Introduction
This
guidance document addresses some of the questions that have been raised
regarding the Sheltered English Immersion
(SEI) Endorsement and other requirements under the Department of
Elementary and Secondary Education’s (DESE’s) Rethinking Equity and
Teaching for English Language Learners (RETELL)
initiative.
The MTA Center for Education Policy and Practice (CEPP) will continue
to review materials developed by DESE, the United States Department of
Justice (DOJ), the Executive
Office of Education and other professional education associations in
order to inform local leaders about this initiative. However, the
guidance for districts is not yet complete and locals should keep in
contact with their field representatives for the latest
information and advice. Additional information is available at www.massteacher.org/ELL.
What do educators need to know?
Teachers
need to be aware of the issues as this may affect licensure and
employment. Districts have a responsibility to identify and schedule
training for educators.
As
part of RETELL, new regulations have been approved that will require an
estimated 26,000 teachers to obtain additional training in sheltering
content area instruction
for English Language Learners (ELLs) in order to qualify for a SEI
Endorsement. For those required to take a course, the training is
equivalent to a 3-credit graduate course and includes 16 sessions, 6 of
which are on line, for a total of 45 hours. Some educators
may partially qualify for the SEI Endorsement based on prior training.
DESE-designated
Core Academic Teachers who teach ELLs will be required to qualify for
the SEI Endorsement. All other licensed educators will need to complete
15
PDPs in SEI and 15 PDPs in special education instruction in order to
renew a Professional License after July 1, 2016. Fulfilling these
mandates will affect your ability to maintain an active teaching license
in Massachusetts.
Who are “Core Academic Teachers”?
Core Academic Teachers for the purposes of SEI instruction include those who teach:
v
Civics and Government
v
Early Childhood
v
Economics
v
Elementary
v
English
v
History and Geography
v
Language Arts
v
Mathematics
v
Reading
v
Science
v
Special Education– Moderate
Disabilities & Severe Disabilities
When are educators required to earn a SEI Endorsement?
Core
Academic Teachers who teach ELLs will be required to earn the SEI
Endorsement no later than July 1, 2016. This includes district public
school teachers and
charter school teachers – even charter school teachers who are not
licensed.
Teachers in districts
with ELLs will be assigned to different cohorts by DESE and their
districts. During their assigned cohort’s training period, teachers will
be able to take part in the SEI Endorsement training at no cost to the
educator, according to DESE. At this time, it is unknown what action
will be taken regarding licensure or employment if a teacher fails to
complete the endorsement by the end of the assigned
cohort period.
All
approved educator preparation programs for Core Academic Teachers and
administrators will be required to submit documentation to DESE by June
1, 2013, on how
they will include the SEI Endorsement in their programs. Students who
complete an approved program and apply for an Initial license prior to
June 30, 2014, will not be required to have completed the SEI
Endorsement to be granted a license.
DESE
sent the cohort schedule to districts this summer. DESE states that
guidance on how individual educators
will be assigned to complete the endorsement requirements will be
available in mid-September 2012. The MTA will provide additional advice
to members as it becomes available.
How do educators qualify for an SEI endorsement?
Under the proposed regulations, teachers may qualify for an SEI Endorsement by one of the following:
1. Completing a DESE-approved course of study specific to SEI.
2. Passing a DESE-approved assessment (not yet available).
3.
Holding a bachelor’s degree in a major approved by DESE or
completing other graduate level training approved by the department that
embodies the required standards.
4. Holding an English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) or an ELL license.
What if an educator has completed the “Category” Trainings?
According
to a memo released by Commissioner Mitchell Chester in August 2012,
teachers who completed a minimum
of two of Categories 1, 2 or 4 will be credited for work already
completed towards the SEI Endorsement. Category 3 will not be credited
as the MELA-O tool will no longer be used as of the 2012-2013 school
year. DESE has stated that an abbreviated version of
the SEI Endorsement course will be available in 2013 for educators who
have complete two or three of Categories 1, 2 or 4 courses.
What is the SEI Endorsement timeline?
Based on the new
regulations and conversations with staff at DESE, the following timeline
has been determined for the SEI Endorsement implementation:
August 2012:
DESE has published a schedule of cohorts of educators who
are on an “accelerated schedule” to earn the endorsement between July
1, 2012, and June 30, 2016. Districts will be responsible for
identifying educators who are required to take the course, assigning
educators to course sections and determining the schedule
and location for each course.
January 2013: DESE will provide prequalified course instructors for
approximately 3000 educators in year one. Funding for the course instructors will be secured by DESE.
June 1, 2013: Educator preparation programs must submit documentation
to DESE regarding changes to preparation programs to include required SEI training.
After July 1, 2014: All Core Academic Teachers must qualify for the
SEI Endorsement to earn an Initial Teacher License.
July 1, 2016:
All teachers with Professional Licenses will be required
to obtain 150 PDPs within five years in order to renew a professional
license, as under current regulations. Under the new regulations, the
breakdown of how those must be allocated will be as follows:
15 PDPs in ESL and/or SEI.
15 PDPs in SPED.
90 PDPs in educator’s content or content-based pedagogy, with a minimum of 60 in the content.
30 elective PDPs.
Can a teacher earn an ESL License to qualify for the endorsement?
Yes.
Teachers who wish to add an ESL license must pass the ESL MTEL test and
complete a 150-hour practicum in the
role of the license. The 150-hour practicum requirement is a new
requirement as of June 2012. Teachers who hold an ESL license are
already qualified for the SEI Endorsement.
How do the new regulations affect districts?
Districts
are responsible for identifying educators, assigning educators to class
sections, determining the course schedule and reporting information
back to DESE.
Additional guidance on information submission and “Guidelines for
Qualifying Educators for the Sheltered English Immersion Teacher or
Administrator Endorsement” will be coming in September 2012. After
August 1, 2016, ELL students may be assigned only to Core
Academic Teachers who have qualified for an SEI Endorsement or will
earn an SEI endorsement within one year.
What changes affect students?
At
the end of the 2011-2012 school year, the English Language Proficiency
Benchmarks and Objectives (ELPBO) and
Massachusetts English Proficiency Assessment (MEPA) tests will no
longer be used. Teachers will begin to use the World Class Instructional
Design and Assessment (WIDA) standards and the Assessing Comprehension
and Communication in English State-to-State for
English Language Learners (ACCESS) test will be given to ELLs each year
in January. Additional information regarding WIDA administration will
be covered in the next RETELL Advisory. More information about WIDA and
ACCESS can be found at
www.wida.us.
How did RETELL come about?
The
urgency for the proposed regulations is rooted in the recent
notification by the U.S. DOJ that Massachusetts was not adequately
preparing teachers to deliver
SEI to ELLs. All ESL programs were overhauled following the passage of a
2002 ballot question in Massachusetts that mandated the creation of SEI
programs for all ELLs, with few exceptions. The new law eliminated
most bilingual education programs; most ELLs
are now placed in classrooms with native English speakers and are given
English-only instruction.
In
July of 2011, DESE received notice from the DOJ that the state’s
current program for ELLs was out of compliance with the Equal
Educational Opportunities Act.
The DOJ cited inadequate training for teachers of ELLs across the state
and therefore concern that ELLs were not receiving the education to
which they are entitled under federal law. A copy of the DOJ letter can
be viewed at
www.massteacher.org/ELL.
Proposed
regulations were presented at the February 28th meeting of the Board of
Elementary and Secondary Education. These regulations are intended to
improve
the training of teachers and to ensure that all ELLs are assigned only
to teachers who have received approved training in SEI. The regulations
were adopted on June 22. In the coming years, additional components of
RETELL may include instructional coaching
for teachers of ELLs and Professional Learning Communities to further
assist teachers who are working with ELLs.
Resources
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Regulations, FAQ and memos from Commissioner Mitchell Chester at
www.doe.mass.edu/retell/
Massachusetts Teachers Association ELL Toolkit at
www.massteacher.org/ell | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
RETELL
Subpages (1):
RETELL: Course Description