January Update 2018

Jennifer Beasley, Office of Teacher Education

On Friday, January 19 the Arkansas Council of Education Deans meeting was held in North Little Rock. Here are the highlights:

• The latest on the Licensure Rule changes: The public comments closed on Monday, January 22. They will go to the state board in February, then to Legislative Council in March. They will go into affect 10 days after the meeting. We are looking at April at the earliest. What do the rule changes look like? Take a look HERE.
• One of the biggest impacts we will see in our programs will be removal of the state's Praxis Core requirements. Our UTEB meeting this month looked at what standards we will put into place. We are currently considering ACT scores for Reading, Writing, and Math as well as SAT scores, or Praxis scores. They all would need to meet the averages required by our accrediting body. We will be meeting again on this in February.
• ADE is starting to see people begin taking the new reading test that will be required of all Elementary and Special Education licenses (for anyone who was admitted Fall 2017). Some are passing, so that is good news!
• Arkansas ASCD will be sponsoring an "Advocacy Drive In" February 28---as a way to help educators advocate for education. REMINDER! Dr. Celine Coggins is coming to our campus to do the same thing on Monday, March 5. Her talk, which will be fee and open to the public, will begin at 6:30 in GRAD Auditorium.

Want to keep up on Ed. Prep. news monthly? Take a look at the Education Preparation Updates here.