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NOT
ALL ABBOTT PRE-K TEACHERS WILL MEET CERTIFICATION DEADLINE
NJDOE
has informed Education Law Center and others that not all
teachers in Abbott preschools will meet the September 2004
certification. As a result, NJDOE will formally ask the NJ
Supreme Court to extend the September 2004 deadline within
the next few months.
In
the March 2000 Abbott
VI ruling, the Supreme Court clarified that all
Abbott preschool teachers must have a bachelor’s degree
and obtain preschool through 3rd grade (P-3) certification
from NJDOE. This standard applied immediately to teachers
in district-run classrooms, but the Court gave teachers in
community provider programs until September 2004 to become
P-3 certified.
The
number of existing teachers who cannot comply with the deadline
is unclear. Data from the National
Institute for Early Education Research, cited
recently in a Position
Paper issued by the Early Care and Education Coalition,
estimates that 320 teachers will not meet the Court deadline.
ELC will be seeking more accurate data from the NJDOE Office
of Early Childhood Education.
The
Coalition's Position
Paper attributes the certification delay to several
problems, including difficulties in accessing required college
coursework, the slow pace of processing paperwork at NJDOE,
and delays in obtaining tuition assistance.
Citing
these barriers, the Coalition is supporting a "limited" extension
of the 2004 deadline, subject to the following:
The
Coalition also recommends Head Start teachers be given additional
time to obtain the P-3 certification. Individualized teacher
plans should take into account the fact that many Head Start
programs only recently entered into contracts to provide preschool
under Abbott standards.
The
Coalition, led by the Association
for Children of New Jersey, consists of organizations
and individuals involved in the care and education of young
children, including community providers of Abbott preschool
programs. ELC is a member of the Coalition.
ELC
will ask NJDOE to address the issues raised by the Coalition
before the agency files its request for an extension with
the Supreme Court.
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