Petition on Teacher Licensure--Please Sign & Distribute

[PETITION TO BE DISTRIBUTED]

Dear Indiana Citizen–
Below is a petition in which individuals can voice that they DO NOT SUPPORT THE CURRENT PROPOSED RULES FOR EDUCATOR PREPARATION AND ACCOUNTABILITY (REPA).  We encourage you to send your own response AND to forward this electronic petition to individuals throughout your local and professional community.  To voice that individuals DO NOT SUPPORT REPA, all they need to do is send an e-mail to repapetition@yahoo.com .    
RESPONSES MUST BE SENT NO LATER THAN MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2009.

Please click on (or cut & paste) the email address repapetition@yahoo.com, copy the following sentence into the email body; indicate whether you are a parent, concerned citizen, student, teacher, school administrator, etc. and enter in the subject line “REPA Petition”.
I HAVE READ THE PETITION FROM THE REPA COALITION OF EDUCATION GROUPS AND I DO NOT SUPPORT ADOPTION OF THE EDUCATOR PREPARATION AND ACCOUNTABILITY RULES (REPA) AS PROPOSED.   

PETITION IN RESPONSE TO
REPA – RULES FOR EDUCATOR PREPARATION AND ACCOUNTABILITY
(DOCUMENT CREATED BY THE STAFF OF THE INDIANA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND
APPROVED FOR PUBLIC COMMENT BY THE PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS ADVISORY BOARD ON SEPTEMBER 3, 2009)

REPA COALITION OF EDUCATION GROUPS

The proposed Rules for Educator Preparation and Accountability (REPA) include, but are not limited to, the following:

1)        New teachers will have to know their content well, BUT the amount of coursework in their content area they would be required to take may be reduced and their study and knowledge about children and learning AND their classroom experiences will be extremely limited.

2)        Teacher preparation programs and new teachers WILL NOT BE HELD to ANY rigorous state or national standards.

3)        Individuals could become new teachers by ONLY participating in an on-line program, passing a test, AND having no experience with kids or in classrooms.

4)        Current licenses will be eliminated.  Senior teachers may be required to take exams to renew their licenses.  Some current teachers may NOT be able to renew their existing licenses and to keep their current classrooms/positions.

5)        Individuals with no classroom experience could be licensed to become school superintendents to run school corporations.
I DO NOT SUPPORT THE MAJORITY OF THE CURRENT PROPOSED RULES, given that THE PROPOSED CHANGES ARE NOT ROOTED IN BEST PRACTICES OR NATIONALLY-RECOGNIZED RESEARCH.  The General Assembly should appoint a Legislative Commission entitled Educator Preparation, Licensing and Accountability to align with national standards.