Credentialing for World Language TeachersA California Perspective

Sally Mearns, with thanks to: Phyllis Jacobson, California Commission on Teacher CredentialingHelene Chan, PACT Guru

The Essential Questions

What should a World Language Teacher know?

What should a World Language Teacher be able to do?

What Should World Language Teachers Know?

Content Knowledge for All World Language Teachers

General LinguisticsLinguistics of the Target

LanguageLiterary and Cultural Texts and

TraditionsCultural Analysis and

ComparisonsLanguage Skills: Listening,

Speaking, Reading, Writing

Assessing the Content Knowledge of World Language Teachers

Two NCLB-Compliant Routes to Demonstrating Subject Matter Competence in California: College/University Coursework Examination

Assessing the Content Knowledge of World Language Teachers

Complete college/university coursework that covers all of the domains

Assessing the Content Knowledge of World Language Teachers

Pass a subject-matter examination that covers all of the domains

California’s Standardized Exams for World Languages (CSET)

Based on the five content domains Combination of multiple choice items

and constructed response items (including listening, speaking, reading, and writing)

Passing Score Standard based on ACTFL Proficiency levels (Advanced-Low for Western languages and Intermediate-High for non-Western languages)

Available now for twenty languages

A Closer Look at the Examination

Three Major Subtests: General Linguistics and Linguistics

of the Target Language Literary and Cultural Texts and

Traditions, Cultural Analysis and Comparisons

Language and Communication (Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing)

What Should World Language Teachers Be Able to Do?

Teaching Performance Expectations

The integrated set of knowledge, skills, and abilities California expects each beginning teacher, including new World Language teachers, to have

Based on California’s Standards for the Teaching Profession as adapted for beginning rather than veteran practice

How do the TPEs Define Pedagogical Competence?

Making subject matter comprehensible to students

Assessing student learning Engaging and supporting students in

learning Planning instruction and designing

learning experiences for students Creating and maintaining effective

environments for student learning Developing as a professional

educator

What Are the Benefits of the TPEs?

Allow for common definition and common understanding of our expectations for teachers, including world language teachers

Provide a legally defensible basis for evaluation of the performance of teacher candidates

Can be used across, and have the same meaning in, all teacher preparation programs in the state

Teaching Performance Assessment

Assessing the Classroom Performance of World Language Teacher Candidates

California requires ALL beginning elementary and secondary teachers to demonstrate by actual classroom performance with K-12 students that they have mastered the integrated set of knowledge, skills, and abilities required by the Teaching Performance Expectations

What is a Teaching Performance Assessment?

An assessment that requires candidates to demonstrate with their performance with K-12 students that they have mastered the knowledge, skills and abilities required of a beginning teacher, as exemplified in the Teaching Performance Expectations (TPEs).

Common Features of the Approved TPA Models

Based on the Teaching Performance Expectations (TPEs)

Require candidates to perform specified tasks/activities with K-12 students

Require candidate orientation and practice in the TPA tasks/activities

Embed tasks within the teacher preparation program sequence

Provide assessor training, calibration and recalibration

We ask candidates to:

Learn about their students Plan standards-based world

language lessons for the whole class based on what they know about the students and their progress

Indicate lesson adaptations for English learner students and for special education students

We ask candidates to:

Develop student assessments, including adaptations, to determine student learning based on the lessons

Teach the lesson Give the assessment(s) Reflect on the lesson and the

assessment results Integrate Academic Language

Performance Assessment for California Teachers (PACT)

Overview Developed by Stanford in Consortia with

Representatives from Several UC and CSU Teacher Preparation Programs.

Key Features Authentic performance assessment of

candidates’ developing instructional practices Focuses on Candidates’ Planning, Teaching,

Assessing and Reflecting on the Teaching Event It is a state requirement for licensure

Architecture of the Teaching Event

Task What to do What to submit1. Context for

Learning•Provide relevant information about your instructional context

Context form Context commentary

2. Planning, Instruction, and Assessment

• Select a learning segment…• Create lesson plans…• Write commentary…• Record daily reflections…

Lesson Plans Instructional materials Planning commentary

Architecture of the Teaching Event

Task What to do What to submit3. Instructing

Students and Developing Communicative Proficiency

• Review your plans…• Videotape the lesson(s)…• Select 2 video clips…• Write commentary….

Video clips Lesson plan Instruction

commentary

4. Assessing Student Learning

• Analyze whole-class performance…

• Select student samples…• Write commentary…

Student work samples Evaluation criteria or

rubric Assessment

commentary

Architecture of the Teaching Event

Task What to do What to submit5. Reflecting on

Teaching and Learning

• Write daily reflections…• Write overall commentary…

Daily reflections Reflective

commentary

Performance Scoring

• Each task has a specific scoring rubric describing the characteristics of a candidate’s performance relative to that task and the TPEs

• Each rubric has four score levels, ranging from a low of 1 to a high of 4

• Scorers (assessors) are trained and calibrated to apply each rubric to candidate performance

Induction

“Induction” refers to the support and assessment provided to teachers in their first two years of practice with a Preliminary Credential in California.

BTSA (Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment) provides job-embedded formative assessment system of support and professional growth.

Requirements to Enter an Induction Program

Bachelor’s Degree CBEST—Basic Skills Test Completion of a Preliminary

Credential in a teacher preparation program

Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA) scores and/or summary information from a teacher preparation program (as available)

Induction and the Learning To Teach Continuum

Learning to Teach is a continuum of practice with defined sets of competencies at each level of practice

An initial credential is only the beginning of the licensing and teacher development processes

Induction into the profession comes next

Credentialing for World Language TeachersThe Word from the Rest of the Country

Join your colleagues from your home state. Fill out as much as you can on the

worksheet Credentialing for World Language Teachers

If you do not know or are unsure of an answer, you may search online. Go first to our Wikispace for state-specific reference material: http://startalkcooperatingteachers.wikispaces.com/Credentialing+Requirements

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