EDUCATOR STANDARDS BOARD
DIRECTOR’S REPORT
SEPTEMBER 27, 2004

On Wednesday, March 10, 2004, Gov. Bob Taft signed Senate Bill 2, which put into law many of the recommendations made by the Governor’s Commission on Teaching Success in the areas of standards, teacher preparation, recruitment and retention, and professional development. Under Senate Bill 2, an Educator Standards Board (ESB) was created that is charged with bringing standards-based reform to the educator level.

The primary responsibilities of the Educator Standards Board are:

• Creating teacher and principal standards for all stages of their careers
• Creating standards for license renewal
• Creating standards for professional development
• Collaborating with colleges and universities to align teacher prep programs with standards
• Defining master teachers (also requires ODE to report the number of master teachers on the report card)
• Monitoring compliance with teacher and principal standards
• Researching policies and making recommendations to the State Board of Education on the profession of teaching and school administration
• Working with the Department of Education to develop a proposal for a career ladder program
• Recommending policies to close achievement gaps among groups of students.
• Defining cultural competency and incorporating the concept into the standards

Once these standards are established, they will become a driver for teacher education programs, ongoing professional development, and educator assessment in Ohio. There will be a direct link between the academic content standards for students and the standards for teachers and principals.

At their July, 2004 board meeting, the State Board of Education appointed the 17 voting members and four ex officio members to the ESB. On July 29th, and continuing through several sessions in August, the new board members underwent a training and orientation process to help them organize their policies and governance and to prepare them to begin their work. The initial business meeting of the ESB will be held on September 27th in Columbus.

In support of the ESB’s charge to develop standards in three areas, the Office of Educator Standards in collaboration with the Ohio Board of Regents, is recommending a process for developing the standards documents. The process will be guided by direction provided by the ESB and monitored by the ESB on a regular basis.

Senate Bill 2 mandates that the work of the Ohio Teacher Education and Licensure Advisory Commission be transitioned into the Educator Standards Board. The Office of Educator Standards suggests that a transition team be established by the ESB to work with OTELAC to accomplish this process.

Lee Miller, Director
Office of Educator Standards