Photograph: Smita Patel/EdSource

Schoolhouse closures due to the coronavirus crisis have made it hard for teacher candidates to complete the 600 hours of educatee teaching that is required.

Photo: Smita Patel/EdSource

School closures due to the coronavirus crisis have made it difficult for teacher candidates to complete the 600 hours of student teaching that is required.

Thousands of teacher candidates in California who are preparing to graduate this year in the midst the coronavirus pandemic may non have to consummate all their educatee-teaching hours or take all required tests before teaching in their ain classrooms adjacent yr.

Next Thursday the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing is expected to vote on whether to temporarily reduce the required 600 hours of student didactics, known every bit "clinical do" in the field, for this year's graduating grade of would-be teachers.

Co-ordinate to the commission, nigh 26,000 of the 80,000 educators enrolled in credentialing programs beyond the state are in their final year of grooming. Nearly of them are studying to become teachers, and are ordinarily referred to equally teacher candidates.

Extensive student education is required to earn most instruction credentials, and it is by and large regarded as an essential part of a instructor's training before getting his or her own classroom. But considering schools are shut down across the land, opportunities to satisfy this aspect of a teacher's preparation no longer exist.

The commission also will consider a raft of other recommendations that would allow instructor candidates to go classroom teachers, even though they are unable to consummate requirements because of the coronavirus pandemic. "Every unmarried thing we practice in education is under consideration at present," said Mary Vixie Sandy, executive director of the commission. "We have to look at every single regulation, constabulary, dominion and requirement we have."

Commission staffers take spent the terminal three weeks considering the roadblocks candidates are facing and analyzing whether flexibility can be offered without commission or state action. Information technology recently sent guidance to universities that included prompting teacher candidates to have part in remote or online teaching or other alternatives, like watching and analyzing videos of effective teaching, to earn student teaching hours. "Our earliest guidance to the field was to use this opportunity to get creative about what counts for clinical practice," Sandy told California State University faculty in a webinar Friday.

These are problems every other state that has airtight its schools is dealing with, equally noted this calendar week in an online post by the National Council on Didactics Quality, a enquiry, policy and advocacy system.

When California schools closed in March, many of the instructor candidates preparing to graduate were unable to complete student teaching requirements. Many also weren't able to take required tests such equally the Reading Instruction Competency Assessment and the California Subject Examinations for Teachers because the tests are non being administered because of pandemic concerns and regulations.

If these prospective teachers can't go their credentials, that is likely to increment the country's instructor shortage, which is most acute in high-needs subjects like science, math, bilingual education and special education.

Complicating the outlook for new teachers is the possibility of severe budget cutbacks in schools due to the current economical crisis, which could lead to new rounds of instructor layoffs along the lines of those made during the Peachy Recession almost a decade ago.

The commission volition consider a number of options. It could temporarily reduce the required hours of pupil educational activity for this year'due south graduating class, allowing each teacher preparation program to decide when a teacher candidate has enough experience to teach. Or it could reduce hours of student education if the candidate passes the Teaching Performance Assessment, which measures their knowledge and skill as a teacher.

The commission also is because requiring fewer formal observations of student teachers by plan supervisors and cutting the requirement that they teach on their own in a classroom for iv weeks.

Sandy said that the UC system — which provides about viii percentage of the state's new teachers each year — has successfully moved student teachers to online teaching, but that other teacher preparation programs are still working toward that goal.

"We view all of this equally an opportunity to learn for all of the states," Sandy said. "For the nearly part I've heard teachers are doubling down to provide students with opportunities to acquire and student teachers are correct there with them."

Ane of the most of import problems before the commission on Thursday is a recommendation to offer student teachers a i- to two-year waiver to complete all the credentialing requirements, including California Teaching Operation Assessment, Sandy said. The waiver will allow candidates to complete the assessment while they piece of work every bit teachers instead of before they enter the classroom.

The commission could also come up to the rescue of new teachers who are already in the classroom, and who are normally required to complete a two-twelvemonth "induction" programme to earn a full credential.

An induction program, which takes place during the first two to iii years of a teacher's career, includes mentoring, one-on-1 coaching, continuing instruction and observations from veteran teachers to provide feedback and comeback.

The commission will consider whether to give teachers, who are on runway to complete the program, credit for a full year of induction this year, considering the programs were cut short by the coronavirus pandemic.

Test centers airtight by the pandemic as well accept prevented teacher candidates from completing required testing. Th the Appeals and Waivers Committee of the committee will consider whether to defer the basic skills requirement, usually satisfied by taking the California Basic Education Skills Examination, for credential candidates who haven't taken information technology yet. The instructor candidate volition have to take the test at the next available opportunity, according to the commission.

Teacher candidates graduating this twelvemonth also may besides be given an extra yr to laissez passer the Reading Instruction Competency Assessment. The examination is required before a teacher can earn a preliminary credential.

While the commission can give candidates a little more time to pass the tests, almost are required by state law and but the Legislature has the power to suspend or eliminate them.

"The bottom line is that at this very moment we have pathways for teachers to complete teaching programs," Sandy said. "The committee volition aggrandize on that flexibility, and then that equally many candidates as possible can complete their program and earn a credential this yr.

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