1. TEACHER QUALIFICATIONS AND EQUITABLE ACCESS UNDER ESSA

2. Agenda Requirements for teacher qualifications under ESSA:
Transitioning from highly qualified requirements under NCLB
ESSA: Aligning with Colorado law
Guidance for hiring instructional paraprofessionals
Discussion: updating local hiring policies
Equitable access to teachers
Equitable access: changes from NCLB to ESSA
Using data to identify gaps in equitable access
Addressing gaps through local planning
Addressing gaps through state level strategies
Discussion: local strategies for recruitment, development, and retention

3. Highly Qualified in NCLB
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 prescribed specific qualifications, called ‘highly qualified’, for teachers and instructional paraprofessionals working in programs supported by Title I funds.
These requirements included:
Methods for demonstrating subject matter competency were prescribed within NCLB statute.
Teachers
Paraprofessionals
Hold a degree (BA or higher)
Hold a HS diploma or equivalent
Be fully licensed (exception for charter schools with waivers)
Demonstrate subject matter competency

4. Changes in ESSA
The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 replaces the HQ requirements in NCLB with a deference to State law regarding teacher and paraprofessional qualifications.
Colorado law (C.R.S ) requires that a teacher hold a valid license or authorization before they can be hired to teach in a public school, including a charter school, unless the school or district has received a waiver from this provision.
Waivers are not applicable to Special Education teacher qualification requirements.
Colorado law contains no provisions regarding paraprofessional requirements.

5. What does this mean?
LEAs set requirements for instructional paraprofessionals through local policy.
Teachers in programs supported by Title I funds must:
Hold a license OR the school must have an approved waiver from C.R.S , AND
Hold a proper Special Education endorsement if assigned as a Special Education teacher.
LEAs and charter schools have discretion in determining:
Whether a general education teacher must hold an endorsement in the subject area
Any other acceptable measures of subject matter competency for hiring purposes.

6. Parent Notifications
Parents right to know notification requirement remains unchanged.
4 week rule notification is still required but is now tied to licensure requirements in Colorado law instead of HQ.
Sample notifications for both of the above are available in the webinar room.

7. Instructional Paraprofessionals
In the absence of applicable requirements for instructional paraprofessionals in Colorado law, CDE has developed guidance (see webinar handouts for full guidance document) for LEAs and charter schools to consider when setting local policies.
Qualification recommendations:
Instructional paraprofessionals should possess specific skills and knowledge in reading, writing, mathematics and instruction to serve in schools supported by Title I, Part A funds. At a minimum, instructional paraprofessionals should:
Possess a high school diploma or its equivalent (e.g., the GED); and
Demonstrate subject matter competency by:
Earning an Associate’s (or higher) degree; or
Completing at least two years (48 credit hours) of study at an institution of higher education; or
Passing a formal assessment measuring one’s knowledge of and ability to assist classroom teachers in reading, writing and mathematics.

8. Instructional Paraprofessionals, cont.
An instructional paraprofessional is an individual who provides instruction and support for classroom teachers.
The following activities are recommended as appropriate job duties of an instructional paraprofessional:
Provide one-on-one tutoring for eligible students, if the tutoring is scheduled at a time when a student would not otherwise receive instruction from a teacher
Assist with classroom management, such as organizing instructional and other materials
Provide assistance in a computer laboratory
Provide instructional support in a library or media center
Provide instructional services to students under the direct supervision of a teacher
Instructional paraprofessionals should be supervised directly by a licensed teacher.

9. Collaborative Discussion
What updates are your districts or charter schools making to local policies to maximize the local flexibilities in ESSA?
How will these policy changes be operationalized?
Job postings?
Job applications?
Communications?
What questions do you have for each other?
What questions do you have for CDE?

10. Equitable Access to Teachers

11. Equitable Access Under NCLB
Under NCLB, States and LEAs were required to ensure that low-income and minority children were not taught at disproportionate rates by teacher who were:
Inexperienced
Unqualified
Out-of-field
ESSA Continues this requirement with changes:
‘Unqualified’ is replaced by ‘ineffective’
States are required to define each term in their State Plan

12. Hiring policy vs. Measuring equitable access
The flexibilities provided by ESSA’s deference to state law in regard to teacher qualification requirements allow LEAs to use local discretion in individual hiring decisions.
Keep in mind that any local hiring/personnel policies adopted by the local school board must be applied fairly.
However, ESSA requires a statewide definition of the following terms in order to ensure equitable access for low-income and minority students:
Inexperienced teacher
Out-of-field teacher
Ineffective teacher

13. Definitions Term NCLB Definition ESSA Definition* Inexperienced
<3 years K-12 teaching experience
Unqualified
Not highly qualified
N/A
Out-of-field
Does not have at least one of the following in the teaching subject area:
Endorsement on CO teaching license
Degree (BA or higher)
36 semester hours**
Passing score on approved content exam
Ineffective
Teacher assigned a rating of partially effective or ineffective on the Colorado Teaching Quality Standards per S.B
*These definitions are abbreviated for the purposes of this webinar. The full text definitions can be found in the ESSA State Plan.
**Many teachers were considered highly qualified via 24 semester credit hours in their subject area. There will be a two year transition period during which these teachers will be considered in-field.

14. Measuring Equitable Access
Teacher and student data are collected through the HR and December Count collections.
Schools are organized into quartiles based on the percentage of low-income and minority students in their demographics.
The percentage of inexperienced, out-of-field, and ineffective teachers in each of the schools is identified.
These percentages are compared between the schools in the highest and lowest low-income and minority quartiles.
If the percentage of inexperienced, out-of-field, or ineffective teachers in the high quartiles in an LEA are greater than those in the low quartiles, a disparity is determined to exist.
If an LEA does not have schools that fall into the lowest quartile based on percentage of low-income or minority students, then statewide averages in each category are used.
Gaps are only identified in LEAs with more than one school per grade span (elementary, middle, high) so that this process does not over-identify gaps in systems with small n sizes.

15. Measuring Equitable Access
Comparison
Identification
Teachers in highest quartile
Teachers in lowest quartile
HR and October Count
Teacher demographics by school
Quartiles by Low-income and Minority %
% in high quartile>low quartile=inequity
Demographics

16. What happens when a disparity or inequity is identified?
*Note that the terms disparity and inequity are often used interchangeably. The disparity refers to the numerical difference in percentage where the inequity refers to the difference in access experienced by low-income and minority students.

17. Addressing Gaps Through Local Planning
Where a disparity is identified, the LEA is required to submit a plan to CDE that:
Is likely to eliminate any gap(s) in equitable access,
Identifies any existing resources that are being targeted to applicable schools in order to minimize the impact of the gap(s), and
Is designed to improve the capacity of teachers to meet the needs of their students.

18. Addressing Gaps Through Local Planning
This plan has been included in the district Unified Improvement Plan and LEAs may continue to use the UIP to meet this planning requirement.
LEAs in which a disparity has been identified will see a question about this plan in the Consolidated Application (Title I narrative section).
A check box will be available to indicate the LEAs intention to use the UIP to meet the requirement.

19. Addressing Gaps Through Local Planning
The Self-Assessment for Healthy Human Capital tool is available to assist LEAs in identifying the root causes of low percentages of experienced, in-field, and effective educators and creating a plan to address areas in need of improvement.
The tool focuses on five evidence-based strategies with relevant domains and effective practices within each strategy.

20. Addressing Gaps Through Local Planning
Strategy
Domains
Optimize new educator supply
Vacancies and recruitment
Selection
Hiring
New educator support
Boost effectiveness of all educators
Professional development
Evaluation
Working conditions
Retain and leverage the most effective educators
Retention
Recognition
Prioritize effective educators for high-needs students
Staffing
Improve or exit persistently less effective educators
Remediation and dismissal

21. Colorado’s ESSA Plan: Supporting Excellent Educators

22. Addressing Gaps Through State Level Strategies
Section 5.3 of Colorado’s ESSA Plan is a state level approach to addressing gaps in equitable access across the state.
STUDENT GROUPS
Rate at which students are taught by an ineffective teacher
Differences between rates
Rate at which students are taught by an out-of-field teacher
Rate at which students are taught by an inexperienced teacher
Low-income students
8.56%
6.15
1.38%
-9.19
27.28%
6.35
Non-low-income students
2.41%
10.57%
20.93%
Minority students
9.0%
6.91
1.84%
-7.54
27.3%
5.43
Non-minority students
2.09%
9.38%
21.87%

23. Addressing Gaps Through State Level Strategies
CDE identified the following potential root causes to these gaps through stakeholder consultation and data analysis:
Teachers have inconsistent access to induction programs that include coaching and mentoring, strategies for working with struggling learners, and strategies for instructing using the Colorado Academic Standards.
Colorado’s educator pipeline is not providing an adequate supply of teacher candidates in specific subject areas.
School leaders are not consistently prepared with the necessary skills to serve as instructional leaders and retain their best teachers in the current educational environment, contributing to high turnover rates.

24. Addressing Gaps Through State Level Strategies
The following strategies are designed to address the identified root causes:
Quality Teacher Recruitment Program grant
Providing support to LEAs on effective practices for developing local teacher cadet programs
Self-Assessment for Healthy Human Capital Systems Tool
State model evaluation system technical assistance
New induction guidelines and program reviews

25. Collaborative Discussion
What are the primary barriers to your students’ access to experienced, in-field, and effective teachers?
What strategies are you implementing to lessen or eliminate these barriers?
What should CDE be doing to support your efforts?
What questions do you have for each other?

26. Announcement!

27. Equity and Excellence Conference
The Exceptional Student Services and Federal Programs Units at the Colorado Department of Education will be hosting the third annual Equity & Excellence Conference on November 2-3 at the Inverness Hotel.  The theme of this year’s conference is “Expand Your Equity Toolkit”.  CDE's goal for this conference is for attendees from diverse professional backgrounds to collaborate and come away from the conference with tools and resources for putting equity into action in their schools.
Proposals are requested to address policy, leadership, and instructional information and strategies in the following content areas:
Culturally responsive instructional practices
Whole child supports
Recruitment and retention of excellent teachers
Meeting individual learning needs
Supporting early learning (birth to 3rd grade)
Effective parent and family engagement
Proposals will be reviewed and selected in three submission windows:
May 31, 2017
July 14, 2017
September 15, 2017

28. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION TODAY Jennifer Simons simons_j@cde
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION TODAY Jennifer Simons