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By Tom Chorneau
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Retirement of a key qualification exam used by teaching candidates in expedited certification programs is expected to prompt a deeper discussion among state officials about internship preparation itself at hearing scheduled for today.
The Early Completion Internship Program provides an opportunity for qualified applicants to earn their preliminary credential on an accelerated basis as long as they can meet other benchmarks tied to teaching experience and expertise. As part of the fast-tracked program, participants can be excused from completing some coursework as long as they pass a written assessment of teaching foundations as well as the teaching performance assessment, among other requirements.
The exam used to assess knowledge of teaching foundations – actually called the Teaching Foundations Examination – was developed and is owned by the Educational Testing Service, one of the nation’s largest providers of K-12 assessments, including the California Standardized Testing and Reporting systems, or STAR.
But for various reasons, ETS decided to discontinue offering the Teaching Foundations Examination. Its last administration was in July.
State law requires that the Commission on Teacher Credentialing continue to make the Early Completion Internship option available – thus the commission will also need to adopt a replacement exam for measuring teaching