Needs Survey for the ABE Teacher's Certificate

September 20, 2000

In 1998, the Massachusetts Legislature directed the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to develop a voluntary adult basic education (ABE) teacher certificate. In response, an ABE Teacher Certification Advisory Committee has been working for the past year to make recommendations to the Commissioner of Education, David P. Driscoll, regarding the form and scope of the certificate. Their most recent recommendations are summarized on the back of this page. (For the full text, please refer to the Second Interim Report at www.doe.mass.edu/acls.)

At this point in the development of the certificate, we need to collect some basic information from practitioners across the state to help anticipate demand and reduce or eliminate obstacles to participation in the upcoming ABE certification process. Your responses will help us to determine the level of support necessary for the certificate, related professional development needs, and support for educational requirements necessary to pursue the ABE Teacher's Certificate.

We encourage you to complete this survey as soon as possible. We also encourage you to copy this survey and give it to as many ABE practitioners as you can. An online version of this survey can also be found on the ESE web–site.

Please return no later than: October 31, 2000

A self–addressed, stamped envelope has been provided for your convenience.

Thank you for your interest and for your help in this matter.

Bob Bickerton
ACLS Administrator

Mary Jayne Fay
ACLS Certification Specialist

P.S. Some practitioners may have received an earlier draft of this survey that was previously sent out in a SABES mailing. If you responded to the draft, we thank you, but ask you to please fill out this more informative version that has been coded for use with a computer database.

The Survey

Attachment

The law directing the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to develop and ABE Teacher's Certificate also stipulates that the certificate will be available to the field but under no circumstances can it be required by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

The Advisory Committee has recommended the following:

• Candidates must possess either a Bachelor's or a Master's degree (some Master's degrees don't require a bachelor's degree).
• Candidates must pass the current Communication and Literacy Skills Test and an ABE Subject Matter test, to be developed.
• Candidates must indicate proficiency in 33 teachers' competencies.
• There will be one general certificate (no specializations) and one level of ABE certification to provide a foundation for teaching in all areas (e.g., mathematics, ESOL, basic reading).
• There will be four routes to the ABE teacher's certificate, ranging from completion of an ABE teacher's preparation program (not yet available) to two "streamlining" routes that assign credit for experienced ABE teachers' knowledge and skills.
• Candidates who already possess a preK–12 certificate will not be required to take the Communication and Literacy Skills Test.
• Experienced ABE teachers who qualify for the streamlining routes will not be required to take either the Communication and Literacy Test or the ABE Subject Matter test.