The Indiana State Board of Education finalized the training rules for adjunct teaching permits during a Jan. 2 meeting.
As reported in the Dec. 12, 2012, edition of The Ellettsville Journal, individuals are eligible to receive an adjunct permit if they achieved a 3.0 grade-point average or better in college, have obtained their bachelor’s degree, and have taken and passed a course content test intended to prove their mastery of the subject.
The permit is a renewable license good for five years.
During a Dec. 5, 2012, meeting, the SBOE passed the Revised Rules for Educator Preparation and Accountability, administrative code changes collectively known as REPA II, that would change teacher licensing by a 9-2 vote following board member Neil Pickett’s suggestion that pedagogical training be required for those seeking an adjunct permit.
Pickett’s suggestion was in response to the outcry from education professionals and the public against putting teachers who lacked education training into the classroom.
Some caveats from the original version of the law have been retained, however.
Adjunct teachers must be employed at a public or charter school in Indiana for three of the five years the permit is valid. They must receive a rating of effective or highly effective according to teacher evaluations set forth in Indiana Code 20-28-11.5. And, during the first five years of their permit, they must complete the pedagogy now required by code.
A revised version of the provision was presented to board members on Dec. 27, 2012, and approved on Jan. 2.
The revisions outlined the process for the pedagogical training required of adjuncts and through whom they could receive that training.
According to the revised code, teachers may receive their training through “school-based professional development, college- or university-based coursework or professional development, a non-(Institute of Higher Education) entity or professional education organization.”
The new language also requires permit-seekers to demonstrate proficiency in the following areas before renewing their permit:
- Literacy for adolescents in content areas and across the curriculum based on scientifically based reading research.
- Differentiation of instruction and instructional methods, including methods for students with exceptional needs.
- Classroom and behavioral management, including legal rights and responsibilities of teacher and student.
- Curriculum development, lesson planning, assessment strategies and using data to inform instruction.
- Psychology of child development, including the development of exceptional needs students.
- Competence in multicultural awareness and technology as an aid to education.
The passage of these rules comes as Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction-elect Glenda Ritz continues to fight them as she has done since the first public hearing in June 2012.
Even so, the Democrat, who will be dealing with a Republican governor in Mike Pence, a SBOE staffed by gubernatorial appointment and an Indiana legislature led by a Republican supermajority, will be in charge of the bill’s implementation when she takes office Jan. 14.
Originally published in Ellettsville Journal, 2013. Republished here for archival and portfolio purposes.