NASDTEC is the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification. It is the organization that represents professional standards boards and commissions and state departments of education in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Education Activity, the U.S. Territories, Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario that are responsible for the preparation, licensure, and discipline of educational personnel. Associate members include other Canadian provinces, institutions of higher education, and representatives of other constituent groups with an interest in the preparation, continuing development, and certification of educational personnel. NASDTEC promotes:
- High standards for educators
- Teacher mobility across state lines
- Comprehensive personnel screening
- Clearinghouse on teacher discipline
- Northeastern
- Southern
- Central
- Western
NASDTEC Organization
NASDTEC functions through a committee structure, with regional representation on each committee: The Executive Board, which governs the Association, is composed of representatives from each of the regions plus the elected officers and standing committee chairs. The Board meets three times per year, often in conjunction with other national meetings.
The Interstate Committee facilitates the mobility of educators across the country by administering the Interstate Contract, by reviewing ways to eliminate the barriers to reciprocity, by adopting common language in reference to teacher certification, and by standardizing the reporting of information on teacher education program graduates.
The Professional Practices Committee is responsible for issues surrounding the discipline of professional educators. It oversees the operation of the NASDTEC Clearinghouse, which maintains a central database of individual state reports on disciplinary actions taken against educational personnel. The committee has also focused on promoting comprehensive background screening systems, including fingerprinting, for certification and employment.
The Professional Preparation and Continuing Development Committee believes that performance-based educator preparation promotes the ultimate goal of improving PK-12 student learning, and that performance-based standards should be the common foundation upon which to build rigorous, high-quality educator preparation programs. It encourages states to adopt, adapt, or develop performance-based standards as a part of educator preparation program approval. The Technology Committee has the primary responsibility of overseeing the NASDTEC KnowledgeBase and advising NASDTEC on other technology-related issues.
Ad Hoc Committees are formed from time to time to work on specific assignments.
NASDTEC Publications
NASDTEC publishes materials that are designed to provide service to the educational community and to individual educators. Until 2004, the NASDTEC Manual was published annually and was the most comprehensive compilation of data on the certification requirements and practices in the United States and Canada. The Manual has been replaced by the NASDTEC KnowledgeBase, on online publication. The KnowledgeBase is an expanded version of the Manual and contains more information than we could have included in the printed publication. The KnowledgeBase is used by individuals seeking information about other states and is a major source for state policy-makers and teacher educators in considering change to teacher education or certification.
The NASDTEC On-Line Directory resides on our website and lists the state teacher education and certification/ licensure contacts for all U.S. jurisdictions and Canadian provinces. It also provides a list of contacts at NASDTEC Associate members. The Directory is available to all members at no cost. The Directory is constantly updated.
Critical Issue Papers are published any time there is a topic that we feel needs to be addressed by the Association. Papers have been produced by each of the standing committees and have served to establish NASDTEC's position on a number of critical issues. Copies can be found on our website (www.nasdtec.org) and are available for downloading.
NASDTEC Conferences The NASDTEC Annual Conference is held each June and is open to members and others interested in the education profession. In addition to attending to the business of the association, the annual conference and meeting features a full agenda of sessions on current and important topics to the education profession.
NASDTEC also sponsors the Professional Practices Institute each fall. This is a more specialized program, dealing with the issues of educator discipline, background checks, and related topics. Both the Institute and the annual conference rotate among the four geographic regions. Information about this and other NASDTEC programs can always be found on the website (www.nasdtec.org) under the Calendar of Events heading.
For further information contact:
Dr. Phillip Rogers, Executive Director
NASDTEC
1629 K Street NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20006
Phone: 202-204-2208
Fax: 202-204-2210
Email: philrogers@nasdtec.com
© 2011 - NASDTEC • www.nasdtec.org • www.nasdtec.info