Commenter:
Catherine Weers, Chesapeake Public Schools
Proposed Online Teacher Licensure Regulations
The newly proposed licensure regulations for online teaching make it easier for non-licensed teachers to receive an online Virginia teaching licensure without traditional student teaching/face-to-face classroom experience. They would only need their online teaching experience with a combination of a mere 3 credit college course to qualify to teach online in Virginia. They would miss out on the value of the student teaching experience, including how to build a rapport with students and child psychology. Three credits are not sufficient to understand how to teach online with the absence of a student teaching experience.
There are no guidelines or even criteria outlined for the 3 credit college class that would need to be taken to teach online.
Adding this new pathway to licensure will benefit private companies looking to profit from our students by increasing their course offerings and enrollment. There is no benefit to the students in Virginia, only the private companies looking to profit from their online education programs.
Right now, many online teachers working for private companies (i.e. K.12inc.) are unable to qualify to teach VA students online under current regulations. We understand that the newly proposed regulations are just another avenue for a teacher to use their online teaching experience in lieu of student teaching to get an online teaching license. However, the addition of only a 3 credit course about online teaching (with no mention of the type of online course) and no classroom experience is not sufficient in the online environment.
