Section 34.18. Professional educator license.

 

(1)   Eligible applicants . Except as provided under sub. (3) , the professional educator license is a renewable license and shall be issued for a period of 5 years as follows:

(a) To applicants following successful completion of at least 3 years at the initial educator license stage and completion of a professional development plan under s. PI 34.17 (4) .

(b) To applicants eligible to receive or renew a license before August 31, 2004.

(c) To applicants holding licenses without an expiration date also referred to as life licenses. License renewal requirements under sub. (2) do not apply to life licenses.

(d) To applicants with 5 or more years of teaching, pupil services, or administrative experience in another state corresponding to the license under subch. VII , VIII , or IX . Any deficiencies in meeting the standards in subch. II or s. PI 34.15 (4) shall be completed prior to renewal of the professional educator license.

(2)   Renewal .

(a) A professional educator shall complete a professional development plan that demonstrates increased proficiency and which reflects the standards in subch. II , as appropriate, including:

1. Goals and objectives, which address the selected standards in subch. II with a rationale for each goal.

2. Identified activities related to the professional development goals with evidence of application to the classroom or learning community.

3. A timeline for achieving the professional development goals with evidence of annual review of goals and activities.

4. Evidence of collaboration with professional peers and others including the review panel required under par. (c) .

5. An assessment plan that specifies indicators of growth and how meeting the goals improved the educator's professional knowledge and affected student learning.

(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) At the initiation of the professional educator, successful completion of the professional development plan shall be verified by a majority of the professional development team and communicated to the state superintendent. The professional development team shall be composed as follows:

1. At least 3 licensed classroom teachers selected by their peers who would verify teacher plans in accordance with the standards in s. PI 34.02 .

2. At least 3 licensed pupil service professionals selected by their peers who would verify plans of pupil service professionals in accordance with the standards in s. PI 34.04 .

3. At least 3 licensed administrators selected by their peers who would verify administrator professional development plans in accordance with the standards in s. PI 34.03 .

(d) 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.

(e) Appeals of decisions made by the professional development 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) .

(f) Individuals eligible to hold the professional educator license based on sub. (1) (b) , or educators not regularly employed in the field of education, or individuals who hold or have held a professional educator license and have been teaching outside of Wisconsin, shall renew their license by meeting one of the following requirements in the 5 years immediately preceding the effective date of the new license:

1. Successful completion of 6 semester credits from an institution of higher education as defined in 20 USC 1001 (a) and (b). The credits shall be directly related to a license held or to the standards in subch. II ; or

2. Successful completion of a professional development plan as identified in par. (a) .

(3)   One year license. A one-year nonrenewable professional educator license may be issued as follows:

(a) To an applicant who meets the license requirements under this chapter but who has not met the continuing education requirement for renewal of a professional educator license.

(b) To an applicant who meets the license requirements under this chapter but who has not been regularly employed in education for 5 consecutive years immediately preceding application for the license or renewal, upon written request of an employing school district administrator.

History: Cr. Register, April, 2000, No. 532 , eff. 5-1-00; CR 10-083 : am. (1) (b), (d), (2) (b), (f) (intro.) and 1. Register November 2010 No. 659 , eff. 12-1-10; EmR1602 : emerg. am. (2) (f) 1. eff. 1-1-16; CR 16-003 : am. (2) (f) 1. Register July 2016 No. 727 , eff. 8-1-16.