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Last Revised: 08/12/10 07:53 PM
CUEA Reaches a Contract
CUEA members voted to ratify the contract with the School District; the
Education Empowerment Board approved the contract at the June 23 Board
meeting. Members will receive a copy of the contract in September.
Contact CUEA if you have any questions.
PSEA Leadership
Workshops
If any member is interesting in becoming a leader
or acquire leadership skills may attend the PSEA Leadership Conference this
summer in Gettysburg.
Contact CUEA if interested.
Approaching Medicare --65th Birthday
Please inform all members who are
approaching their 65th birthday, that one must register for Medicare part B in
the period covering the three (3) months prior to one becoming age 65, as well
as three (3) months following one's 65th birthday. If a person does not
enroll in Medicare Part B when first eligible, he/she may sign up from January 1
through March 1 of each year. However, one will incur a premium penalty
which will never go away!
Click Here to Contact CUEA
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CRITICAL ALERT - CHANGES TO PDE'S EVALUATION OF MASTER'S
EQUIVALENCY APPLICATIONS
The Pennsylvania Department of Education recently finalized the
changes it is making to its review of Master's Equivalency (MEQ) applications.
At issue is PDE's interpretation of the following longstanding language
from Chapter 49, specifically the underlined language:
“The Letter of Equivalency for Master’s Degree is issued to
persons holding a valid Instructional I, Instructional II, Educational
Specialist I, Educational Specialist II certificate, Vocational Instructional
I, Vocational Instructional II certificate, or their equivalents, upon the
accumulation of 36 hours of graduate level credit. A minimum of 18 academic
graduate credits shall be earned in the content area of the applicant’s
primary teaching assignment at a college or university approved to offer
graduate work. A maximum of 18 of the credit requirement may be satisfied
through in-service programs approved by the Secretary for meeting master’s
equivalency requirements.” 22 Pa. Code- §49.191(2) [Emphasis added.]
Full text of the October 2007 Penn*Link release is available on
PSEA’s website at http://www.psea.org/content.cfm?Filen=esd_pennlink.pdf.doc
Some History
While the above language has been in the certification regulations
for many years, the Department used a very liberal interpretation to the
extent that approximately 40% of the applications contained credits related to
neither the applicant’s certification nor assignment. An example cited is a
school nurse’s application that contained 36 credits in Art. That
application was approved.
In the late summer/early fall of 2006, PSEA became aware that PDE had
changed its practice and was rejecting MEQ applications. PDE began to apply a
stricter interpretation of the language and our members complained of the
change. Specifically, the Department reduced the latitude regarding what kinds
of credits were acceptable. After a number of discussions between PSEA and PDE,
PDE realized that the dramatic change without warning was, at best, unfair.
PDE subsequently reevaluated the applications and approved those that would
have been approved under the old standard.
When Will the Change Take Place?
The Department considers November 1, 2007 as the date by which all
teachers in the state have been notified of the change. This
notification was accomplished via a Penn*Link on October 25. While this
may appear to be short notice, the Department is not using that date in terms
of “applications received after...”; but rather “courses taken after”
that date. Applications received with all courses taken before November 1,
2007 will be reviewed under the more flexible interpretation. Teachers
registering for courses after that date will need to make sure the courses
will be applicable under the new interpretation by PDE.
What Will Change?
PDE officials believe the current standard of review is not in
compliance with the regulation. To bring its practice in line with the
regulations, the Department “will no longer accept graduate credits
submitted by an educator that are not in an educator’s certified content
area. The Department will permit the required 18 academic graduate credits to
be in any certified content area held by the educator rather than in just the
content area of the educator’s primary teaching assignment.” In other
words, the following apply:
- Realizing that assignments change, sometimes annually, the
Department’s review of the credits will be based on the applicant’s
certification(s). If there are multiple certifications, the credits can be
related to any/all regardless of whether the certification is being used.
- Any applicant can take up to 18 credits of in-service (IU) courses
approved by the Secretary, as the regulations clearly state.
- Elementary certified applicants will be expected to take at least
18 credits in content or pedagogy, methodology, or instructional
environment related to elementary.
- Secondary certified applicants will be expected to take at least
18 credits in their content area(s) or pedagogy, methodology, or
instructional environment related to secondary.
- All course credits must be graduate-level or PDE-approved IU
credits and completed with a grade of “C” or higher.
Past Practice?
A question often raised with this issue is “Isn’t this a
violation of a past practice?” The answer is no. Past practice is a term
used to argue that the prior behavior of one party or the other to a bargained
agreement constitutes practice under that agreement; whether the language of
the agreement specifies the behavior or not. We are in no such situation with
the state. The regulatory language is not bargained language and the behavior
of the Department, when found to be out of compliance with the regulations,
can be corrected at any time. PSEA was fortunate to procure a delay in the
implementation of the correction.
Questions or Concerns
PSEA fully realizes that this change creates some hardship for some
of our members. PSEA has worked very hard to ameliorate the impact and, as the
language of the regulation is clear, had little latitude with which to work.
Act 48 Hours
Any members with problems in their PDE Act 48
records for the 2005-2010 cycle should contact their Region Director (info
below). These will be dealt with on a case by case basis.
PDE will not be dealing with errors in the first
cycle that worked in an educator’s favor. (per Marian Sutter, 8/24/06)
We are IU #25
IU #
Director Phone #
14, 20-26 and 29 Delorez Cobb-Jones
717-783-4307
Chester Upland School District School Board
Meetings
2010-2011 Meetings--All Meetings will begin at
6:00 P.M.
| Conference Meeting |
Action Meeting |
| August 12, 2010 |
August 19, 2010 |
| September 9, 2010 |
September 16, 2010 |
| October 14, 2010 |
October 21, 2010 |
| November 11, 2010 |
November 18, 2010 |
| December 9, 2010 |
December 16, 2010 |
| January 13, 2011 |
January 20, 2011 |
| February 10, 2011 |
February 17, 2011 |
| March 10, 2011 |
March 17, 2011 |
| April 14, 2011 |
April 21, 2011 |
| May 12, 2011 |
May 19, 2011 |
| June 9, 2011 |
June 16, 2011 |
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