Tier 2 Licensure Assessments at ETS
From July 7 to July 9, 2010, Linda Tyler, Vice President & Chief Operating Officer of Teacher Licensure & Certification, along with other ETS staff, hosted representatives from nearly 20 states to discuss a performance-oriented Tier 2 license. Specifically, guests of ETS shared the unique challenges and opportunities faced in moving a licensure program in this direction. In addition, ETS researchers shared cutting-edge research in the area of teacher effectiveness. The informed conversation ended with a decision to continue exploring how those measures of teacher effectiveness can be linked to a license to teach.
A portion of those states in attendance will be working together with ETS to map out the design for development and research of a performance-oriented system for awarding the Tier 2 license. There is an increasing focus on measuring teaching effectiveness for the purposes of accountability, strategic human capital management and improving teaching in the classroom. Therefore, the group believes the Tier 2 license should represent more than it does today, and it should represent that the person has the professional competencies needed for effective teaching and achieving student learning goals.
ETS, along with the states in the working group realize that moving toward a performance-oriented Tier 2 license represents a significant change. They will build a plan that takes into account not just the development and research of assessment instrumentation, but also policy issues, communication, resource needs, effects on retention and recruitment, and technology and process implications. The Design Phase will begin in August of 2010 and go through the beginning of 2011. States are not being asked to fund the Design Phase effort and are not obligated to purchase any service or product as a result of involvement in the Design Phase.
Representatives of states participating in the Design Phase will convene at the ETS campus in Princeton, N.J. in October of 2010. If you have questions, please contact Linda Tyler at ltyler@ets.org.