Program Coordinator will be responsible for day-to-day oversight of the program. This position will be reporting to the Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Pamela Aurangzeb, who reports to Superintendent Doreen Osumi. The Yuba City Unified School District’s proposed induction program will be offered using an in-person model with a combination of fully released and/or non-released induction mentors. Professional development will be provided at district-sponsored workshops, by district personnel and also through online resources. San Benito County Office of Education: San Benito County Office of Education is proposing to offer a teacher induction program. Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Keith Thorbahn will be responsible for ongoing oversight of all educator preparation programs and Colleen Meyers, coordinator of instructional support, will serve as the program coordinator. This position will report to the assistant superintendent of educational services. San Benito County Office of Education assures that the duties related to credential recommendations will only be performed by employees of San Benito County Office of Education and these individuals will take part in the commission training related to the recommendation process. New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development: The New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development seeks institutional approval to offer the following programs: Preliminary Multiple Subject, Preliminary Single Subject (English, Mathematics, Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Geoscience, Physics and Social Science) and Preliminary Education Specialist: Mild/Moderate Early Childhood Special Education. For the purposes of fieldwork, NYU has and will continue to have fieldwork partnerships in place with mentor schools within the two partnering school districts: San Francisco Unified School District and Corona-Norco Unified School District. NYU uses a Residency Site Partnership Agreement template that is used with all mentor schools.  Alder Graduate School of Education: Alder Graduate School of Education has been operating in partnership with and under the auspices of the University of the Pacific and plans to implement a student teaching residency model for their proposed programs. There is a statewide shortage of qualified teachers, particularly among California’s highest-need schools and populations. Within this context, it is noted that there are teacher shortages in each of the credential areas Alder Graduate School of Education is proposing to offer. Alder Graduate School of Education intends to prepare teachers to serve in all of California’s public schools and further notes that its model emphasizes recruiting candidates from school communities where the candidates will ultimately work as teachers, which will create diverse teaching teams that more closely mirror the students they teach. To increase its oversight of the work of the Division of Professional Practices, in 2011 the CTC directed staff to start presenting information about DPP’s workload as part of the commission’s agenda.

Of the overall investment of $915 million in one-time funding for educator recruitment and preparation, the commission will be overseeing $354.1 million over the next five years through multiple grant programs.  Teacher Residency Programs: A proposed $175 million in one-time Proposition 98 General Fund to expand the Teacher Residency Program, which supports locally sponsored, one-year intensive, mentored, clinical teacher preparation programs dedicated to preparing and retaining teachers in high-need subject areas in high-need communities. California Teacher Credential Award Program: A proposed $100 million one-time Proposition 98 General Fund to establish the California Teacher Credential Award Program for $20,000 stipends for fully credentialed teachers who complete four years of teaching service in a high-need subject at a high-need school. California Classified School Employees Credentialing Program: A proposed $64.1 million one-time Proposition 98 General Fund to expand the California Classified School Employees Credentialing Program, which provides grants to K-12 local educational agencies to recruit non-certificated school employees to become certificated classroom teachers. Computer Science Supplementary Authorizations Grant: A proposed $15 million one-time Proposition 98 General Fund for grants to local educational agencies to support the preparation of approximately 10,000 K-12 teachers to earn a supplementary authorization on their credential to teach computer science. Early Learning, Universal Preschool, and Child Care: The governor is proposing $5 million be provided to support the creation of a Master Plan for Early Learning and Care to provide a roadmap to universal preschool and a comprehensive, quality, and affordable child care system. The Master Plan will be administered by the Secretary of the Health and Human Services Agency with final recommendations and findings from the Master Plan submitted by Oct. 1, 2020.  In addition, the governor is proposing a one-year suspension of accreditation fees for institutions of higher education and local educational agencies that administer a teacher preparation program or induction program. The commission collects approximately $800,000 in these fees each year. This funding will not be an expenditure authority decrease but will be provided out of the commission’s reserve as one-time funding.  ACSA’s Liaison to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing has asked why these same funds are not used as a one-year moratorium on teacher credential candidate fees to reduce the financial impact upon their educational costs. Why should one government agency extend relief to other agencies rather than to teacher candidates?   California has nearly two decades of experience implementing educator performance assessments, more than any other state in the nation. The Teaching Performance Assessment, as specified in Education Code, requires all Multiple and Single Subject credential candidates to demonstrate, through actual performance with K-12 students in California public school classrooms, that they have demonstrated appropriate competence regarding the California Standards for the Teaching Profession. The initial version of the Assessment Design Standards was adopted and used by the commission to ensure that the original Teacher Performance Assessment models approved for use by the commission met the standards of quality for large-scale assessments expected by the CTC and California educators. Three approved TPA models:

1. The California Teaching Performance Assessment provides for two instructional cycles that are completed and submitted at different times during the preparation program and are scored separately.
2. The edTPA consists of a single scored submission. 
3. The Fresno Assessment of Student Teachers provides for two submissions that are submitted and scored separately.

Performance Assessments are expected to yield important data that support program improvement, accreditation, public reporting and reliability monitoring. The current Assessment Design Standards may need to be amended to ensure that Teacher Performance Assessment model sponsors provide sufficient data in four key areas for data collection, analysis and reporting. 

1. Program Improvement at the Institution — Institutions receive their own data back from the examination administrator but without a report that includes statewide data, important contextual information, informs faculty training and the type(s) of support provided to candidates in preparation for the assessment.
2. Accreditation — Consistent with prior commission direction, data collected from Teacher Performance Assessment model sponsors will be used to inform accreditation activities for teacher preparation programs. Review of performance assessment data will allow the team members to develop questions that will be asked during accreditation site visit interviews. 
3. Public reporting of passing rates — The commission would use data collected from Teacher Performance Assessment model sponsors to produce Teacher Performance Assessment passing rate reports for the public and prospective candidates of teacher preparation programs.
4. Monitoring implementation and reliability of the Teacher Performance Assessment models approved by the commission — The process for approving Teacher Performance Assessment models for use in California includes the requirement that model sponsors provide evidence regarding the validity and reliability of their assessment system. 

There are no provisions, however, requiring model sponsors to monitor and report on the aspects of the system that must be present in order to maintain validity and reliability.