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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2019 - 2020
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | March 6, 2019 10:07 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Mark Longietti |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Moratorium of Teacher Preparation Program Reviews |
| I invite your co-sponsorship of legislation which would establish a temporary moratorium on program reviews of college teacher preparation programs by the Department of Education until after these programs are redesigned according to the mandates of Act 82 of 2018. Teacher preparation programs, offered by colleges and universities, are designed to prepare both undergraduate and graduate students to become certified teachers. These programs offer students specialized coursework in the grade level and subjects they are interested in teaching. The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) requires a review of these preparation programs every seven years. Act 82 of 2018 calls for a redesign of these programs by 2022. This redesign will require new guidelines from PDE as well as further consideration on the part of colleges with regard to program changes. However, in the meantime, institutions of higher education are still required to submit their current teacher preparation programs for review to PDE. This does not make sense for colleges and universities to spend considerable time compiling information on their current preparation programs and supplying that to PDE when the programs are going to be redesigned in the relatively near future. It is my belief that this is a waste of valuable time and resources, especially given that the programs will be overhauled in the upcoming years. I hope that you will agree that a temporary moratorium of program reviews of college teacher preparation programs is in order and that you will co-sponsor this legislation. Thank you for your consideration. |
Introduced as HB973