1. META Alternate Licensure Program for Special Education Teachers Terry Dozier, Director VCU Center for Teacher Leadership Wednesday, May 24, 2006 National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality

2. Metropolitan Educational Training Alliance (META) – February 2001 META Chesterfield County Schools Hanover County Schools VCU’s School of Education Richmond City Schools Henrico County Schools

3. META provides a framework for its partners to... u identify needs and opportunities for collaborative professional development activities; u plan and to implement professional development activities; u share information and resources; and u seek additional resources necessary to carry out activities.

4. META Projects u Developing Teacher Leaders -- focused on recruiting and supporting teachers who seek advanced certification through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards u Developing Future Teachers Out of the Ranks of Instructional Assistants -- focused on instructional assistants with a bachelor’s degree who want to be special education teachers u Ensuring Highly Qualified Paraprofessionals – partnership with JSRCC to help paraprofessionals meet federal requirements u META Teacher Development and Retention Project – five year federal grant to improve the preparation and retention of teachers in the metro-Richmond area; targeted to the highest need schools

5. META Alternate Licensure Program for Special Education u Targets instructional aides in META schools. u Works with cohorts of students over 6 semesters (Summer Year 1 through Spring Year 2= 21 months) u Provides Year 1 coursework while serving as an instructional aide u Offers Year 2 seminars while serving as the teacher of record

6. META Roles and Responsibilities VCU shall: u Provide a cohort program with a prescribed sequence of courses. u Offer all courses to participants at the “off- campus” course rate. u Allow participants the opportunity to earn an M.Ed. degree by allowing up to 15 credit hours from the cohort program to count toward the M.Ed. degree

7. META Roles and Responsibilities Participating school systems shall: u Identify and recommend qualified instructional aides for the META program. u Provide a list of qualified and willing instructors to teach: u TEDU 500 Language and Reading Disabilities u TEDU 681 Investigation and Trends in Teaching: Special Education Law u TEDU 500 Seminar I u TEDU 500 Seminar II

8. META Roles and Responsibilities Participants shall: u Have a contract as an instructional aide with one of the four META school divisions. u Be employed as a special education instructional aide during the first year of the program. u Take the prescribed courses as a cohort and sign up only for META-specified courses or course sections.

9. Results to Date u 42 instructional aides have participated in the META Alternate Licensure Program for Special Education since it’s inception in 2002. u 35 have been hired by the META divisions. u 3 graduates have been selected as the “New Teacher of the Year” for their schools

10. Guidelines for Setting Up Effective Alternative Route Programs* u Establish planning committee that should include: u person who will oversee the program u faculty members who will likely teach courses to participants u representative from the Dean’s Office u representative from the district personnel office u principals from partnering districts u Assess district’s need for qualified teachers -- be very specific in terms of subject areas and candidate characteristics

11. Guidelines for Setting Up Effective Alternative Route Programs* u Set goals – Specify the numbers and types of teachers program aims to produce u Identify pool from which you will draw new recruits u Publicize program u Select candidates u Adapt teacher education curriculum to: u value diversity u build bridges between home and school u prepare candidates to be role models u make connections between theory and practice u improve knowledge of content

12. Guidelines for Setting Up Effective Alternative Route Programs* u Meet the needs of participants by: u giving credit for experience u addressing potential barriers to student teaching u expanding course offerings u providing financial incentives (scholarships that pay tuition, fees, and books are essential)

13. Guidelines for Setting Up Effective Alternative Route Programs* u Support participants through: u consistent academic advising or monitoring u academic tutoring u preparation for certification exams u classroom supervision and feedback u mentoring u cohort building u family support u Calculate costs and promote efficiency * Ahead of the Class: A Handbook for Preparing New Teachers from New Sources, Clewell and Villegas

14. Questions?