SO...YOU WANT TO TEACH ESL
...IN INDIANA

ESL Certification in Indiana

By Trish Morita-Mullaney, Lawrence Township Schools

K-12 ESL Teacher's License Requirements

Perhaps you are an ESL professional, anxious to become a part of a public school system and serve K-12 children who have ESL needs. Perhaps you have a Bachelors or Masters in TESOL or ESL experience from working overseas. If the answer to both of these statements is "yes" for you or a fellow ESL professional, this article will clarify what is required to earn the respected title of ESL teacher in a K-12 public school building.

Presently, the only requirement expressed by Indiana State law is that a person wanting to serve ESL students in a K-12 public school setting must have a valid Indiana Teacher's license. This license may be in elementary or secondary education with areas of specialization. Even if those specialties are not related to the ESL field, it does qualify an individual to impart certified instruction to an ESL population. (515 IAC 1-1-20). The law states, "Persons are strongly encouraged to complete the (ESL) certification pattern. The word encouraged does not imply that you must meet these criteria.

This rather vague statement often leads persons and universities to interpret such a statement to mean that a degree in TESOL will satisfy such course requirements. They may meet the requirements of the local university to be an ESL professional, but it does not commensurate with the state of Indiana's requirements to be a public school teacher.

People who desire to specialize in ESL may do so by completing an additional 24 units of course work in addition to the Indiana Teaching license. Some of the universities within the state that offer the course of study are: Indiana University, IUPUI, Ball State University, IU South Bend and IU Northwest. Most universities satisfy these course requirements through their schools of Education, English and/or Linguistics. The regiment of courses required generally includes such studies as linguistics, socio- or psycholinguistics, culture and society, literature and methodology. A practicum is also required. This involves a student teaching experience in an ESL setting. Once a person has successfully completed a course of study in elementary and secondary education with the additional 24 hours, they may apply for an ESL endorsement as an all grade (K-12) minor. The ESL endorsement is an addition to the regular Indiana teaching license. But, wait, radical changes are in progress...

What We Can Anticipate

In April of 1998, the Indiana legislature was presented with a set of newly created teaching performance standards developed through the work of the Indiana Professional Standards Board, (IPSB). All content areas were represented, such as math, social studies and science. In addition to such mainline content areas, the area of English as a New Language (ENL) was presented. These teaching performance standards were painstakingly developed by a group of ESL practitioners throughout the state. They were then reviewed by an advisory team and the Board of Education. Following this process, they were further refined and the final document was submitted to the IPSB, who then submitted them to the Indiana legislature in May of 1998 and where they were unanimously approved.

These performance standards will now drive the course framework that universities offer to students seeking an endorsement in ESL or as it will soon be referred to, ENL. In the academic school year, 1999-2000, a cadre of ESL professionals selected by the IPSB will review new ESL teachers and observe their instruction in the ESL setting. The ESL teachers must be accountable to the ENL performance standards. If they are not met, then a recommendation will be made for the ESL teaching candidate to be observed by the cadre for an additional year. If after this year, sufficient progress and/or demonstration of the performance objectives have not been met, then the ESL teaching candidate will not be recommended for a certificate in that discipline.

The movement from course completion to demonstrating performance competency is a shift that is impacting every discipline of teaching, not just ENL candidates. It ensures that our best candidates are the ones being granted certificates and that K-12 children are benefiting from the best teaching staff.

So, if you are seeking a teaching position in a school system, a general course of study in education with the intent of securing certification must be followed. In addition, the evolving coursework at your local university must be met. If you anticipate becoming certified in ESL on or before the 1999-2000 school year, then you can expect to be accountable to the new ENL standards which involves the one to two year waiting period to receive a verifiable teaching license in ESL.

Such a movement is of particular significance to Indiana's ESL children. Being recognized as a true profession, with certification requirements and a regiment of coursework, ensures that ESL students will receive assistance from the cream of the crop.

For more information regarding this topic contact a Consultant at The Indiana Professional Standards Board (317) 232-9010.

Trish Morita-Mullaney recently began teaching at Forest Glen Elementary, Lawrence Township Schools as an elementary ESL teacher, after completing her K-12 ESL endorsement during the summer of 1998.

This article is an adaption of an article with the same title which appeared in the Fall 1998 issue of TESOLIN', the newsletter of INTESOL.