Section 34.01. Definitions.

  In this chapter:

(1)  "Accredited" means that an educational institution meets required educational standards or accepted criteria of quality in its educational program as established by a recognized regional or national institutional accrediting agency or by a programmatic accrediting organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and appearing in The Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs.

(2)  "Administrator" means a person whose leadership in a district, school building or program area focuses on improved student learning by managing, supervising, mentoring and evaluating professional staff and by directing programs, curriculum, instruction, student assessment, and business administration in a public or private religious or nonsectarian school.

(3)  "Advanced program" means a professional education program leading to licensure offered at the post baccalaureate level.

(4)  "Aide" means a school employee who works under the direct supervision of a licensed teacher in a school or district whose responsibilities include, but are not limited to, supporting the lesson plan of the licensed teacher, providing technical assistance to the teacher, helping with classroom control or management, and other duties as assigned. Aides may not serve as substitute teachers.

(5)  "Alternative education program" means an instructional program, approved by a school board, that utilizes successful alternative or adaptive school structures and teaching techniques and that is incorporated into existing traditional classrooms or regularly scheduled curricular programs or that is offered in place of regularly scheduled curriculum programs. "Alternative education program" does not include a private school, a special education program as described under ch. PI 11 or a home-based private educational program.

(6)  "Approved program" means a professional education program developed and offered by or collaboratively between IHEs, or an alternative standards-based training and assessment program in Wisconsin, approved by the state superintendent under s. 115.28 (7) , Stats.

(7)  "Classroom" means an area or space in a school designated for instructing pupils.

(8)  "Clinical program" means supervised experiences in a school setting which provide practical experience for the student enrolled in a professional education program including prestudent teaching, student teaching, practicum and internships.

(9)  "Communication skills" means proficiency in reading, writing, mathematics, speaking, listening, media and technology including computers and emerging technology along with the ability to use those skills for instruction.

(10)  "Concentration" means a field of study in which a student completes an approved program leading to licensure by completing the required SCD course of study in the area, or for which a student exhibits, through approved performance criteria, including passing the standardized test required by the state superintendent in the field or through a portfolio review process for license conversion, skill in the area equivalent to that IHE program.

(11)  "Conceptual framework" means the standards, assessments and benchmarks used by an institution of higher education to determine the communications skills, human relations and teaching dispositions, content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and teaching practice competence of students who are candidates for a license.

(13)  "Contact hour" means a 50-minute class period.

(14)  "Content knowledge" means understanding the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of a subject area.

(15)  "Continuous review process" means a system of review and approval of teacher education programs whereby program results are reviewed by the department annually and approval is granted by the state superintendent on a 5-year basis.

(16)  "Cooperating teacher and other school-based supervisor" means a licensed school professional who supervises students during their clinical programs in cooperation with the college or university supervising staff.

(16m)  "Core academic subject" means English, reading or language arts, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, music, art, theatre, dance, history, and geography.

(17)  "Course" means organized subject matter in which instruction is offered within a specified period of time and for which credit is usually granted by an accredited college or university.

(18)  "Department" means the Wisconsin department of public instruction.

(18m)  "Emotional behavior disability" has the meaning set forth in s. PI 11.36 (7) (a) .

(19)  "Equivalency" means the state or condition of being equal or comparable in value, meaning or effect, to given criteria established for courses, course work, programs or experiences.

(20)  "Full-time teaching" means employment under contract as a classroom teacher for a minimum of one class period or contact hour for at least 180 days in a school year.

(21)  "General education program" means that component of the college or university baccalaureate degree program which emphasizes the study of the behavioral and social sciences, fine arts, humanities, natural sciences, and mathematics.

(22)  "IHE" means an institution of higher education located in Wisconsin or out of state that is an accredited, four-year, baccalaureate degree granting institution.

(23)  "Initial educator" means an individual who has successfully completed an approved program for the first time under subch. VII , VIII or IX .

(24)  "Initial program" means the program that when completed qualifies an individual for his or her first license.

(25)  "Institution" means a private or public college or university engaged in the preparation of professional school personnel in Wisconsin.

(26)  "Institutional endorsement" means written verification from the certifying officer at an institution which prepares professional school personnel that the applicant has satisfactorily completed the approved program and is recommended for a specific level or category license.

(27)  "Intellectual disability" has the meaning set forth in s. PI 11.36 (1) (a) .

(29)  "Intern" means an enrolled student in an approved program who is licensed by the department and may be assigned to a paid position in a school as part of a clinical program.

(30)  "Knowledge" means having the understanding of and ability to communicate the basic concepts of a field of study.

(31)  "License" means a document, including permits, issued by the department under this chapter granting authority or permission to serve as an educator in Wisconsin public schools and is available to educators in private religious and nonsectarian schools.

(32)  "Major" means a field of study in which a student completes an academic specialization as part of an approved program leading to a license.

(33)  "Master educator" means an individual who demonstrates through performance the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to improve pupil learning and qualifies under requirements in this chapter for a license as a master educator.

(34)  "Mentor" means an educator who is trained to provide support and assistance to initial educators and who will have input into the confidential formative assessment of the initial educator and who is not to be considered as part of the formal employment evaluation process.

(35)  "Minor" means a field of study in which a student completes an academic specialization as part of an approved program leading to licensure in addition to the major.

(35m)  "Model academic standards" means pupil academic standards adopted by the state superintendent.

(36)  "Pedagogical knowledge" means an understanding of learning, human development, professional ethics, motivational techniques, cultural and individual differences, instructional strategies, classroom management, and assessment strategies that have an impact on the learner.

(37)  "Performance-based licensing" means licensing that is focused on improved pupil learning and based on an assessment system that measures a candidate's knowledge, skill, and disposition for teaching against established standards of performance.

(38)  "Performances" means evidence that an individual can demonstrate techniques that improve pupil learning.

(39)  "Portfolio" means a collection of documentary evidence to demonstrate proficiency that may include but is not limited to whole group and individual pupil performance as measured by state, local, formal and informal assessments; lesson plans; supervisor and mentor comments of classroom performance; journals documenting samples of pupil errors and analysis of teacher interpretations of errors; ongoing documentation of classroom management techniques and results; and curriculum adaptations for children with disabilities or other exceptionalities with related outcome measures.

(40)  "Practicum" means supervised experience in a school, clinic or other setting which provides practical application of theory and experience for the student in an approved program.

(41)  "Principal" means the individual who serves as the administrator of a school.

(42)  "Professional development plan" means a list of activities, timelines for achievement, and a plan for assessment that indicates professional growth that has as a goal the improvement of student learning.

(43)  "Professional education program" means the sequence of courses included in the baccalaureate degree or advanced program for preparing professional school personnel for licensure in the state of Wisconsin.

(44)  "Professional educator" means an individual who demonstrates through performance the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to improve pupil learning and qualifies under this chapter to hold a professional educator license, including those persons who have successfully completed the initial educator stage of licensing.

(45)  "Professional standards council" means the council created under s. 15.377 , Stats., with the duties described under s. 115.425 , Stats.

(46)  "Pupil" means any person age birth through 21 who is enrolled in a prekindergarten through grade 12 school or a school program.

(47)  "Qualified" means the person holds an appropriate license.

(48)  "Regularly employed" means employment as a professional school employee, at fixed or uniform intervals, for the equivalent of at least one contact hour per day for at least one semester.

(49)  "Research base" means the theoretical bases upon which a program of study in professional education is organized including the formal structure of inquiry used for the purpose of making program improvements.

(50)  "SCD" means a school, college, department or division within a private or public college or university engaged in the preparation of professional school personnel in Wisconsin.

(51)  "SCD department liaison" means a member of the department's professional staff from the teacher education or licensing team who is assigned as first contact to the institution and who carries out the annual visits to the institution.

(52)  "School business administrator" means the person who generally reports to the local district administrator and who has primary budget and fiscal responsibility in the school district.

(52m)  "School nurse" means a person who is a registered nurse licensed under s. 441.06 , Stats., or in a party state, as defined in s. 441.50 (2) (j) , Stats., and has a bachelor's or master's degree from a nursing program that is approved by the board of nursing or accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education and that includes preparation in public health nursing or community health nursing. An individual shall be considered a school nurse if he or she was employed by, or under contract with, a school board, a board of control of a cooperative educational service agency, a county children with disabilities education board, or an operator of a charter school established under s. 118.40 (2r) , Stats., as a school nurse on January 1, 2011.

(53)  "Short term substitute" means a substitute teacher employed for no more than 20 consecutive days in the same teaching assignment.

(53m)  "Specific learning disability" has the meaning set forth in s. PI 11.36 (6) (a) .

(54)  "State superintendent" means the superintendent of public instruction for the state of Wisconsin.

(55)  "Student" means a person enrolled in a professional education program leading to licensure.

(56)  "Student teaching" means classroom practice through observation, participation, and actual teaching practice under the direction of a college or university supervisor of student teachers and a cooperating teacher as a part of the professional education program offered by an institution.

(57)  "Substitute teacher" means a licensed teacher who occupies temporarily the position of an absent classroom teacher.

(58)  "Teacher" has the meaning defined under s. 40.02 (55) , Stats. For the purposes of licensing under this chapter, "teacher" also means a person who demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and dispositions outlined in s. PI 34.02 to improve pupil learning through the exercise of any educational function, including instructing pupils or administering, directing, or supervising any educational activity.

(59)  "Teaching" means improving pupil learning by planning instruction, diagnosing learning needs, prescribing content delivery through classroom activities, assessing student learning, reporting outcomes to administrators and parents and evaluating the effects of instruction.

(60)  "Teaching experience" means experience in which the licensed teacher is actually instructing pupils in a classroom setting on a continuous basis.

(61)  "Upper level high school course" means a course in the junior or senior year that is part of the college preparatory sequence, an advanced placement course or an elective course with more depth of content than the basic courses in the basic sequence for graduation.

(63)  "Wisconsin standards for teacher development and licensure" means the standards for licenses contained in subch. II .

History: Cr. Register, April, 2000, No. 532 , eff. 5-1-00; correction in (62) made under s. 13.93 (2m) (b) 7., Stats., Register June 2004 No. 582 ; CR 10-083 : am. (1), (15), (16), (23), r. (12), (27), (28), cr. (16m), renum. (62) to be (35m) and am. Register November 2010 No. 659 , eff. 12-1-10; CR 10-058 : cr. (52m) Register December 2010 No. 660 , eff. 1-1-11; correction in (37) made under s. 35.17, Stats., Register August 2014 No. 704 ; EmR1602 : emerg. am. (1) eff. 1-1-16; CR 16-003 : am. (1) Register July 2016 No. 727 , eff. 8-1-16; CR 16-025 : cr. (18m), (27), (53m) Register July 2016 No. 727 , eff. 8-1-16.