Highlights of the Revisions to the Administrative Rules Governing
Teacher Certification


This is a message from Mary Anne Adams, Professional Development/Human Rights Department Consultant.

Below are some highlights of the November, 2006
Changes to the Administrative Rules Governing Teacher Certification
which were forwarded to you on November 27, 2006.


*        Grade 6 has been added to secondary certificate authorization in subject areas on the teaching certificate.

*        The validity period of all provisional and professional education certificates will be determined from January 1 of the year of application.  For example, a Professional Education Certificate is valid for 5 years.  A Professional Education Certificate renewed at any time between January 1-December 31 in 2007 will expire June 30, 2012.

*        For the initial secondary provisional certificates, obtaining an endorsement in a required minor preparation is optional.

*        For an additional endorsement program the minimum number of semester credit hours has been increased from 18 to 20.

*        The first three year renewal of a provisional certificate maybe granted, based on the completion of 9 (formerly 10) semester credit hours in a planned program at an approved teacher preparation institution.

*        A planned program is to be in the subject area endorsement or endorsements on the certificate or is planned to support the teaching of an academic subject with deeper knowledge and additional skills or other areas related to K-12 teaching or support services.

*        A planned program from an out-of-state accredited teacher preparation institution is to be applicable towards a master's or higher degree or an additional subject area endorsement program of at least 20 semester credit hours.

*        Requires that teachers applying for the renewal of a provisional certificate or initial issuance of a professional education
certificate after July 1, 2007, must have completed a 3 credit course with appropriate field experiences in the diagnosis, remediation, and differentiation of reading instructions.

These changes take immediate effect (November 20, 2006).  The complete text of the revisions are available at

http://www.mea.org/pd/certification/index.html