Updates and Information

Closed: Feedback on Dance and Theatre CSETs and TPEs

Closed: Content Validation Survey for CSET: Theatre and CSET: Dance Examinations Now Available for Input

The CTC sough content validation for the new CSET® (California Subject Examinations for Teachers) examinations in Dance and Theatre. This survey is now closed.

Closed: Feedback surveys for draft Theatre and Dance Teaching Performance Expectations (TPEs)

The Commission on Teacher Credentialing sought feedback on the draft Theatre and Dance Teaching Performance Expectations. These surveys are now closed.

Theatre: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DraftTheatreTPESurvey

Dance: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DraftDanceTPESurvey

CTC Sends Dance and Theatre SMRS for Content Review by the Field

9/26/19 - The Commission on Teacher Credentialing approved that the draft SMRs and TPEs in dance and theatre be sent out for content review by the field.

The tentative calendar calls for the these SMRs and TPEs to be placed on the Commission's meeting agenda in February or April, 2020. Following their approval work on the CSETs would begin.

One note from the discussion: Commissioners noted that while there are allusions to improvisation and theatre for social justice in the theatre SMRs/TPEs there is no direct mention of either subject. This topic will likely come up during the field review. There were no content specific comments about dance.

DRAFT SMRS AND TPES AT CTC MEETING - SEPT 26

The Commission on Teacher Credentialing will be presenting the draft Subject Matter Requirements (SMRs) and Teacher Performance Expectations (TPEs) at their meeting on September 26. They are seeking approval from the Commission to move the SMRs and TPEs forward to the field for review. You can read them at https://www.ctc.ca.gov/docs/default-source/commission/agendas/2019-09/2019-09-5a.pdf?sfvrsn=2.

CTC Meetings on Subject Matter Requirements (SMRs) and CSET

7/25/2019 The meetings with content area advisors in dance and theatre, CTC staff, and Pearson Evaluation have been wrapped up. The purpose of those meetings was to review and revise the SMRs (Subject Matter Requirements) which are used as the basis for the CSETs. The content area advisors also worked on the Teacher Performance Expectations (TPEs) Based on what occurred in those meetings, the SMRs should be approved April, 2020 and the CSETs should be ready April 2021.

Projected Timeline

Summer 2019 – The CTC will write the Subject Matter Requirements (SMR) and the Teacher Performance Expectations (TPE).

The SMRs are what an applicant to a teaching credential program should know about theatre or dance prior to entering a credential program. The SMRs are based on the standards and give a roadmap for undergraduate departments who want to prepare students for credential programs. If an undergraduate program wants to have a waiver program (meaning that credential program applicants do not have to take the CSET exams) they have to prove to the CTC that the coursework meets the SMRs.

The TPEs are what a beginning teacher should be able to know and do in their first year of teaching. The TPEs in theatre and dance will be about three to five paragraphs long. They will become part of a much larger document containing all of the TPEs. It is available at https://www.ctc.ca.gov/docs/default-source/educator-prep/standards/adopted-tpes-2016.pdf

The CTC anticipates that this process will take approximately 12 months. This time is needed to convene the experts, let them write, send it out for public comments, and allow revisions. I would note that the CTC will also have to write SMRs in visual art, music, and media due to new standards.

January 2020 – The SMRs and TPEs will have been approved and work will start with Pearson to develop California Subject Matter Examinations (CSETs). (The CTC contracts with Pearson to develop, administer, and score all content area CSETs. This assures reliability, consistency and exams written to the California standards.) These are the exams that applicants to credential programs who have not graduated from waiver programs will need to take prior to starting a teaching program. The development of the exams will take 9 -12 months. Note that experts from California who help develop the CSETs are barred from taking them for 5 years.

Simultaneously, undergraduate departments can prepare waiver programs. Their work will hopefully be done and approved to begin fall, 2020. It is possible that a college senior could complete the work and enter a credential program in fall, 2021 receiving a credential in spring 2022.

The New Arts Education Standards

When the legislation reactivating the dance and theatre credentials, SB 916 (known at TADA), was signed into law in 2016 the first major step necessary for moving forward was the writing and approval of new California Arts Standards (CAS). This process was led by the California Department of Education (CDE) and completed with the approval of the new California Arts Standards by the State Board of Education on January 8, 2019. They can be found at: https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/vapacontentstds.asp. The standards were needed because they provide the foundation for the content of teacher preparation programs in dance and theatre. The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing could not move forward in reactivating the dance and theatre credentials until it had the standards in hand.

With the approval of standards, the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) began the process of

  • Writing the Subject Matter Requirements (SMRs). This is what a dance or theatre student entering a teacher credential program must know. It is accomplished through approved undergraduate course work or passing the CSET exams. This is done in consultation with dance and theatre educators and must be based on the California Arts Standards.
  • Determining what undergraduate courses/major/degree fulfill the SMRs and allow students to waive the CSETs.
  • Writing the CSETs (California Subject Examination for Teachers). If a student entering a teacher credential program has not attended an approved undergraduate waiver program or is coming from out of state, s/he must pass an exam. This done in consultation with dance and theatre educators and Pearson Evaluation and must be based on the California Arts Standards.
  • Writing the TPEs (Teacher Performance Expectations) This is what a first year dance or theatre should be know and do. This done in consultation with dance and theatre educators and must be based on the California Arts Standards.

This could take up to two years. Updates will be posted here.