Literacy Specialist Program Standards

• Tennessee State Literacy Standards

• Standard 1: Discipline-Specific Skills

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  • 1.1. Candidates will attain and demonstrate a deep understanding of discipline- specific literacy skills and strategies and how they apply to discipline-specific instruction and learning for K-12 students.

• Standard 2: Vocabulary Knowledge and Acquisition

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  • 2.1. Candidates will understand discipline-specific academic vocabulary and demonstrate the ability to communicate using vocabulary accurately and effectively.

• Standard 3: K-12 Student Focus

• • 3.1. Candidates will demonstrate the ability to prepare K-12 students to acquire and comprehend information through reading, viewing, listening, speaking, and writing connected to discipline-specific sources.
  • 3.2. Candidates will demonstrate the ability to prepare K-12 students to effectively engage in communication of discipline-specific information through reading, viewing, listening, speaking, and writing.

• InTASC Standards

• Standard #1: Learner Development – The teacher understands how learners grow and develop, recognizing that patterns of learning and development vary individually within and across the cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical areas, and designs and implements developmentally appropriate and challenging learning experiences.
• Standard #2: Learning Differences – The teacher uses understanding of individual differences and diverse cultures and communities to ensure inclusive learning environments that enable each learner to meet high standards.
• Standard #3: Learning Environments – The teacher works with others to create environments that support individual and collaborative learning, and that encourage positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self motivation.
• Standard #4: Content Knowledge – The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the discipline(s) he or she teaches and creates learning experiences that make these aspects of the discipline accessible and meaningful for learners to assure mastery of the content.
• Standard #5: Application of Content – The teacher understands how to connect concepts and use differing perspectives to engage learners in critical thinking, creativity, and collaborative problem solving related to authentic local and global issues.
• Standard #6: Assessment – The teacher understands and uses multiple methods of assessment to engage learners in their own growth, to monitor learner progress, and to guide the teacher’s and learner’s decision making.
• Standard #7: Planning for Instruction – The teacher plans instruction that supports every student in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon knowledge of content areas, curriculum, cross-disciplinary skills, and pedagogy, as well as knowledge of learners and the community context.
• Standard #8: Instructional Strategies – The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage learners to develop deep understanding of content areas and their connections, and to build skills to apply knowledge in meaningful ways.
• Standard #9: Professional Learning and Ethical Practice – The teacher engages in ongoing professional learning and uses evidence to continually evaluate his/her practice, particularly the effects of his/her choices and actions on others (learners, families, other professionals, and the community), and adapts practice to meet the needs of each learner.
• Standard #10: Leadership and Collaboration – The teacher seeks appropriate leadership roles and opportunities to take responsibility for student learning, to collaborate with learners, families, colleagues, other school professionals, and community members to ensure learner growth, and to advance the profession.

CAEP Standards

Standard RA.1: Content and Pedagogical Knowledge

• RA1.1 Candidate Knowledge, Skills, and Professional Dispositions Candidates for advanced preparation demonstrate their proficiencies to understand and apply knowledge and skills appropriate to their professional field of specialization so that learning and development opportunities for all P-12 are enhanced, through:
  • RA1.1.1 Applications of data literacy;
  • RA1.1.2 Use of research and understanding of qualitative, quantitative and/or mixed methods research methodologies;
  • RA1.1.3Employment of data analysis and evidence to develop supportive, diverse, equitable, and inclusive school environments; RA1.1.4 Leading and/or participating in collaborative activities with others such as peers, colleagues, teachers, administrators, community organizations, and parents;
  • RA1.1.5 Supporting appropriate applications of technology for their field of specialization; and
  • RA1.1.6 Application of professional dispositions, laws and policies, codes of ethics and professional standards appropriate to their field of specialization.
• RA1.2 Provider Responsibilities: Providers ensure that program completers have opportunities to learn and apply specialized content and discipline knowledge contained in approved state and/or national discipline-specific
  standards. These specialized standards include, but are not limited to, Specialized Professional Association (SPA) standards, individual state standards, standards of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, and standards of other accrediting bodies [e.g., Council for
  Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP)]. Evidence of candidate content knowledge appropriate for the professional specialty should be documented.

Standard RA.2: Clinical Partnerships and Practice

• RA2.1 Partnerships for Clinical Preparation Partners co-construct mutually beneficial P-12 school and community arrangements for clinical preparation and share responsibility for continuous improvement of candidate preparation.
• RA2.2 Clinical Experiences: The provider works with partners to design varied and developmental clinical experiences that allow opportunities for candidates to practice applications of content knowledge and skills that the courses and other experiences of the advanced preparation emphasize. The opportunities lead to appropriate culminating experiences in which candidates demonstrate their proficiencies, through problem-based tasks or research (e.g., qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods, action) that are characteristic of their professional specialization as detailed in component A1.1.

Standard RA.3: Candidate Quality and Selectivity

• RA3.1 Recruitment: The provider presents goals and progress evidence for recruitment of high-quality candidates from a broad range of backgrounds and diverse populations that align with their mission. The provider demonstrates efforts to know and address community, state, national, regional, or local needs for hard-to-staff schools and shortage fields. The goals and evidence should address progress towards a candidate pool which reflects the diversity of America’s P-12 students.
• RA3.2 Candidates Demonstrate Academic Achievement and Ability to Complete Preparation Successfully The provider sets admissions requirements for academic achievement, including CAEP minimum criteria (group average college GPA of 3.0 or group average performance in top 50th percent of those assessed on nationally normed assessment), the state’s minimum criteria, or graduate school minimum criteria, whichever is highest, and gathers data to monitor candidates from admission to completion.
• RA3.3 Monitoring and Supporting Candidate Progression: The provider creates criteria for program progression and uses disaggregated data to monitor candidates’ advancement from admissions through completion. The provider ensures that knowledge of and progression through transition points are transparent to candidates. The provider plans and documents the need for candidate support, as identified in disaggregated data by race and ethnicity and such other categories as may be relevant for the EPP’s mission, so candidates meet milestones. The provider has a system for effectively maintaining records of candidate complaints, including complaints made to CAEP, and documents the resolution.
• RA3.4 Competency at Completion: The provider ensures candidates possess academic competency to help facilitate learning with positive impacts on diverse P-12 student learning and development through application of content knowledge, data literacy and research-driven decision making, effective use of collaborative skills,and application of technology in the field(s) where certification is sought. Multiple measures are provided and data are disaggregated and analyzed based on race, ethnicity, and such other categories as may be relevant for the EPP’s mission.

Standard RA.4: Satisfaction with Preparation

• RA4.1 Satisfaction of Employers: The provider demonstrates that employers are satisfied with the completers’ preparation for their assigned responsibilities.
• RA4.2 Satisfaction of Completers: The provider demonstrates that program completers perceive their preparation as relevant to the responsibilities they confront on the job, and their preparation was effective.

Standard RA5 Quality Assurance System and Continuous Improvement

• RA5.1 Quality Assurance System: The provider has developed, implemented, and modified, as needed, a functioning quality assurance system that ensures a sustainable process to document operational effectiveness. This system documents how data enter the system, how data are reported and used in decision making, and how the outcomes of those decisions inform programmatic improvement.
• RA5.2 Data Quality: This provider’s quality assurance system from RA5.1 relies on relevant, verifiable, representative, cumulative, and actionable measures to ensure interpretations of data are valid and consistent.
• RA5.3 Stakeholder Involvement: The provider includes relevant internal (e.g., EPP administrators, faculty, staff, candidates) and external (e.g., alumni, practitioners, school and community partners, employers) stakeholders in the program design, evaluation, and continuous improvement processes.
• RA5.4 Continuous Improvement: The provider regularly, systematically, and continuously assesses performance against its goals and relevant standards, tracks results over time, documents modifications and/or innovations and their effects on EPP outcomes.

Standard 6: Fiscal and Administrative Capacity

• R6.1 Fiscal Resources The EPP has the fiscal capacity as appropriate to the scale of its operations. The budget for curriculum, instruction, faculty, clinical work, scholarship, etc., supports high-quality work within the EPP and its school partners for the preparation of professional educators.
• R6.2 Administrative Capacity The EPP has administrative capacity as appropriate to the scale of its operations, including leadership and authority to plan, deliver, and operate coherent programs of study so that their candidates are prepared to meet all standards. Academic calendars, catalogs, publications, grading policies, and advertising are current, accurate, and transparent.
• R6.3 Faculty Resources The EPP has professional education faculty that have earned doctorates or equivalent P-12 teaching experience that qualifies them for their assignments. The EPP provides adequate resources and opportunities for professional development of faculty, including training in the use of technology.
• R6.4 Infrastructure The EPP has adequate campus and school facilities, equipment, and supplies to support candidates in meeting standards. The infrastructure supports faculty and candidate use of information technology in instruction.