Watch this page for essential resources on evaluation.  Meanwhile, WEA offers the following guiding principles about evaluation.

• WEA believes evaluation is a mandatory subject of bargaining.
  • Local associations and school districts have a responsibility to negotiate a meaningful evaluation provision into the negotiated agreement.
• What constitutes a quality evaluation should be a provision in negotiated agreement.
  • The process should focus on improvement, not punishment.
  • It should be clear and understandable to all parties.
• It contains balance. Both teachers and administrators must work together to improve the quality of instruction and the quality of an individual's performance.
  
  
  For more information, contact your  UniServ Director or Kathy Scheurman--Professional Issues/UniServ Director,  kscheurman@nea.org, 800.442.2395 x 116.

Quick Clicks

• Keeping your Certificate/License Current 
• Wyoming Teacher Licensure Requirements 
• Out-of-State Application Procedures 
• Teaching Jobs in Wyoming   
• Teacher Licensure FAQs 

Keeping Your License Current

All Wyoming educators are required to complete Professional Development/Renewal Credits in order to renew a license or permit.  Renewal requirements vary depending on the type of license or permit an applicant holds. The requirements for renewing your specific license or permit are listed on the reverse side of the license or permit itself.  Please review your license or permit prior to submitting a renewal application to ensure you have met all renewal requirements for your specific license or permit type.

For most teaching & administrative fields, five (5) Professional Development/Renewal Credits will be required to renew.  However, YOU are responsible for ensuring that you have met the renewal requirements for your specific license or permit type, prior to renewal. Click here to visit the Professional Teaching Standards Board Web site for complete details and application forms.

WEA members - one of your benefits of membership is expert advice on school law and teacher licensure. If you have questions or concerns, contact your UniServ Director.

• NEA National Board Certification Loans
• State Support For National Board Certified Teachers

National Board Certification

Accept the Challenge and Get the Recognition You Deserve...
...Become a National Board Certified Teacher!

Why become a National Board Certification teacher?

Who is eligible for National Board Certification?

What is the process for certification?

What does it cost?

What is the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards?

Contact information
For more information, visit the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Web site at www.nbpts.org or call WEA's Professional Issues Director at 800.442.2395 x 116.

Why become a National Board Certified teacher ?

National Board Certification allows teachers to be recognized for their highly accomplished teaching practices. National Board Certification stimulates teachers to evaluate, reflect and grow as professional educators.

Who is eligible for National Board Certification?

Any individual who:

Holds a baccalaureate degree,

Has taught for at least three years, and

Holds a valid state teaching license for the area in which he/she is teaching.

What is the process for certification?

National Board candidates go through a two-part assessment that is based on the National Board standards and reflects a variety of teaching situations. The candidate compiles a classroom performance portfolio that includes student work, videotapes, and other teaching exhibits. The portfolio includes commentaries about the goals and purposes of instruction and reflections on what occurred, the effectiveness of the practice, and the rationale for professional decisions. All entries are designed to help the candidate show evidence that he/she has met the standards in the classroom. The candidate participates in exercises at a National Board Assessment Center. These exercises complement the portfolio and are organized around challenging teaching issues. The entire process occurs over most of the school year, taking approximately 200 hours or more.

What does it cost?

The current application fee is $2,500 plus a $65 nonrefundable processing charge. In Wyoming, however, funding is available to help offset the cost of the assessment fee. This funding is made possible through a Federal Subsidy grant from the United States Department of Education, the Wyoming Legislature and private funding partners. Click here for details.

What is the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards?

The NBPTS board of directors, composed primarily of educators, has developed a system of advanced standards and assessments organized around five core propositions:

Teachers are committed to students and their learning.

Teachers know the subjects they teach and how to teach those subjects to students.

Teachers are responsible for managing and monitoring student learning.

Teachers think systematically about their practice and learn from experience.

Teachers are members of learning communities.

NBPTS is developing advanced standards based on these propositions in more than 30 certification fields. Each set of standards represents consensus in the certification field of what makes an accomplished teacher. With the 25 certificates currently offered, most educators have a certificate available in their subject area or level of student development.

More Info 

• Code of Ethics
• Support for Beginning Teachers

Improving Teacher Preparation

A Vision of the Professional Teacher

The National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) believes that every child should be taught by teachers who are well-prepared and competent. A shared vision of teacher education includes the following tenets:

• All children can and should learn.
• Accredited schools, colleges, and departments of education should:
  
  • Ensure that new teachers meet accepted standards of practice, and attain the necessary knowledge, skills, and dispositions to teach independently;
  • Build a body of professional knowledge, and disseminate it through the professional community;
  • Commit to preparing teachers for a diverse community of students;
  • Encourage collegiality, reflective practice, continuous improvement, and collaboration among educators and learns; and
  • View teacher preparation and development as a continuum, moving from pre-service preparation to supervised beginning practice to continuing professional development.

Likewise, the new professional teacher who graduates from a professionally accredited school, college, or department of education should be able to:

• Explain instructional choices based on research-derived knowledge and best practice;
• Apply effective methods of teaching students who are at different developmental stages and have different learning styles, or come from culturally diverse backgrounds;
• Reflect on practice, and receive and act on feedback; and
• Create meaningful learning experiences for P- 12 students.

This teacher has gained those abilities through:

• A broad liberal arts education;
• In-depth study of the teaching field;
• A foundation of professional knowledge upon which to base instructional decisions;
• Diverse, well-planned, and sequenced experiences in P-12 schools; and
• An assessment of competence to practice, through an array of performance measures.

NEA Foundation
http://www.neafoundation.org/publications/mentoring.htm
This paper outlines many of the issues and questions that school districts, teacher associations, and universities should consider when developing new or improving existing mentor programs.

Educational Laboratories
http://www.nwrel.org/request/may01/mentoring.html
Links to a publication of the NW Regional Educational Laboratory titled "Supporting Beginning Teachers: How Administrators, Teachers and Policy Makers Can Help New Teachers to Succeed." Individual chapters can be accessed. Good bibliography.

School Districts
http://www.dubuque.k12.ia.us/Mentoring/Mentoring1.htm
A detailed look at the Dubuque, Iowa mentoring program. Provides contact information on the Pathwise induction program, checklists, and frequently asked questions.

Education World
http://www.education-world.com/preservice/classroom/mentoring.shtml
Useful information and links to a wide variety of resources on mentoring programs.

 As adopted by the NEA Representative Assembly

- Commitment to the Student
- Commitment to the Profession

PRINCIPLE I
Commitment to the Student
The educator strives to help each student realize his or her potential as a worthy and effective member of society. The educator therefore works to stimulate the spirit of inquiry, the acquisition of knowledge and understanding, and the thoughtful formulation of worthy goals. In fulfillment of the obligation to the student, the educator:

1. Shall not unreasonably restrain the student from independent action in the pursuit of learning.
2. Shall not unreasonably deny the student access to varying points of view.
3. Shall not deliberately suppress or distort subject matter relevant to the student's progress.
4. Shall make reasonable effort to protect the student from conditions harmful to learning or to health and safety.
5. Shall not intentionally expose the student to embarrassment or disparagement.
6. Shall not on the basis of race, color, creed, sex, national origin, marital status, political or religious beliefs, family, social or cultural background, or sexual orientation, unfairly:
   
   • Exclude any student from participation in any program.
   • Deny benefits to any student.
   • Grant any advantage to any student.
7. Shall not use professional relationships with students for private advantage.
8. Shall not disclose information about students obtained in the course of professional service unless disclosure serves a compelling professional purpose or is required by law.

PRINCIPLE II
Commitment to the Profession
The education profession is vested by the public with a trust and responsibility requiring the highest ideals of professional service. In the belief that the quality of the services of the education profession directly influences the nation and its citizens, the educator shall exert every effort to raise professional standards, to promote a climate that encourages the exercise of professional judgment, to achieve conditions that attract persons worthy of the trust to careers in education, and to assist in preventing the practice of the profession by unqualified persons. In fulfillment of the obligation to the profession, the educator:

1. Shall not in an application for a professional position deliberately make a false statement or fail to disclose a material fact related to competency and qualification.
2. Shall not misrepresent his/her professional qualifications.
3. Shall not assist any entry into the profession of a person known to be unqualified in respect to character, education, or other relevant attribute.
4. Shall not knowingly make a false statement concerning the qualifications of a candidate for a professional position.
5. Shall not assist a non educator in the unauthorized practice of teaching.
6. Shall not disclose information about colleagues obtained in the course of professional service unless disclosure serves a compelling professional purpose or is required by law.
7. Shall not knowingly make false or malicious statements about a colleague.
8. Shall not accept any gratuity, gift, or favor that might impair or appear to influence professional decisions or action.