Colorado Seeks Input on Aligning Educator Licensing Rules

By Aaron Goldstein

The Colorado Department of Education (CDE), in conjunction with the New Teacher Project, has announced new efforts to align the state’s educator licensing statutes, rules, and content assessments. As part of the alignment efforts, CDE is inviting stakeholders to participate in a series of focus group meetings this month.

The focus groups will meet during the weeks of October 6 and October 13 at the following locations and times:

Participants may register for the focus group meetings here.

In addition to the focus groups, CDE will be releasing a survey for individuals who are unable to attend the focus groups. The survey will seek written feedback and suggestions for improvement and will be available on CDE’s web site during the week of October 6.

The current educator licensing rules are available here. CDE cites the following goals for the new rules alignment:

• Increasing the effectiveness of new educators entering the profession by ensuring the highest quality content assessments are used
• Improving the success of Colorado’s educator effectiveness initiatives by aligning content assessments and rules with the Colorado Academic Standards and the educator quality standards
• Increasing the efficiency and quality of the licensure process in Colorado by removing or amending conflicting, outdated, or nonaligned statutes or rules
• Maintaining and improving stakeholder support for the licensure process in Colorado by fully engaging all parties involved with or affected by licensing content assessments, rules, and statutes

A fact sheet provides additional information on the goals of the rules alignment.

If you have questions about the focus groups, contact Brandy Fluker Oakley at brandy.oakley@tntp.org.

Tags: state affiliate

Aaron Goldstein

Manager, State Policy & Relations