SEVEN VIRGINIA COLLEGES OFFER COURSES FOR NEW SPED PROGRAM
Seven Virginia colleges have received conditional approval to offer course work to meet the requirements for the new Special Education General Curriculum endorsement. This endorsement replaced Virginia's ED, LD and MR programs on September 21, 2007. Until now, colleges in Virginia had not developed courses to meet all the new requirements. Now George Mason, Virginia Commonwealth, Old Dominion, Sweet Briar, Shenandoah, Emory & Henry, and the University of Mary Washington offer programs. JECS has the course listings approved for ODU and GMU and is working to get copies of the other five programs.

PENNSYLVANIA LICENSES:
In the past, PA licenses were valid for 6 years of teaching experience in the state no matter when the license was issued. VA DOE recently learned that PA has gone to a five-year renewable license and will not accept the license if it is over five years old even if there is teaching time left on it. However, a prospective applicant from PA did not agree with Virginia's ruling and got a letter from Pennsylvania's DOE which said the following:" At this time, this (person's) certification is active and valid in Pennsylvania. The five-year period for this certification is July 1, 2005 through June 30, 2010 and every five-year period thereafter." For that reason the school division concerned sent that letter back to DOE and got the decision reversed. This decision allowed this teacher to be exempt from Virginia's assessments. Please be aware of this fact as you process new hires from PA who might be eligible for the assessment exemption and may be in a similar circumstance with regard to the validity of their license.

NEW SPECIAL EDUCATION ENDORSEMENTS CAN BE AN ISSUE FOR OUT-OF-STATE APPLICANTS:
Out-of-state applicants holding single special education disbility endorsements are no longer considered holding a "comparable" teaching license. As a result, they will be required to take additional course work to meet the requirements of Virginia's new Special Education General Curriculum and Adaptive Curriculum endorsements. The DOE is working on a conversion chart so that applicants will have a better idea of course work requirements they will need to complete to be fully endorsed/licensed in Virginia. This change will not affect applicants from states like New York and Pennsylvania who issue generic endorsements that meet ED, LD and MR areas and thus would be eligible for the new General Curriculum endorsement.

TESTING OUT OPTION AND PROFESSIONAL STUDIES:
Questions have arisen regarding the requirement to take additional professional studies courses should an indivdual test out to add an endorsement. Based on information provided by DOE, no additional professional studies courses are required for individuals who hold a valid five-year renewable license and test out to add an endorsement.

NEW LICENSURE REGULATIONS APPROVED AND IMPLEMENTED EFFECTIVE SEPTEMBER 21, 2007:
DOE implemented its new Licensure Regulations for School Personnel as well as the new Licensure Renewal Manual on September 21, 2007. These documents can be found on the DOE web site.

HOUSSE Options To Be Eliminated:
As previously reported, the USED cited Virginia on two of its HOUSSE HQ options. The first option questioned was the use of the middle education Praxis II by Special Education teachers to be HQ at both the middle and high school level. The second questioned regular education elementary, middle and secondary teachers who used any master's degree to be rated HQ. Based on USED's citation, the Board of Education approved at its September 27 meeting in Final Review a change in both. The middle education Praxis II can no longer be used by SPED teachers at the high school level unless they are teaching students with disabilities who are not earning a credit in a core area towards a standard diploma. Regarding the master's degree, a teacher must earn the advanced degree in the core subject area(s) being taught to be considered HQ. For example, a master's in curriculum and instruction or administration and supervision can no longer be used to meet the HQ requirement. DOE recently announced that those individuals who met the HQ standards using the cited options would be "grandfathered". However, it was also announced that on June 30, 2008, HOUSSE options would be eliminated except for eight exceptional cases. See Supts Memo #43 dated February 23, 2007 for additional information.

Pennsylvania Citizenship 7-12 Endorsement
DOE has reported that teachers from Pennsylvania holding a Citizenship 7-12 endorsement will be eligible for Virginia's History and Social Science endorsement and can teach those subjects in grades 6-12.

Experiential Learning Credits Aids Career Switchers
Supts Regulatory Memo #13 dated Novemebr 10, 2005 provided guidance on a new endorsement and licensure policy for Career Switchers. Experiential Learning Credits was established for individuals who meet three requirements: (1) Hold as a minimum a bachelor's degree; (2) Completed at least five years of professional work experience in an area that MAY be related to the endorsement being sought; and (3) can pass the Praxis II in their content area. Should they meet these requirements, they can receive a provisional license without requiring further evaluation of their transcripts to determine if they need to complete additional content course work. These individuals must still complete the required professional studies courses as well as the VCLA. At its May 1, 2006 training session, DOE also extended this "testing out" policy to career switchers already holding licenses. It was not extended to fully licensed teachers whose only work experience is teaching.

Provisional and Conditional License Extensions Stopped/Provisional License Changes
DOE notified local school divisions on October 4, 2005, that they will have until November 1, 2005, to submit requests for extension for Academic Year 2005-06 for those holding provisional or conditional licenses. However, no extensions will be granted to those who have not yet completed the required assessments. After that date, no extension requests will be honored. In addition, once the new regulations are implemented, conditional and eligibility licenses will be consolidated under the provisional license.

School Leaders Licensure Assessment (SLLA) Effective Date and Cut Score Announced:
At the November 17, 2004, meeting the Board passed in FINAL REVIEW the recommended cut-score of 165 for the SLLA. Superintendent's Memo # 23, dated May 13, 2005, announced that the SLLA requirement and cut score is effective July 1, 2005. You should also refer to the SLLA Q&A at this link to help you answer any questions related to this assessment.

Virginia Reading Assessments (VRA) and Cut Scores Approved:
Virginia Reading Assessments will be required for elementary education, special education (with exceptions noted below) and reading specialists whose initial license applications are submitted on/after January 1 , 2005. It will also be required for individuals adding the reading specialist endorsement to an existing license. At its July 27 meeting, the Virginia Board of Education passed in FINAL REVIEW cut scores for the two tests. A cut score of 235 was recommended for the elementary and special education teachers' assessment and a cut score of 245 was recommended for the reading specialists' assessment. The cut scores become effective on July 1, 2006.   more...

HOUSSE Requirements for Experienced Teachers
Dr. Elliott presented for final review the HOUSSE for experienced teachers. One change was made to the HOUSSE.   more...

Definition of Alternate Route for Highly Qualified Teachers
The Board of Education passed in final review Virginia's definition of alternate route for highly qualified teachers. See Superintendent's Memo # 97, dated May 7, 2004, for all the details.

American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) passing score
The Board PASSED in Final Review "advanced low" as the passing score for the ACTFL foreign language oral and written proficiency tests in Virginia.

Virginia Community College System's (VCCS) Career Switcher Program
Please note that the VCCS' Career Switcher Program has been added to the list of Career Switcher program providers. Go to the DOE web site at www.doe.virginia.gov for more information.

Business Education-Business Systems and Procedures Course:
Many questions arise over what course can be taken to meet the competencies required for Business Systems and Procedures requirement for the business education endorsement. The Career and Technical Education branch at DOE has approved the use of AST 243, Office Administration I, offered through Northern Virginia Community College, to meet this requirement.

Local License:
House Bill 1048, approved by the Governor on April 15 and effective July 1, 2004, provides legislation that will not allow the issue of a local license for special education and the core academic areas as defined in the NCLB Act. Check the DOE web site at www.doe.virginia.gov and go to the drop-down box and then to the legislative tracking report for specific details on the legislation.

Virginia Teaching and Educator Query:
A Teaching and Educator query screen has been added to the DOE web site at the Teacher Education and Licensure page. This site provides information concerning active teaching and educator licenses only, as issued by the Virginia Board of Education. Licenses that are inactive (expired), pending action, or on hold are not included in this query. Local licenses also are not included.