Emergency rules are now in place to ensure that teachers in core academic subjects are qualified to work in Arkansas' open-enrollment charter schools and in some traditional public schools where state teacher licensure requirements have been waived.
Adopted by the Arkansas Board of Education last week, the rules are also applicable to teachers in special education and in alternative learning environments.
The new rules fill a vacuum in Arkansas that was created by a change in federal law late last year, state Department of Education leaders said.
Congress and President Barack Obama adopted the Every Student Succeeds Act in December, a revision of the No Child Left Behind Act that was passed by Congress in 2001 and signed by President George W. Bush in early 2002.
The new law on elementary and secondary education differs from the earlier No Child Left Behind law in that it does not require public school teachers to meet "Highly Qualified Teacher" standards. All teachers, including those with Arkansas teaching licenses, were supposed to meet the extensive Highly Qualified Teacher requirements that were developed by states in response to the mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act.
Arkansas relied on the federal law and the Highly Qualified Teacher requirements to ensure that teachers without state licenses were knowledgeable in the core academic subjects they were hired to teach. Without the federally required Highly Qualified Teacher provision, the state's rules for highly qualified teachers were made ineffectual -- leaving the state without qualifications for the faculty in schools that have waivers from state licensure laws.
Core academic subjects are English/language arts, math, science, social studies, elementary education, music, art and foreign languages.
Most, if not all, of the state's charter schools and schools of innovation have teacher-licensure waivers to give the schools the ability to hire teachers who have expertise in a subject even if they don't have state credentials. Additionally, as a result of Act 1240 of 2015, Arkansas' traditional school districts can seek waivers from the same state laws and rules -- including licensure laws -- given to the charter schools that pull students from such districts.
Cheryl Reinhart, an attorney and director of educator licensure for the state Department of Education, told the Education Board last week that the emergency rules "arose from a kind of perfect storm": the state waivers given to some schools, the change in the federal law regarding Highly Qualified Teacher requirements and the need for the state to offer assurances to the federal government that special-education teachers are highly qualified in core academic content areas even if they are not all fully licensed special-education teachers.
"As it all came together, we felt it was important to have an emergency rule at this time so that school districts will know who they need to hire and what the requirements will be," Reinhart said.
The emergency rules, which went into immediate effect Thursday, will be in place until a final set of rules -- identical to the emergency rules -- can go through standard procedures for approval.
The Education Board last week gave preliminary approval to the draft final rules, which now will be the subject of a public hearing. Depending on comments from the public, revisions may be made to the draft rules before they are returned to the board and sent to a legislative review committee for final approval later this calendar year.
Ivy Pfeffer, the Arkansas Department of Education's assistant commissioner for educator effectiveness and licensure, said Tuesday that the Education Department staff worked to tell schools and districts about the changes in the requirements before the state Education Board vote.
"The feedback we have had is that the districts appreciate the flexibility," Pfeffer said. "It is going to be much easier than it has been in the past to meet requirements."
The new rules will affect fewer teachers than did the Highly Qualified Teacher regulations, Pfeffer said. That's because Arkansas licensure requirements already ensure teachers have a degree, are prepared and can demonstrate content knowledge and pedagogical skills.
Licensed teachers and teachers who already met the previous Highly Qualified Teacher requirements are not affected by the new rules.
Pfeffer also said that while the goals of Highly Qualified Teacher requirements were to ensure teacher quality, the reality was often that the requirements "burdened districts with paperwork, additional reporting requirements, and barriers to employing teachers.
"These rules are designed to greatly reduce paperwork for districts, streamline reporting requirements and provide flexibility for those seeking Arkansas Qualified Teacher status who may not have been eligible under prior rules," she said.
According to the emergency rules, a teacher working in a core academic subject area at a campus that has received a state licensure waiver has to have either previously met the state's Highly Qualified Teacher requirements or have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree plus one of the following:
• A bachelor's degree or an advanced degree in the content area in which the teacher will teach.
• A degree that contains a minimum of 18 college credit hours in the content area in which the teacher will teach.
• A passing score on a test approved by the state Education Board for the content area the teacher will teach.
• Certification by the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards for the content areas in which the educator will teach.
• Documented, successful, relevant work experience in the teaching area.
Additionally, the rules state that an educator teaching one or more subjects for special-education students must have an Arkansas license in special education and meet one of the other Arkansas Qualified Teacher requirements.
Similarly, a teacher teaching one or more subjects in an alternative learning environment -- for students not successful in a traditional school -- must hold an Arkansas teacher license and meet the one of the Arkansas Qualified Teacher requirements.
Both special-education and alternative-education teachers who can demonstrate their content knowledge using the earlier Highly Qualified Teacher requirements would be in compliance with the Arkansas Qualified Teacher requirements, according to the emergency rules.
The emergency rules also call for the school to determine that a teacher meets the eligibility requirements and make those records available electronically to the Arkansas Education Department for review.
Metro on 05/18/2016
