How Career and Technical Education Teachers Can Teach Courses That Include Academic Credit - Jacques. C. 2014

How Career and Technical Education Teachers Can Teach Courses That Include Academic Credit


Link to Article American Institute of Research. Great Teachers and Leaders. Ask the

                     team. retrieved from

                     http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED555679.pdf

Credit Quandaries: How Career and Technical Education Teachers Can Teach Courses That Include Academic Credit Question From the Field How are states ensuring that career and technical education (CTE) teachers can teach courses that include academic credit? Many CTE courses not only provide students with vocational and technical skills and knowledge, but engage them in academic content as well. Designed thoughtfully, these courses can address rigorous academic content standards and be as intellectually demanding as traditional academic courses (Southern Regional Education Board, 2012). Unfortunately, students cannot get credit for their academic accomplishments in their CTE courses if their CTE teachers do not meet the federal highly qualified teacher (HQT) requirements (U.S. Department of Education, 2004). Because of the unique qualifications, expertise, and career trajectories of CTE teachers, many do not hold the required subject-matter credentials for HQT status, such as a major or minor in the subject area (Jacques & Potemski, 2014). When students earn CTE credit and academic credit simultaneously, they may be better positioned to graduate from high school on time (Southern Regional Education Board, 2012). Referred to as “embedded-credit courses” or “equivalency courses,” these courses allow students to earn academic credit while applying academic skills in authentic real-life contexts. States face a common challenge in ensuring that the teachers of these courses have the proper credentials so their students can receive the credit they have earned. BY CATHERINE JACQUES July 2014 A Note on Terminology This brief focuses on CTE teachers who do not meet highly qualified requirements. Throughout the brief, we refer to this category of teachers as “CTE teachers.” To meet HQT requirements, teachers of core academic classes must have a bachelor’s degree, hold full state certification or licensure, and demonstrate subject-matter competency (U.S. Department of Education, 2004). CTE teachers often hold full state certification or licensure but may lack the required bachelor’s degree or proof of academic subject-matter competency because state certification and licensure requirements do not require them.

Of course, states have an interest as well in ensuring that the teachers who are providing academic instruction in CTE courses have the background, skill, and support to implement high-quality, rigorous academic instruction, not simply that CTE teachers can “check the box” on their certification forms. We developed this Ask the Team brief to provide state education agencies (SEAs) and federally funded regional comprehensive centers with potential strategies, commonly used in other states, for addressing the academic credit challenge for CTE courses. Inside, you will find two common approaches to addressing HQT challenges: course assignment and collaboration models. To gather this information, we drew on the Southern Regional Education Board report, Recognizing Academic Credit in Career/Technical Education: Conditions for Awarding Credit for Career/Technical Courses; reviewed publicly available policy and guidance documents; and conducted phone calls with staff at SEAs from the states highlighted below. The policy examples describe how some states have addressed these challenges. We offer these examples as information only and do not endorse any specific approaches included in this brief. Addressing HQT Barriers: Course Assignment and Collaboration A CTE teacher who meets the HQT requirements is often the best choice for a CTE course that includes academic credit, but there are other approaches states have taken: ¡ Recoding course assignments ¡ Coteaching or coplanning: Highly qualified academic teachers and CTE teachers serve as dual teachers of record for the course. These approaches do not necessarily involve ensuring that CTE teachers meet the definition of HQT; rather, they allow students to gain academic credit for CTE courses regardless of the CTE teacher’s HQT status. When considering these approaches, states and districts must ensure that the teachers of these courses can provide all students with rigorous, high-quality instruction. 1. LEVERAGE COURSE ASSIGNMENT CODES Course assignment codes are course titles or classifications that indicate the content and credit students earn by completing a course. Teachers of courses with academic content codes must meet HQT requirements to award academic credit. Based on their interpretation of the HQT requirements and course assignment policies, some states provide academic credit for courses taught by CTE teachers.

When a CTE teacher collaborates closely with an HQT core academic teacher on the design and implementation of a CTE course, they can both serve as the official teachers of record for that course. This collaborative approach allows students the opportunity to earn both types of credit simultaneously. Collaboration may be defined as a co-planning model, in which CTE teachers and highly qualified core academic teachers collaboratively plan instruction for their shared course, or as a coteaching model, in which the two teachers coplan and share instructional time by coteaching or combining their classes in a block period. Typically, districts establish Did You Know? According to the Data Quality Campaign (2012), 35 states (as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico) allow multiple educators to be defined as the teachers of record for a course. For collaborative models to be integrated into data systems, states should ensure that data systems can make linkages between multiple teachers and a single course. State Spotlight State Spotlight PAGE 4 a collaboration committee that is responsible for approving the design of the collaboration models. The committees are generally comprised of administrators, core academic teachers, and CTE teachers. States, districts, and schools can consider different collaboration models based on state requirements, including teacher-leader models and one-to-one models. Teacher Leader. In this model, a highly qualified teacher leader provides instruction in classes part time and meets with CTE teachers across the district part time to co-plan lessons, analyze student data, grade assignments, and discuss academic instruction. The teacher leader provides support to one or more CTE teachers for academic content instruction rather than coteaching the CTE course (although the teacher leader may co-teach some lessons). The CTE teacher and the highly qualified teacher leader both serve as teachers of record for the course, enabling students to earn academic credit.
One-to-One Partnership. In this model, a highly qualified academic teacher and a CTE teacher both serve as teachers of record for a course, or a set of courses. The CTE teacher helps the core academic teacher integrate project-based learning for mastery of concepts, while the core academic teacher helps the CTE teacher ensure the reinforcement of rigorous content. They may communicate about common student misunderstandings and ways to address them. They may merely design lessons together or share instructional responsibilities equally.

Jacques, C.(2014) American Institute of Research. Great Teachers and Leaders. Ask the

                     team. retrieved from 

                     http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED555679.pdf