On Wednesday, September 14, Becki Warnock, Director of Field Placement, and Katie Hubbard, Program Director of the Master of Arts in Teaching Program, represented Saint Mary’s School of Education as panelists for an open discussion webinar organized by the Professional Education Committee (PEC) of the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification (NASDTEC).
Becki and Katie participated at the request of Alex Liuzzi, Executive Director of the Minnesota Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB), who also served on the panel. The panel also included Bobby Costlow, Human Resources Officer for the Evans Country Charter School System in Georgia.
The topic of the webinar was Compensation for Student Teacher/Teacher Candidates and addressed actions states are taking to alleviate the teacher shortage by allowing student teachers to be paid while student teaching. At Saint Mary’s, this connects specifically to recruiting, supporting, and eliminating barriers for teacher candidates so they can serve as paid teachers of record on a Tier 2 license as they complete their teacher preparation program.
During the webinar, Alex Liuzzi explained Minnesota’s tiered licensure system and policies related to its implementation. Becki and Katie addressed on-ground application and answered questions about direct implementation, including evaluation, mentoring, and supervision.
This was the first of three Open Discussions provided by the NASDTEC Professional Education Committee this academic year. Forty-six states and the District of Columbia have signed the NASDTEC Interstate Agreement as members of NASDTEC.
