REGULATORY IMPLEMENTING ORDER
Regulation 1501 Knowledge, Skills and Responsibility Based Supplements for Educators
I. SUMMARY OF THE EVIDENCE AND INFORMATION SUBMITTED
The Professional Standards Board, acting in cooperation and consultation with the Department of Education, seeks the consent of the State Board of Education to adopt this regulation. This regulation includes the requirements for, and payment of salary supplements established by 14 Del. C. § 1305. Regulation 1501 Knowledge, Skills and Responsibility Based Supplements for Educators shall apply to the awarding of salary supplements as a percentage of the state portion of an educator’s annual salary for gaining knowledge and skills that lead to more effective instruction, for achieving certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, or from an equivalent program, and/or for accepting additional responsibility supplements that impact student achievement.
Notice of the proposed adoption of the regulation was published in the News Journal and the Delaware State News on March 25, 2002, in the form hereto attached as Exhibit A. The notice invited written comments and none were received from the newspaper advertisements. Comment was received from the Governor’s Advisory Council for Exceptional Citizens and the recommendation made was incorporated into the regulation. This change does not constitute a substantive change in the regulation.
II. FINDINGS OF FACTS
The Professional Standards Board and the State Board of Education find that it is necessary to adopt this regulation because 14 Del.C. § 1305 (l), (m), (n), (o), and (p) direct the development by the Professional Standards Board, in consultation and collaboration with the Department of Education, and with the approval of the State Board of Education, of regulation of specific professional development activities and specific areas of skills and knowledge that an employee can undertake and/or obtain in order to receive a skills and knowledge salary supplement and extra responsibility supplements that impact student achievement, and of the authorization of stipends for certification received from the national Board for Professional Teaching Standards or from an equivalent program. Adoption of this regulation will permit implementation of the provisions of 14 Del.C. § 1305 (l), (m), (n), (o), and (p).
III. DECISION TO ADOPT THE REGULATION
For the foregoing reasons, the Professional Standards Board and the State Board of Education conclude that it is necessary to adopt the regulation. Therefore, pursuant to 14 Del.C. § 1205(b), the regulation attached hereto as Exhibit “B” is hereby adopted.
IV. TEXT AND CITATION
The text of regulation 1501 shall be in the form attached hereto as Exhibit “B”, and said regulation shall be cited in the Regulations of the Department of Education.
V. EFFECTIVE DATE OF ORDER
The effective date of this Order shall be ten (10) days from the date this Order is published in the Delaware Register of Regulations.
APPROVED BY THE PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS BOARD the 9th Day Of May, 2002.
Charles Michels, Chair Mary Ellen Kotz, Vice Chair
Patricia Clements Barbara Grogg
Michele Hazeur-Porter Sherie Hudson
Tony Marchio Mary Mirabeau
John Pallace Joanne Reihm
Harold Roberts Karen Schilling Ross
Teresa Schooley Carol Vukelich
Jacquelyn Wilson
FOR IMPLEMENTATION BY THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION:
Valerie A. Woodruff, Secretary of Education
IT IS SO ORDERED this 16th Day Of May, 2002
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
Dr. Joseph A. Pika, President Jean W. Allen, Vice President
Robert Gilsdorf Mary B. Graham, Esquire
Valerie Pepper Dennis J. Savage
Dr. Claibourne D. Smith
1501 KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND RESPONSIBILITY BASED SALARY SUPPLEMENTS FOR EDUCATORS
1.0 Content:
The following requirements shall be met in order to receive the salary supplements established by 14 Del.C. §1305. This regulation shall apply to the awarding of salary supplements as a percentage of the state portion of an educator’s annual salary for gaining knowledge and skills that lead to more effective instruction, for achieving certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, or from an equivalent program, and for accepting additional responsibility supplements that impact student achievement. Supplements are available subject to an annual appropriation from the Legislature.
2.0 Definitions:
The following words and terms, when used in this regulation, should have the following meaning unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
“Approved cluster” means a professional development cluster that meets the criteria specified in 3.1 of this Regulation and that has been designated by the Standards Board and the State Board as the basis for awarding a specific salary supplement.
“Delaware Administrator Standards” means standards for education administrators approved by the Secretary of Education and the State Board of Education, as per 14 Del. Admin. Code 394, Delaware Administrator Standards.
“Delaware Content Standards” means K-12 student content standards approved by the Secretary of Education and the State Board of Education, as per 14 Del. Admin. Code 501, State Content Standards.
“Delaware Professional Teaching Standards” means standards of teaching approved by the Secretary of Education and the State Board of Education, as per 14 Del. Admin. Code 393, Delaware Professional Teaching Standards.
“Department” means the Delaware Department of Education.
“Educator” means an employee paid under 14 Del.C. § 1305.
“Hours of Engagement” means time spent in classes, seminars, workshops, collaborative work groups, learning communities, cohort, school, or district teams, and time engaged in research-based activities which result in the acquisition of knowledge and skills which lead to more effective instruction.
“Knowledge and Skills” means understandings and abilities that, when acquired by educators, lead to more effective instruction.
“NSDC Standards for Staff Development” means standards adopted by the National Staff Development Council for high quality staff and professional development.
“Professional Development Cluster” or “Cluster” means a focused group of professional development activities that leads to measurable and observable knowledge and skills.
“Provider” means a local school district, charter school, college, educationally related organization, or professional organization that delivers professional development clusters approved by the Standards Board and the State Board to educators.
“Responsibilities” means educators’ additional responsibility assignments that are academic in nature and that impact student achievement. Extra curricular or non-instructional supervisory activities are specifically excluded from this definition under this regulation.
“Salary Supplement”, when referring to knowledge, skills, and responsibility based supplements, means additional state salary, as described in 14 Del.C. § 1305.
“Standards Board” means the Professional Standards Board of the State of Delaware established in response to 14 Del.C. § 1205.
“State Board” means the State Board of Education of the State of Delaware established in response to 14 Del.C. § 104.
3.0 Knowledge and Skills:
The Standards Board shall, on no less than an annual basis, submit to the State Board for approval, lists of proposed new professional development clusters in specific areas of knowledge and skills which shall serve as the basis for awarding salary supplements.
3.1 The criteria for evaluating professional development clusters designed to promote acquisition of knowledge and skills are based upon:
3.1.1 Delaware Professional Teaching Standards or Delaware Administrator Standards or their equivalent (i.e., national standards from educators’ specialty-area organizations that complement the Delaware standards).
3.1.2 Delaware content standards or their equivalent (i.e., national standards from content-specialty groups, if there are no Delaware standards for the content area).
3.1.3 National Staff Development Council Standards for Staff Development (NSDC, 2001).
3.2 Clusters may include a combination of formal courses at graduate or undergraduate levels, and other research-based activities which conform to the NSDC Standards for Staff Development.
3.3 Clusters may be comprised of related segments which may be completed separately over a specified period of time, not to exceed 5 years, as included in the cluster design and approved by the Standards Board and the State Board.
3.4 Voluntary performance or assessment-based specialty certifications awarded for meeting standards established by national professional organizations shall be evaluated as proposed clusters in accordance with this regulation.
3.5 The specific percentage of salary assigned to each knowledge and skills supplement, provided that no supplement may be less than 2% nor more than 6% of an educator’s base state salary, shall be submitted with the list of professional development clusters and specific areas of knowledge and skills.
3.5.1 A cluster qualifying an educator for a supplement of 2% shall consist of no less than 90 hours of engagement by the educator.
3.5.2 A cluster qualifying an educator for a supplement of 4% shall consist of no less than 180 hours of engagement by the educator.
3.5.3 A cluster qualifying an educator for a supplement of 6% shall consist of no less than 270 hours of engagement by the educator.
3.6 Knowledge and skills which, once acquired, are expected to lead to more effective instruction for the duration of an educator’s career are designated as permanent supplements.
3.7 Knowledge and skills related to new technologies, curriculum adoptions, and short-term strategies shall have a duration of 5 years, and may be renewed by successfully completing renewal activities in accordance with cluster approval procedures established by the Standards Board.
3.8 The provider will present an educator who satisfactorily completes an approved cluster with a certificate of completion to verify eligibility for a salary supplement. The certificate shall certify the knowledge and skills acquired and demonstrated by the educator.
3.9 Annually, the Standards Board shall submit to the State Board for approval a list of all clusters proposed for continued approval, renewal, and non-renewal.
4.0 Responsibilities:
The Standards Board shall, on no less than an annual basis, submit to the State Board a list of specific responsibility assignments for approval as the basis for awarding responsibility salary supplements.
4.1 Responsibility assignments shall be:
4.1.1 Focused on school improvement issues that impact student achievement;
4.1.2 Supported by high quality, targeted professional development, and
4.1.3 Academic in nature.
4.2 In order to qualify for a responsibility assignment salary supplement, an educator shall have completed the state approved training program for the position, or, in the absence of a training program, shall meet the criteria set forth for the position, and shall provide state and district approved levels of service, participate in designated activities throughout the period of responsibility, and document the satisfactory fulfillment of the specified responsibility assignment.
5.0 Approval of Professional Development Clusters and Responsibilities:
5.1 The Standards Board’s standing committee on professional development and associated compensation shall provide the Standards Board with recommended lists of professional development clusters and responsibility assignments in accordance with this regulation.
5.2 The Standards Board shall examine the proposed lists and previously approved lists of clusters to evaluate the system of professional development to determine its overall balance and accessibility.
5.3 The lists of professional development clusters and responsibilities shall be forwarded to the State Board with a recommendation for approval.
6.0 Confirmation of Educators’ Eligibility for Salary Supplements:
6.1 Knowledge and Skills: The district or charter school shall notify educators annually, in writing, of the clusters it approves from the State Board approved list for knowledge and skills salary supplements.
6.2 Those clusters approved by districts or charter schools shall not require any additional prior approval. After completing the entire cluster, an educator shall submit documentation to the local district of fulfilling the requirements of the cluster’s design.
6.3 Responsibility Assignments: An educator shall provide the local district or charter school or state agency with such information as may be required to enable the local district or charter school or state agency to verify that the educator has fulfilled the requirements of 4.2 of this regulation.
7.0 Payment of Salary Supplements:
[RESERVED]
[8.0 Salary supplements paid to an educator shall not exceed 15% of the state share of the educator’s salary.]