Teacher Standards and Practices Commission



Teacher Standards and Practices Commission250 Division Street NESalem OR 97301March 5-7, 2014Licensure CommitteeITEM:SPEECH LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY LICENSE SCOPE AND STRUCTUREACTION:DISCUSSION ITEMINFORMATION:The Commission has spent several meetings considering Speech Language Pathology Licensure issues. Qualified Licensure Issues: The Commission’s first conversation was in October 2008. At that time, the Commission was approached by staff from the Board of Examiners for Speech Language Pathology and Audiology (Board of Examiners) concerned about the fact that TSPC was issuing Conditional Assignment Permits, Restricted Transitional Teaching Licenses, and Emergency Teaching Licenses to people with absolutely no preparation in Speech Language Pathology or Communications Disorders.Districts were requesting these permits and licenses for people with teaching licenses in multiple subjects (elementary); language arts; and other areas. Accordingly, these folks were legally licensed by the Commission to be “full” Speech Language Pathologists.At that time, the Commission learned that the academic preparation for a private practice Speech Language Pathologist is a master’s degree plus a nearly full year of clinical practice in order to meet their clinical competencies.The Commission’s practices had not departed from the 1970’s and 1980’s when speech language pathology teaching licenses were issued by the Commission. From 1965 to 1991 when Basic and Standard Teaching Licenses were issued for “Speech Impaired;” a university could recommend a candidate with a bachelor’s degree in communications disorders or speech pathology for a Basic Teaching License. The candidate was then required to obtain a Standard Teaching License with 15 additional graduate hours of speech-language pathology; 15 hours of pedagogy; and 15 hours of elective. The Commission did not require that a full masters related to speech language pathology be obtained. Additionally, a teacher holding a Basic Teaching License with Basic Speech Impaired could complete other education-related work in their master’s (or equivalent) program and obtain a Standard Teaching License and keep the Basic Speech Impaired endorsement. [There are currently 16 active Standard Teaching Licenses with Basic Communications Disorders endorsements.]Also, if the educator was okay practicing in grades 9 or below, the educator could stop receiving any additional education after first licensure and continue practicing with a Basic Teaching License with Basic Speech Impaired endorsement. [There are currently three (3) active Basic Teaching Licenses with the Basic Communications Disorders endorsement.]When the Commission transitioned to the Initial and Continuing Teaching licenses, the evaluation of content coursework completed ended. Teachers could obtain an Initial Teaching License in Communications Disorders with a master’s degree and move to an Initial II or Continuing Teaching License by completing nine (9) quarter or six (6) semester graduate in any coursework related to education.It is for the above-mentioned instances that the Board of Examiners became concerned about the Commission-issued licenses in the field.The Board of Examiners has created a Conditional License for applicants who have completed their graduate coursework, but only need to complete their supervised clinical experience. Only candidates who have completed and obtained their American Speech-Language, Hearing Association (ASHA) Certificate of Clinical Competence, otherwise known as the ASHA “C’s” receive unrestricted licensure from the Board of Examiners. Note: TSPC recognizes the ASHA certification as a basis to obtain the Continuing Teaching License. [There are currently 70 Continuing Teaching Licenses with the Communications Disorders endorsement. This number represents 5% of all CTLs.]Speech Language Pathology Assistants (SLPA): Only fully-licensed Speech Language Pathologists (SLPs) licensed by the Board of Examiners and TSPC-licensed SLPs who meet the Board of Examiners qualifications are authorized to supervise Speech Language Pathology Assistants. Districts are not well-acquainted with these regulations and have assigned under-prepared TSPC-licensed SLP’s to supervise Speech Language Pathology Assistants. This has become problematic with the Board of Examiners since the supervision of these assistants is highly specialized. Additionally, districts have assigned untrained classified employees to work as SLP assistants. Only qualified Speech Language Pathologists are authorized to supervise and sign off on an SLPA’s supervision records. The Board of Examiners is authorized to issue fines to SLPs and SLPAs who are in violations of their practice act.Professional Development: The Board of Examiners requires specific professional development related to the practice of Speech Language Pathology. The Commission only requires professional development related to education. Is the work “teaching” or “other related services?” The majority of the work is “other related services” as defined in ORS 343. “Teacher” is defined as: “Teacher” includes all licensed employees in the public schools or employed by an education service district who have direct responsibility for instruction, coordination of educational programs or supervision or evaluation of teachers and who are compensated for their services from public funds. “Teacher” does not include a school nurse as defined in ORS 342.455. (ORS 342.120(9))“Instruction” is defined as:“Instruction” includes direction of learning in class, in small groups, in individual situations, in the library and in guidance and counseling, but does not include the provision of related services, as defined in ORS 343.035, to a child identified as a child with a disability pursuant to ORS 343.146 to 343.183 when provided in accordance with ORS 343.221. (ORS 342.120(6))Much of today’s SLP work is working with children with identified disabilities on IEPs. However, some SLPs also work with the teaching staff using Response to Intervention (RTI) techniques to avoid over-identifying students as needing IEPs. Regardless, SLP’s by and large work one-on-one with students rather than in entire classroom settings. There are a few exceptions in very large school districts.Purpose of this discussion:At one time the Commission considered two options. These options are being re-presented to the Commission for consideration at the July meeting.1. Eliminate the Communications Disorders area from TSPC licensure all together and leave the licensure entirely up to the Board of Examiners. 2. Eliminate the Teaching License with Communications Disorders endorsement and only allow licensure as a TSPC-issued Personnel Service License. Next Steps:Representatives from the Board of Examiners will come to the July 2014 Commission meeting to discuss the next steps with the Commission. Questions and concerns raised now will be shared with the Board Examiners to assist in the July dialogue.Attachments:3.1a SLP Agenda Item February 20103.1b SLP Agenda Item November 20103.1c SLP Agenda Item November 2012 ................
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