Notice of Proposed Rule Change: Chapter 13, Educator Testing

ADMINISTRATIVE LETTER: 87
POLICY CODE: GC

This letter describes changes being proposed by the State Board of Education to Rule Chapter 13, “Qualifying Examinations for Teachers, Educational Specialists, and Administrators.” Below is the public notice describing the changes and information on how to participate in the rulemaking process.

The proposed changes to Chapter 13 stem from the regular regeneration (revision) process employed by the Educational Testing Service (ETS).  Each Praxis exam undergoes regeneration every five years.  ETS conducts a multi-state standard-setting study designed to assemble two separate groups of current practitioners who work for two to three days to review the validity and reliability of the test being regenerated.  The end result is a recommended cut off score that is deemed appropriate for the just qualified candidate (JQC).  Several of the tests required by the Maine Department of Education were recently regenerated, so our current Chapter 13 must be updated to reflect these changes.

The State Board of Education’s Certification and Higher Education Committee recommended that the State Board of Education initiate rulemaking to allow the proposed amendments to be made to Chapter 13 in accordance with the Maine Administrative Procedure Act (APA).  The State Board of Education voted to proceed with this rulemaking on June 6, 2012.

The current rules and the proposed amendments are available online at:

http://www.maine.gov/doe/rule/changes

Hard copies may be obtained by contacting Mark Cyr, Certification Coordinator, at the Maine Department of Education at (207) 624-6603 or by email at Mark.Cyr@Maine.gov.

A public hearing will be held on Wednesday, July 18, 2012, from 1 to 3 p.m. in Room 500 of the Cross State Office Building, 111 Sewall Street, Augusta, Maine, 04330 (adjacent to the State House).

Written comments may be submitted via email to Mark.Cyr@Maine.gov or via mail to:

Mark Cyr, Certification Coordinator
Maine Department of Education
23 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333-0023

WRITTEN COMMENT DEADLINE: Monday, July 30, 2012, at 5 p.m.

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