Section 34.17. Initial educator license.

 

(1)   General .

(a) An initial educator license may be issued to an individual who meets the requirements of this chapter, including the completion of an approved program after August 31, 2004, for the first time in a license category with institutional endorsement or as demonstrated by a state superintendent approved assessment program under s. PI 34.195 (1) that meets the standards under subch. II .

(b) The initial educator license shall be issued for a period of 5 years and is a non-renewable license unless the individual has not been employed as an educator for at least 3 years within the 5-year period.

(c) A one-year nonrenewable initial educator license may be issued to an applicant who meets the license requirements under this chapter but who has not completed the requirements under sub. (4) .

(d) The initial educator license stage shall be required one time for licenses under each of subchs. VII , VIII , and IX , with the exception of educators who meet requirements under s. PI 34.18 (1) (d) .

(2)   School district requirements .

(a) The initial educator shall receive ongoing orientation from the employing school district which is collaboratively developed and delivered by school boards, administrators, teachers, support staff and parents.

(b) The initial educator shall be provided support seminars by the employing school district which reflect the standards in subch. II and the mission and goals of the school district.

(c) The initial educator shall be provided with a qualified mentor by the employing school district. The mentoring period may be for less than 5 years.

(3)   Initial educator team . A team of individuals shall be convened at the discretion of the initial educator and shall be responsible for review and approval of the initial educator professional development goals. Teams for review shall be constituted as follows:

(a) For classroom teachers, the team shall include a teacher of the same subject or at the same level who is not the mentor and who is selected by teacher peers, an administrator designated by the district administrator subject to approval by the school board and an IHE representative.

(b) For pupil services educators, the team shall include a pupil services professional in the same license category who is not the mentor and who is selected by peers, an administrator designated by the district administrator subject to approval by the school board and an IHE representative.

(c) For administrators, the team shall include an administrator in the same license category who is not the mentor and who is selected by peers, an administrator designated by the district administrator subject to approval by the school board and an IHE representative.

(d) Participation in the teams required under pars. (a) to (c) by institution representatives may be used to meet the requirement in s. PI 34.11 (2) (d) .

(e) Nothing in this subsection shall limit the school board and the labor organization, where one exists, which represents licensed staff, and other licensed staff, from designing a district-wide agreement in lieu of meeting the specific requirements of pars. (a) to (c) . The agreement shall be submitted to the state superintendent for approval.

(4)   Advancement.

(a) To move to the professional educator level, an initial educator shall design and complete a professional development plan that demonstrates increased proficiency and which reflects the standards in subch. II that have been identified by the team in sub. (3) for improvement. The plan shall include:

1. Identified activities and objectives related to professional development goals, school or school district goals or performance goals identified by the educator.

2. A timeline for achieving the professional development goals.

3. Evidence of collaboration with professional peers and others.

4. An assessment plan that specifies indicators of growth.

(b) Successful completion of the professional development plan shall be documented. The documentation may include but is not limited to evidence of whole group and individual student 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. The professional development plan may also include evidence that identifies professional development activities related to the professional development goals. The evidence may be in the form of samples of pupil work, letters of recommendation; evidence of attending professional meetings, workshops, conferences or seminars; administrative or supervisory evaluations; peer evaluations; journals, diaries or published articles; action research projects and results; college, university or technical college course work; or evidence of in-district work assignments outside of the classroom.

(c) Nothing in this subsection shall limit the school board and the labor organization, where one exists, which represents licensed staff, and other licensed staff, from designing a district-wide agreement in lieu of meeting the specific requirements of pars. (a) and (b) . The agreement shall be submitted to the state superintendent for approval.

(d) Successful completion of the initial educator stage shall be measured at the initiation of the initial educator no sooner than 3 years but no later than 5 years after the license is granted. A majority of the 3-member team described in sub. (3) shall verify successful completion of the professional development plan. Appeals of decisions made by the 3-member team may be made as follows:

1. For teachers and pupil services professionals, appeals shall be made to the state superintendent. The professional standards council may establish procedures to hear appeals referred. If the professional standards council agrees to hear an appeal, it shall, upon completion of its deliberations, make a recommendation to the state superintendent. The state superintendent shall issue a decision concerning the appeal.

2. For administrators and individuals who wish to contest decisions under subd. 1. , appeals shall be made to the state superintendent as prescribed under s. PI 34.35 (8) .

(5)   Out of state applicants. An initial educator license may be issued to an applicant who completes an approved program from out of state, who has fewer than 5 years of successful experience in an early childhood through adolescence school setting in his or her respective teaching, pupil services or administrative license, and who has met the competency test requirements under s. PI 34.15 (2) (a) 3. a. The applicant shall provide evidence that the requirements under s. PI 34.15 (4) have been met before qualifying for a professional educator license.

History: Cr. Register, April, 2000, No. 532 , eff. 5-1-00; CR 10-083 : am. (1) (a), (b), (d), (4) (b), (d) (intro.), (5), renum. (6) and (7) to be PI 34.195 (1) and (2) and am. Register November 2010 No. 659 , eff. 12-1-10; correction made in (1) (a) under s. 13.92 (4) (b) 1. , Stats., Register November 2010 No. 659 .