JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) Board of Education amended a rule on teacher education requirements — with input from educators.
Known as Rule 400.440, Procedures and Standards for Approval and Accreditation of Professional Education Programs in Missouri, the rule establishes the standards and benchmarks for teacher education programs and those who participate in them. It replaced a number of regulations with a more all-encompassing standard.
DESE agreed to remove rules on the transfer of associate’s degrees into education programs, the requirement of basic educational competency before entering a program, and the criteria for alternative programs in preparation for a teaching certificate. All of the material these rules dealt with are contained in Rule 440, which was presented by Assistant Commissioner Paul Katnik and Jaime Faulk, coordinator of education preparation for the Office of Educator Quality, during Tuesday’s agenda meeting.
The public was allowed to comment on the proposed change through the month of May, and that input was used to revise the draft of the amended rule. Any rule change from DESE must be open to comment from educators prior to being put on the books, according to Katnik.
Comments ranged from specific language changes to the certification of educator preparation programs (EPPs). Changes were added after a comment from Emily Brown of the University of Missouri (MU), who suggested a change in terminology from “student-teacher” to “school counselor candidate” in a section on clinical experience requirements in order to clarify the provision.
A pair of requests asked for the suspension of a requirement that made EPPs file an updated Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with DESE, which establishes a contract between the school and the department. The board amended the rule slightly to keep the yearly updates while allowing for multi-year MOUs as needed.
DESE further amended the rule by adopting a suggestion from Suzanne Hull of Missouri Sothern State University. The change extended the timeline of observation of student teachers by supervisors from three weeks to three-to-four weeks in order to allow more flexibility in scheduling observations.
Katnik told The Missouri Times the revised version was more succinct and made the other rules redundant.
“The language on those three rules is already contained in Rule 440,” Katnik said. “We had done a big rewrite on that over the past year, and then we put it forth for comment, which we presented at the meeting.”
The board also agreed to amend a rule which established the requirements for career education secondary certificates. The rule as was on the books did not include the areas of water quality, wastewater treatment management, or recycling technology as a skilled technical science certificate. The amendment to the rule added those areas as educational certificates.
Cameron Gerber studied journalism at Lincoln University. Prior to Lincoln, he earned an associate’s degree from State Fair Community College. Cameron is a native of Eldon, Missouri.
Contact Cameron at cameron@themissouritimes.com.
