Upcoming Webinar: April 13, 2022|9:30 am – 11:30 Topics

Upcoming Webinar: April 13, 2022 9:30 am – 11:30 Topics Covered ADVISER Monthly Update & Feedback Educator Certification Closing Notes

Educator Certification Update April Data Webinar April 12, 2022 Dr. Clayton Waddle Director - Educator Certification Nebraska Department of Education

Topics Covered Certification Overview Application System Modernization (TEACH) Upcoming Changes How School Districts/Systems Can Help How to Contact the Certification Staff

Certification Overview February 2020 - TEACH (The Educator Application and Certification Hub) was launched April 2020 – The NDE Service Desk staff began answering emails sent to our office email address and now work with phone messages to create a support ticket for inquiries. May 2020 – The BPP-College was launched which allow Nebraska colleges to submit forms through the system electronically. March 2021 – The BPP-District was made available to school districts. Moved Office – March 2021

Certification Overview Summer 2021 – Developed a communication plan that includes targeted communication and a revision of the website Fall 2021 – The decision was made to increase capacity by adding five staff members through September 2024. November 2021 – Efforts were made to have people register for TEACH. February 2022 – Commission’s Guidance on Substitute Permit Portability Q1 2022 – Prioritized renewals and local substitute permits and move to a single point of contact Q2 2022 – Prioritize those who are adding endorsements and May graduates

Application System Modernization Old - TC (teacher Certification) - New - TEACH (The Educator Application and Certification Hub) Online application Relied on email and faxes for documentation Required labor intensive document scanning Communication limited to email and phone calls Applicant Dashboard that shows application status College Portal to complete forms online District Portal for tracking the application process for certified staff Web-based Integrated transcripts and document uploading

Modernization - Applicant Dashboard The Dashboard is key in our communication with applicants. Once an analyst is assigned, contact information appears. We also rely on text messages and emails for sending the final certificate/permit or information that we may still need. A checklist is visible on their dashboard along with a list of any missing items (deficiencies) that may exist.

Modernization - BPP-District The BPP-District site offers a direct link to the application and certification process. Below are the links that can be seen on the page. The BPP-District can track the status of anyone who was added to Staff Reporting or the applicant can choose your district to view their information and see a list of anything that may be missing. The Staff Expiration Report and two reports that allow districts/systems to see those who have registered have been added. There has been a request to create a report that would list certified staff and their endorsements.

Upcoming Changes Training of Additional Certification Staff The two analysts (Shawn and Maureen) hired in January 2022 will continue to learn how to process additional application types We hired an assistant director who will start in June The two Service Desk specialists (Heather and Tamara) will continue to train and start answering more Level I questions and upload documents. Communication Plan Continued Updates to the Certification Website Instructional Documents/Videos Encourage Teachers to Register for TEACH Targeted Emails and Texts

Upcoming Changes TEACH Upgrades BPP – District Continue to add features as they are requested by districts/systems Target an email to new superintendents in July each year and reset passwords BPP – College Recently added functionality to the BPP-College to add notes for certification staff and review forms that have been created Continue to work with our vendor on enhancements and bugs Rule 21 and Rule 24 Updates Eliminate Barriers Alternative Pathways Consider Reciprocity

How Can School Districts/Systems Can Help Please encourage everyone to register for the system who is currently certified. We are entering year three of TEACH and 81.2% of all certified staff have registered. The benefit of registering is that notifications can be sent via email and text starting in January of the year a certificate is set to expire. The message is repeated every 15 days until they are issued a new certificate. Use the BPP-District to communicate with teachers who have an application in the system or have a certificate that will expire. Encourage them to keep moving on their application so they are fully certified when the school year begins.

How to Contact Certification Staff General questions should be directed to our office email address which is [email protected] or call 402-4710739 (message only) so that a support ticket can be created. Our goal is to respond to a support ticket withing 48 hours, but we have not yet been able to meet that goal. Please note that the dashboard displays the same information on the status of an application that can be provided over the phone. It normally takes from four to six weeks for an application to be assigned and processed. Our goal is to reduce first contact to two weeks. If an analyst has been assigned, contact them directly through TEACH or from their displayed contact information on the Dashboard. Note: Sending multiple emails or leaving multiple messages will delay our response time for everyone.

Questions?

Dr. Clayton Waddle, Director - Educator Certification (402) 471-0738 or [email protected] Website: https://www.education.ne.gov/tcert Educator Certification Main Phone – (402) 471-0739 Office Email Address – [email protected] Twitter - @NDE EdCert

By the Numbers – As of 04/12/2022 Unduplicated Number Issued – 4,691 (3,085 for 2021) Total Number Issued – 5,054 (duplicated) Total Number of Conditional Remaining - 213 Date of Oldest Unassigned Application – March 10th