OCTOBER 25, 2012

m-NET Mobilizing National Educator Talent (“m-NET”) is an innovative, nontraditional program to help special education teachers earn full certification in special education. It is a partnership between the West Virginia State Department and the National Association of State Directors of Special Education through a Transition to Teaching Grant awarded to Ohio State University. Designed to help an individual in your district who wants to be a special education teacher to attain full state certification, including secondary special education teachers of record in core subjects. Addresses P-12 school districts’ staffing needs by helping them to recruit, prepare, and retain special education teachers.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS TO THE INDIVIDUAL PARTICIPANTS? Expense reimbursement of up to $1,000 per participant to help with some of the costs incurred in earning full certification; Access (at no participant cost) to a collaborative virtual learning community that includes eModules and live eCoaching sessions delivered by experienced teachers through web-based and mobile technologies; and Access to eLearning tools and applications to access content packages about classroom management and assessment strategies, core subject instructional pedagogy to accelerate learning opportunities for diverse students.

ANY OTHER BENEFITS? Access to webinars designed especially for Participants; Access for district administrators to webinars focused upon supporting special education teachers in the classroom; and Access for State and district administrators to online Communities of Practice with other participating administrators within your own State and within the five other partner states.

WHAT ARE THE ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS TO PARTICIPATE? District must: Have at least 20 % poverty level on US Census and Have at least 5% of teachers teaching out of field or at least 1.4% of teachers teaching on waivers or exceptions. Participant must be: Recent college graduate—less than three years out of college with a four-year degree in a field other than education; OR A career changer—graduated from college more than three years before participation with four-year degree in a field other than education;

AND A full-time employee working in the classroom in a special education program; Be enrolled in and have taken at least on-fourth of classes required to be a fully-certified special education teacher; and Must be a Teacher of Record or full-time employee working in a special education program in a high-need school district.

AND At the beginning of Year One of participation, each Participants’ transcript will have been evaluated to determine that by the end of Year 3 the Participant would be eligible to earn full certification in special education if they successfully complete the required PRAXIS II or related State-mandated tests and the listed classes on their applications. Be enrolled in a traditional licensure master’s degree program at a regionally accredited university or a State approved alternative route to licensure program leading to full certification.

DURING THE THREE YEARS OF PARTICIPATION Must maintain at least a 2.5 grade point average for all classes in which enrolled for purposes of meeting the requirements for full certification in special education. Must successfully complete all required PRAXIS II or similar state mandated tests. Until those examinations are successfully completed, must be working every week through online learning community training modules offered and participating in related e-Coaching. Must receive satisfactory district performance evaluations.

BY THE END OF YEAR THREE Must have successfully completed all required course work for full-certification in special education. Must have passed all required PRAXIS II or similar State mandated tests, including those required subject area tests for secondary special education Teachers of Record. Must have completed three years as a special education Teacher of Record or a full-time paraprofessional in a high-need school in your district.

REPAYMENT OBLIGATIONS If requirements discussed above are not met by the end of Year Three, all or part of the funds must be paid back. If the Participant fails to make satisfactory progress in the Project, he/she may be dropped from the Project with the requirement to repay any funds already advanced.

DISTRICT RESPONSIBILITIES Implement effective recruiting strategies for recruiting special education participants for the project; Ensure the proposed participants meet the criteria for inclusion in the project as listed on the application; Facilitate communication between project liaison and district participants; Provide encouragement to the district participants to participate in online learning communities, to enroll in required licensure classes in a timely manner, and to prepare and take the required PRAXIS or State-mandated exams in a timely manner; and Notify the project liaison when a participant is given an unsatisfactory performance evaluation.

PROJECT RESPONSIBILITY Coordinate efforts between State, identified districts and the Project. Assist school districts to recruit, train and retain participants in each of four years. (There are a total of 75 participants for each year in the six participating states) Provide identified participants with Project funding of up to $1,000 each to support the certification process. Provide each Teacher of Record with access to an online learning community by leveraging new technologies that enhances and accelerates professional learning in order to attain full teacher certification. Broaden and intensify access for each Teacher of Record to subject matter knowledge for passing the state-mandated content and pedagogical tests.

MORE PROJECT RESPONSIBILITIES Provide technological, pedagogical and content knowledge preparation that enables beginning teachers to develop and model skills and knowledge as designers of instructional technology solutions using mobile learning devices. Afford intensive support through e-Coaching that is embedded in m-NET’s online learning community. Engage in the project’s Classroom Support Series that will be delivered through an expanded online learning community.

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