Ector County ISD now has its second group of teachers going for certification since Odessa Pathway to Teaching became an in-district program.
It’s the sixth cohort since OPT began. ECISD previously collaborated with TNTP, which stands for The New Teacher Project, to offer OPT.
Director of Talent Development Debra Bynum said prospective teachers apply for the program, and if they’re accepted, they start their certification test preparation and content work.
“They do that in the spring and work toward taking their certification exams. In June, they do what we call pre-service training. For this year, that will be from May 30 to June 30. During pre-service training, they’re getting classroom experience and they’re also receiving instruction and working on building their skills to make them effective in the classroom,” Bynum said.
To help teachers prepare for the test, they offer tutoring in specific content areas and there are online programs they have access to that they can also do independent study, Bynum said.
If they aren’t successful with their test the first time, then they look at the test results and help them build a specific study plan and find the right resources, Bynum said.
She added that they work on test taking skills, as well.
Osborne said they feel ECISD’s program is the most supportive educator preparation program out there.
“It’s really beneficial to us to be embedded in Ector County ISD because our candidates are taught the culture of ECISD from day one. They’re taught what it means to be a teacher in ECISD from day one; how to be a teacher in ECISD …,” Osborne said.
They also get classroom experience and are partnered with a mentor teacher and a field supervisor who is one a member of the Talent Development team, who provides continual feedback, Executive Director of Talent Development Ashley Osborne said.
“They get to try some things out in the classroom and get continuous feedback and really improve their skills with students versus just learning through online methods or through textbooks what it means to be a teacher. They actually get the hands-on experience before they are in a classroom of their own,” Osborne added.
Osborne noted that is not the case with many of the alternative certification programs out there.
“… We really feel like the Odessa Pathway to Teaching model best prepares candidates for what they’ll truly experience in the classroom before they ever have the responsibility of a classroom of their own,” Osborne said.
She noted that there are several application deadlines for Odessa Pathway to Teaching.
“We have a priority deadline, a fall deadline, a winter deadline, and then the final deadline. That really helps us sort of convert people through the pipeline in a more supportive way because we’re in constant communication with them. Debbie’s already working, and her team is already working, on interviewing those that have already submitted their applications …,” Osborne said.
She added that some of the teachers in classrooms today have a bachelor’s degree, which is one requirement for Odessa Pathway to Teaching.
Because ECISD is a District of Innovation, it can hire teachers who have bachelor’s degrees, but aren’t certified yet.
Working with Human Resources, Bynum said they are trying to get names and emails of those teachers so they can communicate with them about participating in OPT.
In the first group of teachers ECISD got when the program became part of ECISD, Bynum said they had about 100 applicants last year and they accepted 40 or so into the program. Through attrition, they wound up with about 22 that are currently active in the program.
“We have to allow for that. Attrition happens for various reasons — family emergencies, spouses get transferred and so they relocate; things like that,” Bynum said.
Osborne said they have annual recruitment goals that are based on the number of applicants they are hoping to see.
“Because we know that of all the applicants that we get, not everybody is actually going to make it into one of our classrooms because our kids deserve the very best, and so there are some … criteria that the applicants must meet along the way that if they are unable to meet those criteria, too, then they will not be able to continue with the program,” Osborne said.
“A good example of that is of those applicants, some people didn’t even have a bachelor’s degree yet and that is a requirement for us. Another eligibility requirement is to have at least a 2.5 GPA. If a candidate applies, they may have a bachelor’s degree, but if they don’t have 2.5 GPA, then we wouldn’t be able to enroll them in our program. That is TEA requirement; 2.5 GPA overall, or a 2.5 GPA in their last 60 credit hours. There are some TEA requirements that we’re bound by and then there’s some programmatic requirements, as well,” Osborne said.
Bynum said many educator preparation programs charge application fees and test preparation fees, but they don’t. Candidates will have to pay for testing, but that’s a state required fee. They also have to pay for apply for their certificate and fingerprinting.
The district charges $3,900 and it can be collected as payroll deduction once they start teaching over two years.
Osborne said when they’re on the intern certificate, they are the teacher of record in an ECISD classroom and they’re earning a first-year teacher salary, which is $58,750 for ECISD. She added that is when they start the payroll deductions.
Osborne added that it’s not easy to earn teacher certification.
“… That’s by design because we have an awesome responsibility to the students to have a teacher that is well prepared, that is capable of the task at hand which is teaching young minds. So it isn’t necessarily, easy and that’s OK,” Osborne said.
Bynum said individuals who want to be certified to teach early childhood through sixth grade, or fourth grade through eighth grade, now have to take, and be successful on, an additional test, the Science of Teaching Reading test.
“We have a huge initiative across the state to make sure that our students have those foundational skills of being successful in reading because research has proven over and over again that if they’re not reading on grade level … by a certain point, then it becomes more challenging for them to be successful academically. So they have to pass the Science of Teaching Reading. Then as they come into the classroom, they also complete a Reading Academy during their first year of teaching. There are more requirements now as they move toward that certification. But it’s just building their toolset and giving them the skills that they need to help their students be successful in learning,” Bynum said.
Osborne said they feel the OPT program is one of the most supportive out there.
“… We are going to help prepare our candidates to the very best of our ability so that there’s not any barriers to them becoming certified that we can prevent,” Osborne said. “Debbie mentioned some content preparation and test preparation. That’s something that we offer to our candidates that other programs don’t necessarily offer.”
ECISD also has a program for paraprofessionals who want to become teachers.
“… They may not have a bachelor’s degree yet, but we are supporting them in seeking that bachelor’s degree. We have an academy that they can attend called the Aspiring Teacher Academy that will build their toolbox. So eventually, before they ever have a classroom of their own, they have that skill set. … Once they get their bachelor’s degree, they can join our Odessa Pathway to Teaching program to get that certification, if they so choose. …,” Osborne said.
