College of Education and Human Services

Transition from Certification to Licensure Standards

Since the last NCATE accreditation visit in November 1996, the College of Education and Human Services has been adapting to major changes in state, professional, NCATE and institutional standards. In 1996, the State Board of Education adopted new performance-based teacher education standards “designed to increase the rigor in the teaching profession” and move the state from its previous certification system to a teacher licensure program.

Implemented in January 1998, the new Teacher Education and Licensure Standards include the requirement that all teacher-training institutions in Ohio must meet NCATE standards. In addition, teacher candidates are to pass state performance assessments to receive a two-year provisional license (Praxis II) and are to pass a third state performance assessment (Praxis III) following an entry year support program to receive a five-year renewable professional license. The new teacher education standards also changed the traditional areas in which teaching certificates were awarded. Elementary Education and Secondary Education certificates were eliminated and replaced by three age-based licenses: Early Childhood License (ages 3– 8), Middle Childhood License (ages 8–14), and Adolescence to Young Adult License (ages 12–21).

These new licensure standards necessitated the redesign of all existing preparation programs for teacher candidates and candidates for professional school roles—a process that systematically began in 1997 and continues with ongoing efforts to improve the quality and rigor of the Unit’s programs. Over 60 programs were submitted to the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) in January of 1998, and the College received ODE approval to begin offering all programs on September 1, 1998.

The redesign process resulted in the creation of the new Bachelor of Science in Education programs in Early Childhood Education and Middle Childhood Education, which were approved by the Ohio Board of Regents (OBR) in August 1998. Dialogue during this period (1997–1998) between College faculty, colleagues in the arts and sciences, employers, partner educators, and NNER and Homes affiliates strongly indicated that quality Middle Childhood and Adolescent Programs could not be offered in four years. Therefore, in response to this dialogue, the decision was made to move these programs to the five-year model. Early Childhood Education (PK–3) and programs in business, marketing, music, physical education, and health education continue to be offered as four-year programs.

The College is especially proud of its five-year (15 month), Graduate Level Teacher Preparation Program, which follows the medical school model that permits a select group of post baccalaureate students to practice the art and science of teaching in a clinical environment. The strength of the program is that the interns experience the total ecology of the school for an entire school year (the program begins the summer prior to the school year and concludes the following summer).

Now in the final year of the conversion process, the College is currently offering two sets of programs: The existing certification programs to be concluded by September 2002, and the new licensure programs, which began in September 1998. Despite these challenges, the College continues to offer strong, innovative programs in partnership with university colleagues and PK–12 schools. The strength of these programs is evidenced in the new Title II reporting required of all teacher preparation institutions. On the 1999-2000 state-required performance assessments for teacher education graduates, Wright State met or exceeded state averages in all aggregated categories, which includes professional knowledge, academic content knowledge, and teaching special populations. Ohio’s Praxis II passing scores, determined by the state, are among the highest in the nation.

The following graphic illustrates the simultaneous “sunsetting” of the certificate programs and the “phasing in” of the new licensure programs:

Certification to Licensure Transition

V. Doll – August 2001