Saturday, January 26, 2013

Education Talk

Standards – Curriculum
What does it mean?

More and more of us have become tuned in to the new laws (and bills) proposed and passed during the Mitch Daniels/Tony Bennett administrations. Our new governor and our new superintendent of public instruction have both indicated that changes in education will be in the forefront of their agendas.

Pedagogy – “Art or profession of teaching,” this term is used frequently during discussions to mean preparation in child development and instructional methods.

Teacher Certification – This is an official state recognition that a person meets state standards and is qualified to be a teacher in Indiana.

Adjunct Teaching Permit – One of the newest bills posed by the State Board of Education allows people without a teacher certification to teach in an Indiana public school. They will be issued an “adjunct teaching permit”.

Common Core Standards (CCSS) – These national school standards state the knowledge and skills that all students are expected to learn in their K-12 education to prepare them for entering college and/or career training. These standards will be fully implemented with children tested beginning in the 2014-2015 school year. The Education Roundtable and the State Board of Education in Indiana approved these standards in August 2010, but the legislature is now reconsidering staying aligned to them.

State Standards – These were composed by the Indiana Department of Education and are statements of what students should know and be able to demonstrate. These standards are considered to be more rigorous than the standards of most other states. They cover grades K-12 and all subject areas, and are used to define the knowledge students are expected to acquire.

Assessments – An assessment is a measurement of what students have learned. ISTEP, I-Read, and ECA are assessments that align with the standards that are now in place. New standards mean new assessments (or tests). Implementing the Common Core State Standards will mean developing new assessments. All tests fit into the school grading system and have an impact on teacher evaluations.

Charter Schools – These publicly-funded schools are an alternative to traditional public schools. Charter Schools are exempt from many state laws and regulations. Many Charter Schools are run by for-profit companies.

Vouchers – These tuition credits are used by parents to pay for their child’s education in a private school of their choice. Students in these schools are required to take state tests.

Watch this blog for more terms and explanations about “testing” and “literacy.”
Feel free to share this information.

Click HERE for an alphabetized list of terms included in all the Education Talk postings.

3 comments:

Pat Fleming said...

Adjunct teaching permit, I wondered how they would get around the need for appropriate training.

NEIFPE said...

This is already in place. Anyone with a college degree can teach as long as they finish a "6-topic pedagogy program" within 5 years. Since nearly half of beginning teachers don't last 5 years the "pedagogy program" may or may not be achieved during the time the Adjunct is in the classroom. This allows for unqualified persons to teach in Indiana's schools. We don't understand how that "improves" education!

See the Summary section of this post:

http://neifpe.blogspot.com/2013/01/vics-statehouse-notes-103-january-7-2013.html

Pat Fleming said...

I am sorry. "Unknown" is me Patrick Fleming in Washington state. I wasn't afraid to list my name but thought is was already listed. We have emergency certificates here for folks with non-teaching degrees. I guess they could be called adjuct but adjunct implies, to me, that you are working at the pleasure of the bosses and be fired with for reason. Thanks. Pat