Indiana high school teachers of core dual credit courses who don’t yet have master’s degrees and 18 graduate credit hours in the subjects they teach — requirements coming down the pike — may have more time to obtain them.
After receiving push-back from Indiana schools Superintendent Glenda Ritz and others, the agency that accredits colleges and universities in Indiana is offering a reprieve from its September 2017 timeline.
John Hausaman, spokesman for the Higher Learning Commission, said the agency’s board has decided to allow either individual credit-granting institutions, such as Ivy Tech Community College, or the state's Commission for Higher Education, to apply for an extension to the credentialing requirements for dual credit high school teachers.
A panel, Hausaman said, will review applications, which are due in September, and consider granting extensions up to September 2022.
Stephanie Wilson, a spokeswoman with the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, said that organization plans to apply for a five-year extension on behalf of the dual credit-granting institutions in the state, taking into consideration input from each. The commission also expects more guidance from the HLC, she said, as the application process moves forward.
Currently, it’s estimated that 88 percent of Ivy Tech’s dual credit teachers — those who teach core courses for both high school and college credit — in this region do not have the credentials the HLC is asking for by September 2017.
So, the opportunity for an extension is welcome news to John Newby, assistant vice president of K-12 Initiatives with Ivy Tech.
“It’s hopeful,” Newby said. “I think we can certainly feel better about things … It gives us a little breathing room.”
However, he said, there are no assurances that an extension request will be granted for the full five years, or at all.