[State_authorization_update] State authorization updates

[Stone, Kia]

Good afternoon everyone!

This email is to offer further clarification on recent updates; along with some new information.

State Authorization and Supervised Field Experiences - talking paper attached

Professional Licensure - Here is a response from SARA Coordinator Alan Contreras from a question raised about what SARA requires of institutions when an offering under SARA is intended to form a part of requirements for professional licensure.

In this situation the institution must do one of two things.  It must either:
(a) tell the student definitively whether the course or program or clinical placement DOES or DOES NOT meet requirements where the student is physically located, or
(b) tell the student that the institution DOES NOT KNOW whether the offering meets the state's requirement AND refer the student to the appropriate licensing board. This can be done through referral to a web listing of such boards where available, it doesn't have to be customized for each student.

Under SARA, the institution cannot simply remain silent.  if it does not know, it must act as noted above.  This is true for supervised field experiences (clinicals etc.) as well as for the course work.

SARA only covers these interstate distance education activities.  I don't know how state or federal law covers on-ground programs.  I think federal law requires some kinds of notice for professional programs, but that's not my area of expertise.

       http://nc-sara.org/content/sara-and-licensed-professions


Hello WCET State Authorization Network members -

Those of you that have programs to educate budding teachers need to pay attention. The coming Teacher Prep regulations may become as (or more) difficult as state authorization was.

I learned yesterday that the Department of Education will be seeking approval to gather more comments about its long-delayed Teacher Prep regulations. The regulation would require every state to create a new system to judge the efficacy of teacher preparation programs whether they are traditional (through colleges of education) or non-traditional (Troops-to-Teachers, alternative certifications).

When the near-final proposed regulatory language was released, I wrote this blog post<https://wcetblog.wordpress.com/2014/12/12/teacher-prep-regulations/> and WCET formally submitted comments on your behalf about problems with the proposed regulatory language.  I was told the Department received many more comments than usual about the proposed regulation. The regulation was due to be released last year, but has been delayed several times.

Today, on the Department's page tracking Teacher Prep<http://www.ed.gov/teacherprep>, appears the following statement:
"We have formally submitted a supplemental Notice of Proposed Rule Making to OMB for review that will allow us to collect more public comments specifically on distance education as it relates to teacher preparation. Following the Office of Management and Budget review, we will publish the supplemental NPRM in the Federal Register for public comment."

We will continue to keep you informed. Meanwhile, if you have a Teacher Prep program at a distance, it would be good to chat with them. We will want to gather your staff and faculty's thoughts and experiences.

Thank you,

Russell Poulin
Director, Policy & Analysis


Thanks!

Kia D. Stone
Coordinator of Compliance & Quality Assurance
Ohio University
eLearning OHIO
740.593.2558

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://listserv.ohio.edu/pipermail/state_authorization_update/attachments/20160226/14642bbc/attachment-0001.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: SANFldExp1215.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 341227 bytes
Desc: SANFldExp1215.pdf
Url : http://listserv.ohio.edu/pipermail/state_authorization_update/attachments/20160226/14642bbc/attachment-0001.pdf