Alternative Certification Project to Honor First Graduates
Contact: Kay Hyatt at (207) 581-2761
ORONO, Maine — The first group of graduates from a pioneering alternative teacher certification program will be recognized at a commencement ceremony Friday, May 9.at the University of Maine Hutchinson Center in Belfast. The eight mid-coast area educators have spent the past two years meeting the rigorous demands of initial state certification while maintaining the duties of full-time classroom teachers.
They are part of an a regional initiative called the Mid-Coast Academy for New and In-Place Educators forged in 2000-01 by the Mid-Coast Superintendents’ Association Partnership, which includes the UMaine College of Education and Human Development.
“Piloting a performance-based certification system has been path breaking in Maine,” says College Dean Robert Cobb, who will address the graduates on Friday night. “Their learning and preparation occurred concurrently with leading classrooms filled with students hanging on their every word and action. That’s a tough act, and they have performed admirably.”
The two-year program provides conditionally certified teachers working in participating schools regionally based training in pedagogy, classroom management and other areas required by Maine’s Initial Teacher Certification Performance Standards. The program also helps reduce the isolation and lack of encouragement that often contribute to promising new teachers leaving the profession. In the Academy experience, novice teachers share ideas and concerns in supportive cohorts, interact daily with in-house mentor teachers and meet weekly for classes with project coordinators — veteran teachers on leave from school districts committed to the process.
Many schools, particularly in rural areas, are unable to find fully licensed teachers, especially in the national shortage fields of math, physical science, foreign languages and special education. In such situations, school districts can turn to individuals without teaching degrees or certification, but who are knowledgeable and experienced in their discipline. They are hired under conditional certification, then must complete specified education coursework to receive full initial certification.
Finding the required courses and commuting to classes that do not address specific classroom concerns further complicate a new teacher’s already difficult schedule. The goal of the mid-coast project is to offer highly relevant, immediately useable content and advice, and thorough understanding, application and demonstration of the standards and related performance indicators.
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The new fully qualified teachers are:
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Elizabeth Goodridge, French, Appleton Village School
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Lori Goodwin, special education, Medomak Valley High School, Waldoboro
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Lori Hoyt-Nguyen, language arts, St. George School
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Claudia Luchetti, third grade, Ames Elementary School, Searsmont
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Michelle Miclette, fifth grade math/language arts, Boothbay Region Elementary School
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Silvia Moreno, Spanish, Georges Valley High School, Thomaston
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Patricia Robertson, elementary computer/technology, St. George School
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Deborah Taylor, grade 6-12 French/Spanish, Wiscasset School System
The May 9 event begins with a reception at 6:30 p.m., followed by the commencement program at 7 p.m., at the UMaine Hutchinson Center in Belfast.
A second cohort of eight conditionally certified teachers began the two-year program in September.
Media contacts to discuss the partnership and its alternative certification project:
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M. Robbins Young, Superintendent SAD 34 (Belfast); chair, Mid-Coast Superintendents’ Association Partnership, 338-1960
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Robert Cobb, Dean, UMaine College of Education and Human Development, 581-2761
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Project Coordinators/facilitating teachers: Lisa Damian-Marvin, 372-6683; Jane Williams, 380-7887