The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) hereby announces significant changes in the Non-Traditional Licensure Program beginning with the 2012-13 school year. First, the program name is changing to the Arkansas Professional Pathway to Teacher Licensure (APPTL). The APPTL will fall under the ADE umbrella of all non-traditional programs which also includes the M.A.T. / M.Ed. programs and Teach for America.
Also, beginning with the first-year group for 2012-13, prior to attending the Summer Academy, participants will be required to complete “The Learning Classroom” series of courses (free of charge) from Arkansas Ideas. These courses provide a foundation for the work done in the Summer Academy and will better prepare participants for the work ahead.
The Summer Academy will continue to include 15 full days of instruction. The first ten days will be held at regional sites around the state. Sites for 2012-13 are:
— Corning High School in Corning
— Northwest Arkansas Community College (NWACC) in Bentonville
— Van Buren High School in Van Buren
— College of the Ouachitas/Dawson Educational — Cooperative in Malvern/Arkadelphia
— Pulaski Technical College in North Little Rock
— Searcy High School/Wilbur Mills Educational Cooperative in Searcy/Beebe
— Southeast Arkansas Regional Educational Cooperative in Monticello
The final five days of the Summer Academy will be held at Searcy High School in Searcy. This final week of summer training will allow first and second year participants in specific content areas to work together to strengthen their teaching skills.
There will continue to be seven Saturdays of instruction. However, beginning with the 2012-13 school year APPTL will pilot online delivery for three of the Saturday instructional modules. These modules deal with technology or student projects. APPTL Program Advisors are being trained on this delivery system. At the conclusion of the year, Program Advisors, Site Facilitators, and a group of program participants will evaluate the effectiveness of the online modules.
Twenty-two of the instructional modules are being revised or redesigned by the APPTL Curriculum Committee to introduce the Framework for Teaching, and to address rigor, relevance, and Common Core State Standards. Those subjects will be infused throughout the two year program.
More multi-media will also be infused into the instruction, and participants will use technology on a regular basis.
New textbooks are being purchased to complement the new instructional modules.
The Participant Handbook will no longer be in printed form. Instead it will be available in electronic form on the TeachArkansas website. The handbook is being rewritten to address the changes listed above.
Questions may be addressed to Ms. Patti Froom at 501-682-5763.