OGCS/SSCS ESEA Highly Qualified Teachers Plan

The Collaborative Teaching Model

 

Policy

According to the Federal ESEA Highly Qualified Teachers regulations, all our students must be taught by an ESEA certified “Highly Qualified Teachers” (HQT) as “teacher of record” beginning with the 2008 school year. Each local educational agency (LEA) must develop a plan to ensure that all elementary, middle and high school teachers who are assigned to teach core academic subjects meet the ESEA requirements to ensure they are highly qualified. For IEM schools this means that the assigned ES must either be ESEA certified in each particular subject that each of their students are taking, or the student must have another “teacher of record” who is ESEA certified serving the student for that course, or the student is taking that course at a community college, or the course is taken from one of our school approved online vendors. All ESs must be ESEA-compliant in at least one core subject area in order to serve a student.

 

The Collaborative Teaching Model

IEM schools will be utilizing a model called the Collaborative Teaching Model to meet the Federal ESEA requirements.

·         Under this model, each student continues to be served by one ES who is their “supervising teacher” for all subjects.

·         The assigned ES is also the “teacher of record” for all courses their students are taking that they are ESEA certified to teach (See examples below).

·         For any ESEA subject areas in which the assigned ES is not ESEA-certified, the ES must see that each of their students is being served in another approved way for those courses.

·         All ESs are encouraged to obtain as many ESEA certifications as possible, so that they might be better able to serve all assigned students.

·         ESs with Single Subject credentials only may only serve high school students until they are certified in “multi-subjects”, as no SME’s are available for this.

 

ESEA Core Academic Subjects for K-8th grades

For IEM schools, K-8th graders can be served in all subjects by a teacher certified in multi-subjects, as 7th and 8th grades have been designated to be a part of our elementary school program. Exceptions:

·         An exception to this would be a junior high student who is taking a high school course for high school credit.

·         Algebra 1 has been designated a high school level course for ESEA purposes (even though it is expected to be taken in 7th or 8th grade) that must be overseen by an ESEA math certified HQT. No exceptions can be made for this—if Algebra 1 is being attempted at any grade level, then an HQT must be the teacher of record!

 

ESEA Core Academic Subjects for 9th to 12th grades

The core academic subjects for California High Schools are:

·         English (which includes Drama and Theater for ESEA purposes)

·         Reading/Language Arts (CLAD/CTEL certifications meet the ESEA requirements)

·         Mathematics (Foundational and regular)

·         Science (Foundation; Biology; Geosciences; Chemistry; Physics certifications)

·         Social Sciences (which include Civics, Government, Economics, History, and Geography)

·         Foreign language (for a-g and/or Standards required courses only)

·         Arts (for a-g and/or Standards courses only—Music and Visual Arts certifications)

·         PE and dance courses do not requires a NCLB certified teacher, along with all other electives not in subject areas named above.

·         http://www.sscs.cc/Handbook/esjob/ESEACodes.pdf contains specifics on the above information.

 

Ways that a student can be served by a HQT in a subject area in which their ES is not currently ESEA certified (Only use one of the below options if the ES is NOT ESEA compliant—otherwise, by school default, the ES is the teacher of record and no additional option below should be used or indicated on the report card.)

Any of the following are recognized ways to meet the ESEA HQT requirements for your students:

·         Take courses through a school approved fully online vendor

·         Take college level, CSU transferrable courses at a community college (course number must be indicated on the report card line for this course.)

·         On the report card line for the course, select the school HQT Subject Matter expert (SME) who becomes the “teacher of record” for that course. This option is required if one of the other options is not being utilized and the ES is not ESEA certified. See the yearly information in your August All ES packet for the SME for your school for that school year—you may only select from the list of SMEs we provide.

 

HQT Subject Matter Experts (SME)

"Subject Matter Experts" (SME) will be identified in each of the following core areas for each charter school for each school year:

  • English
  • Math
  • Biology
  • Geosciences
  • Chemistry
  • Physics
  • Social Science
  • Visual Arts
  • Music
  • Foreign Language (SMEs are now language specific—select carefully)

 

These SMEs (fully credentialed teachers with a single subject credential in their certified area) will each be available as a resource and support in their field of study and will have "office hours" every week in addition to taking email questions.

 

The Course syllabus to provide to your student/parent based on your IEM school is located on the school website at http://www.ogcs.org/index_ssog.htm  in the section entitled: 2011-2012 HQT SME COURSE SYLLABI.  Read the notes carefully for your school SME and syllabus, which may be different than for another IEM school.

 

Process (See details at: http://www.sscs.cc/Handbook/highschool/smeprocess.html )

On the high school report card layout, the ES must indicate how each high school subject area is being covered by a ESEA HQT. Choose the correct choice in that space for each course when creating the report card. Note:  By default, if you are certified, then you always select #1-ES is certified.

 

The HQT SME must also sign the Student Written Agreement each semester, since they are the "teacher of record". SMEs will use the SME Student Agreement, page 3 for this.

 

The HQT SME will be available for questions and support from the ESs and students enrolled with them on the HS report card line during the semester, as all students must have access to a HQT in each of their subject areas. The ES and SME will collaborate on the course of study, the educational materials being used, the grading system for the course, and the SME will make the final determination of the grades and credits earned for each student. The ES will enter the grades and credits emailed to them by the SME in webfiles at the end of the semester, then keep the email in their student’s file as verification.

 

At the end of each semester, the ES will provide the following to the SME ASAP and prior to the end of the deadline:

·         SME STUDENT LIST WORKSHEET

·         SME ASSIGNMENT WORKSHEET

·         All referenced documentation and student work (save portfolio samples before sending all work off!)

 

Examples

1. 9th grade Student A is assigned to multi-subject ES Ms C. Ms C is ESEA certified in Multi-subjects, and because she is a “not new” teacher and has a supplemental authorization on her credential for English and Social Sciences, she is also ESEA certified to teach all grades levels in these subject areas. Student A is taking these 35 credits in these ways as indicated on Student A’s report card form in Webfiles:

 

·         Geometry (HQT #2: Doing a fully online course, since it is qualified, and Ms. C is not)

·         English (HQT #1: Ms. C is teacher of record, due to her English ESEA certification)

·         World History (HQT #1: Ms. C is teacher of record, due to her Social Science ESEA certification)

·         Biology (HQT #4 with course number added to RC line: Taking this course at the community college, due to Ms C not being ESEA certified)

·         PE (HQT #0: Ms. C is teacher of record, as no ESEA certification is necessary for this subject)

·         Visual Arts (HQT #3: Signed up with a SME for this course, since Ms C is not ESEA certified and student is taking this course to meet the Arts graduation requirement.)

·         Computer 1 (HQT #0: Ms. C is teacher of record, as no ESEA certification is necessary for this subject)

 

In this situation above, Ms C will need to ensure that:

·         She let’s her student know where to send her college concurrent enrollment forms so that she can be enrolled in the classes she needs to take from the college.

·         Then the ES needs to let the guidance office know that ES approval is being given for college enrollment.

·         The ES signs her student up in a timely manner with the SME for Visual arts on the report card line, prints the online syllabus and provides a copy to the parent/student and negotiates any changes needed to the syllabus items between the parent and SME, negotiates any needed changes to the grading system between the parent/ES/SME up front, then provides the above listed forms and work samples to the SME as requested prior to the deadline date given for the semester.

·         At the end of the semester, the ES will submit the grades and credits given to you by the SME at the end of the semester on the report card.

·         In the case of a disagreement about the grades and credits, the SME is the teacher of record, and has the authority under California law to award the grades and credits. You may ask your advisor to intervene for you and your parent if you feel there is an error.

 

2. 12th grade Student B has Mr. W as an ES. Mr. W has a single subject credential and is ESEA certified in Mathematics. He also has his CLAD, and is certified in Reading . Student B is taking these 25 credits in these ways:

·         Basic English 12 (HQT #1:Mr. W is teacher of record, due to his Reading ESEA certification, and most of this course is CAHSEE prep basic skills)

·         Algebra 1 (HQT #1:Mr. W is teacher of record, due to his Math ESEA certification)

·         Government (HQT #3: Signed up with a SME for this course, since Mr. W is not ESEA certified, and the student did not qualify to take this course at the community college due to their low GPA)

·         Health (HQT #0: Mr. W is teacher of record, as no ESEA certification is necessary for this subject)

·         Life Choices (HQT #0: Mr. W is teacher of record, as no ESEA certification is necessary for this subject)

 

3. 8th grade Student C is enrolled with Mrs. H as the ES. Mrs. H is ESEA certified in the multi-subject area only, only “requests” students in grades K to 8, and is dragging her feet on becoming fully ESEA certified. Student C is taking some 8th grade classes, and some high school courses in these ways:

 

·         8th grade English (Mrs. H is teacher of record, due to her Multi-subject ESEA certification)

·         High School Foreign Language 1 (HQT #3: Signed up with a SME for this course, since Mrs. H is not ESEA certified, and the student did not qualify to take this course at the community college due to age and grade level)

·         Algebra 1 (HQT #2: Doing an online course, since it is qualified, and Mrs. H is not, since Algebra 1 is considered to be a high school level course requiring Math ESEA  certification, whether or not it is being taken for HS credits)

·         8th grade History (Mrs. H is teacher of record, due to her Multi-subject ESEA certification)

·         8th grade Science (Mrs. H is teacher of record, due to her Multi-subject ESEA certification)

·         Karate (Mrs. H is teacher of record, as no ESEA certification is necessary for this subject)

·         8th grade Drama (Mrs. H is teacher of record, due to her Multi-subject ESEA certification. Had this student desired high school credit for Drama, Mrs. H would have had to use other options, as high school drama requires an English ESEA certification)

 

ES Procedures

Each semester after discussing with the parent the courses the student will be taking the next semester, determine if you will be able to officially be the “teacher of record” for each of those courses based on your current (not “in process”) ESEA certifications. For those courses you may not “oversee”, identify alternative options for those courses. Discuss the options with your parents/students and select the best choice for that student. Enroll in the option ASAP on the report card.