The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) met June 26 and approved recommended staff actions related to teacher misassignment monitoring sanctions — a proposal for a new intervention system of school-level teacher misassignment identification, support and improvement to increase placements of fully credentialed teachers in their relevant credential areas — despite objections from CSBA and other organizations during public comment.
The system, which builds on previous proposals, is intended to support California public schools “at an appropriate level based on the percentage of their assignments that are uncorrected misassignments,” according to the agenda item (3A). In addition to receiving tiered support, a school would receive differentiated training based on its type or level.
The catalyst for exploring sanctions was in response to the Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools report, which among other findings cited inappropriate hiring practices and was covered in this blog post.
At the April CTC meeting, CTC staff proposed details of the program, including utilizing a targeted approach to trainings; determining sanctions based on the proportions of uncorrected misassignments to all assignments; and establishing the individuals who would be subject to mandatory training. Most of this plan was approved, but the commission requested that staff conduct additional outreach with interest groups to refine the threshold percentages for intervention and determine whether school board members should be required to complete any training.
Staff proposed establishing a 25 percent proportion as a threshold for mandatory training in the April item, and commissioners also considered whether those schools that fell within a 10-25 percent proportion of misassignments should also be subject to some interventions.
Several feedback sessions were held to gather input from interest groups. After reviewing and analyzing that input, it was determined that the Assignment Monitoring Program (AMP) training program will focus on the various grade levels, settings or student populations in the school and training will be differentiated depending on the type of school identified for interventions.
To address reporting and noticing concerns, the CTC will contact those legally responsible for assignments at the LEA, including the district superintendent, the school site administrator and the overseeing governing board members, when a school exceeds established misassignment reporting thresholds. Additionally, the commission will provide notice to the public through established reporting platforms, like the Assignment Workforce dashboards.
The final component is governing board reporting. For the majority of schools, this is the district governing board, but county-authorized charters and other county-run schools would report to their county governing board. Governing board members would not be required to take assignment trainings in this system of identification and support. However, the proposed reporting structure would require school boards to be informed when a school they oversee reaches specific misassignment thresholds.
The system includes three intervention tiers supported by the AMP training program based on their misassignment percentage. Those tiers include:
- Tier one: Schools with under 10 percent proportional misassigned will have voluntary access to all training for any individual interested in broadening their credential assignment knowledge. This intervention is estimated to apply to 95 percent of schools requiring intervention.
- Tier two: Schools with 10-24 percent proportional misassigned and their governing boards will receive a letter from the AMP outlining their misassignment percentage and recommending that those legally responsible for assigning educators take the training, though it will not be mandatory. This intervention is estimated to apply to 3.6 percent of schools requiring intervention.
- Tier three: For schools with 25 percent or more misassignments, the school site administrator and the district superintendent responsible for assigning educators will complete required assignment training that is most suited to their school, as identified by the AMP. They may also nominate credentialing staff to take the training. Finally, these schools must work with their monitoring authority and present a plan for improvement to their district governing board for action and approval.
CSBA Legislative Director Chris Reefe submitted a letter to the CTC and spoke during public comment at the June meeting (he previously submitted a letter in April). The June letter states that CSBA remains “significantly concerned about the basis and approach the CTC is taking to address the misassignment of teachers and believe that further research, evaluation and assessment are needed before any formal action is taken.
“Paramount to any approach in addressing this or any derivative associated with the state’s educator staffing shortages are greater evaluation, data and assessment,” the June letter continues. “Any effort to address this issue must recognize the staffing challenges facing school districts and county offices of education, which must include recognition of the real-time challenges our local educational agencies face in recruiting and retaining a qualified workforce. This is most evident with our small school districts (defined as 2,500 ADA or less) and in special education classes.”
CSBA urged the commission to table the item until more qualitative information was made available, cautioned that the regulations fail to acknowledge challenges various types of LEAs face, and asserted that using one charter school as the impetus for statewide action is not sound policy reasoning.
However, the CTC ultimately approved the staff recommendations related to tiers and ensuring public transparency via reporting on the commission’s dashboards, fully detailed in the agenda item.
Next, staff will notify the Office of Administrative Law and begin a 45-day public comment period. CSBA will continue monitoring the issue and submit feedback as needed.
Also at the meeting, which took place June 24-26 and included ad hoc committee gatherings ahead of regular closed and general sessions:
- As part of efforts to revise and restructure the Administrative Services Credential, the commission approved the proposed charge for the Administrative Services Credential Workgroup, including the areas of credential structure and authorization; preparation expectations and candidate readiness; clinical practice, supervision and demonstration of competence; and system alignment, implementation and transition. CSBA Senior Director of Research and Education Policy Development Mary Gardner Briggs will participate in the workgroup. Learn more in the agenda item (4A).
- The commission approved proposed amendments to Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations to the Child Development Permit and took action to rescind the current regulations package, directing staff to submit a new regulatory package including the amendments to the approved regulations as well as the newly proposed regulation sections to the Office of Administrative Law to continue the regulatory process. The agenda item (4B) details the updates, including changes to some programs and curriculum coursework and language choices, and next steps.
- Commissioners approved revised standardized Subject Matter Requirement Domain descriptions for use in evaluating transcripts to determine if candidates have demonstrated subject matter competency and to inform the adoption of future subject matter assessments. The language for Single Subject Domains and Multiple Subject Domains can be viewed in the agenda item (4C).
- After hearing a recap of a one-day Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Performance Assessment Forum hosted by the CTC in March, commissioners considered proposed revisions to the Performance Assessment Design Standards to include attention to the use of AI and, based on their feedback and concerns, directed staff to make further changes and clarifications before they would proceed.
- Those present voiced their appreciation and well wishes for Commissioner Kathryn Williams Browne, who has served as the ex-officio representative of the California Community Colleges since 2014, during her final meeting.
The CTC is scheduled to meet next on Aug. 27-28. A recording of the June meeting will be available on the agency’s YouTube page.
