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Schools anxious about impact of EC regulation
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Published: November 13, 2009
Schools anxious about impact of EC regulation
By Melinda Skutnick
mskutnick@mooresvilletribune.com
A new federal regulation for the certification of some Exceptional Children teachers has Mooresville Graded School District officials anxiously awaiting information from the state before determining how the mandates will affect the classroom.
"This could become a major staffing issue. This could become a major financial issue," said Supt. Mark Edwards during the consent agenda of Tuesday's Board of Education meeting.
Per new federal standards, self-contained middle and high school EC teachers – the "teachers of record" solely educating EC students in the four core subject areas of science, math, English and social studies – will need to acquire different certification than North Carolina has required of them in years past.
MGSD Director of Human Resources Dreisa Sherrill said the U.S. Department of Education wants those EC teachers to have certification in specific content areas rather than a broad certification for all four or several years experience teaching all four.
For example, Sherrill noted that a self-contained high school EC teacher will need math certification – earned through a Masters degree, 24 semester hours in the specific subject area or the successful passing of a content Praxis exam – that will allow him or her to teach basic math to an EC class and high-level calculus to senior students.
"It would be the same math certification that any other math teacher had," she said, noting that this would be required for all four core subject areas taught to EC students. "Essentially what it is, you would be a teacher of a content area and then you would add on the EC content."
In the MGSD, Sherrill said this would directly affect approximately a dozen students at Mooresville Middle and Mooresville High. However, every district across the state will feel the effects as the state comes into line with the new federal regulations.
"This is going to hit a huge number of teachers across the state," she noted, mentioning that EC elementary teachers will not need to meet the new certification standards, which only affects self-contained EC teachers in grades six through 12. Inclusion EC teachers, or those assisting EC students who learn in a regular classroom setting, are also not affected.
Said Edwards at Tuesday's meeting, "The problem is the span and scope of what we ask (EC) teachers to do doesn't make sense with this."
Currently, Sherrill said the state is still working toward the details of compliance for all North Carolina districts. Although they have set a target of Thanksgiving for the release of more details, she noted that it's possible the MGSD and other state school districts could learn no more about the direct effect the regulation will have for several months.
"They're working through this at the state level (and) they're hoping to give us more details and directives for what's going to work for these teachers."
Until then, the MGSD is left wondering what financial or staffing burden this could place on MMS and MHS.
"We don't want to put a lot of fear and alarm out there," said Sherrill, adding that the district does not plan to eliminate any jobs as a result of the new mandate. "We may have to change the manner and the model in which we're delivering the instruction."
The district might also have to use a different funding stream – rather than state or federal funding, which typically pays for EC teachers and programs – for EC teachers, if that is even possible, she said.
Other unknowns exist as well, such as the time frame required to obtain the new certification.
"We're still uncertain about the total impact this is going to have across the board," said Sherrill.
"We're going to try to work with folks in the district as best we can. Look at every setting and every individual child's need as well as teachers and make the best determination we can given our resources."
Added Edwards, "Everyone is very concerned about it and there doesn't seem to be a simple solution."
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