Just days after Connecticut was rejected from round one of Race to the Top, lawmakers have taken the first concrete step to boost Connecticut’s competitiveness for the Race to the Top by introducing a bill to establish alternative certification pathways for school administrators.
Just like Teach for America created an alternative pathway for some of Connecticut’s most promising college graduates to teach in urban schools, H.B. 5421 would establish an alternative certification route for Connecticut’s principal corps.
The bill will have a public hearing in front of the education committee at 3:30pm today.
Proposed legislation would direct the Departments of Higher Education and Education to establish alternative certification pathways for principals by:
• Using selective admissions standards.
• Allowing providers operating independently from institutions of higher education to train
principals.
• Not requiring applicants to have more than a bachelor’s degree.
• Allowing participants to demonstrate mastery of coursework by exams or experience.
• Providing supervised, school-based experiences through a district-funded one-year
residency as an assistant principal under the guidance of a certified principal.
• Allowing at least two years of successful work experience involving management to
substitute for the one- year residency.
• Including as a condition of program admission not more than 30 months of previous
teaching experience.
