Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board Accreditation
St. Olaf is approved by the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB) of the State of Minnesota to grant teaching licenses to applicants who complete our approved programs. The Teacher Education Program at St. Olaf is currently accredited through 6/30/2027.
Admissions requirements for the St. Olaf Teacher Education program are monitored when students apply to the program during their sophomore year while taking the first course in the Education sequence (Education 295).
Clinical experiences occur throughout the program. Candidates for licensure complete coursework in general methods (Education 330), special education and ESL (Education 340), technology (Education 330 lab), reading (Education 321 or 374), and special content-area methods.
The St. Olaf Education program files annual data reports with PELSB that includes program enrollments, teacher licensure exams pass rates, and other data required by the state. Compiled data for the most recent report, including from St. Olaf, can be found on the PELSB website under “Teacher Preparation.” Additionally, St. Olaf files a Title II report with the US Department of Education; those reports can be found on the Title II website. Minnesota’s teacher licensure shortage areas can be found here and include the following programs that St. Olaf offers:
- Communication Arts and Literature
- Instrumental and Classroom Music
- Mathematics
- Science: Chemistry, Life Sciences, Physics, Middle Level Science (Grades 5 – 8)
- Social Studies
- Vocal and Classroom Music
The St. Olaf Education Department strives to increase the number of teachers in these areas of shortage, and works to recruit talented potential educators. One recent step that St. Olaf has taken to increase the number of applicants to these shortage areas is to allow students to major in Education as of the 2020-2021 academic year. Additionally, the Education Department holds frequent interest meetings and offers a concentration in Education Studies.
Department Expectations For Faculty to Meet Unit Standards
The Education Department’s Teacher Preparation Program is accredited by the Professional Educator Standards and Licensure Board; several unit standards related to faculty are listed below; the Department must ensure compliance for each:
- 15. The unit must ensure each supervisor: (1) is qualified by one of the following: (a) holding or having held a professional license aligned to the licensure field or scope of the license sought by the candidate and at least three years of experience as a teacher of record; or (b) being a current or former E-12 administrator with documented experience in teacher evaluation; (2) completes professional development in coaching strategies for adult learners; and (3) completes training on the program requirements and evaluation procedures for candidates.
- 23. The unit must ensure each teacher educator is able to show expertise for teaching assignments through documentation collected by the Director of Assessment.
- 24. The unit must ensure each teacher educator of field-specific methods instruction, including reading methods, is able to show expertise for teaching assignments through documentation collected by the Director of Assessment.
- 25. The unit must monitor and assess each teacher educator’s effectiveness as an instructor at least once every three years, including using observations and candidate feedback.
- 26. The unit must require and document for each teacher educator: (1) completion of ongoing professional development opportunities related to the teacher educator’s area of instruction focusing on research-based best practices; (2) completion of 30 hours in a three-year period of professional involvement in an early childhood, elementary, or secondary school setting aligned to the area of instruction that must include at least one of the following: teaching, tutoring, supervising candidates in the field, completing observations, school-level consulting, or engaging with a professional learning community; and (3) completion of periodic orientation on requirements. As part of this documentation, Faculty Annual Reports are submitted to the College, faculty submit updated CVs to the Director of Assessment, and faculty annually complete a spreadsheet shared with them.