The Oklahoma State Board of Education has approved a slight change to a certification program to let teacher assistants lead some classrooms.
The alternative certification is for those paraprofessionals with a bachelor’s degree, experience as a teacher assistant and passing scores on all three state teaching exams.
The switch is from annual credentials renewable up to three years to credentials valid up to three years when they're issued.
"That is a request from the certification office that is in line with a lot of what we’ve seen from the red tape task force to reduce the burden both administratively for certification and on those individuals participating in the program," said State Department of Education attorney Lori Murphy.
Once teacher assistants have the alternative certification, they have three years to complete additional college courses required for a standard teaching certificate.
