State Board for Educator Certification changes standards

Fort Worth, TX

1/29/2009

The State Board for Educator Certification has changed the standards from early childhood to grade 4 (EC 4) to early childhood to grade 6 (EC 6) in an effort to make it easier to assign teachers to upper elementary grades. This change in state certification means those who are certified will be able to teach early childhood classes through to the sixth grade instead of just through the fourth.

“The reason for the change came when personnel directors were having a hard time filling teachers in upper grade levels as student populations shifted,” said Dr. Jan Lacina, associate professor in the TCU College of Education.

“In the long run, this will benefit our students,” she said. “The reality is that you’ll be moved around in a school based on where teachers are needed. You need to be flexible and have more content knowledge.”

The College of Education has been planning for the EC 4 to EC 6 change for the last two years. The first set of new classes will begin for juniors this fall.

In order to adjust to the state’s new requirements, Lacina said the content areas of English, science, math and social studies have been reevaluated in order to better prepare TCU students for educating in upper elementary grades.

A new science course will be offered in the program; the math and fine arts departments are designing new courses for College of Education students to take.

“Our students will be ahead of students from other universities because they will have stronger content knowledge,” Lacina said. “The stronger science and math content knowledge, and teaching strategies, provided by our program will better prepare TCU graduates for teaching grades Pre K to sixth grade.”