Initial Certification Components

Component 2: Differentiation in Instruction

Evidence Collected Online – Clarification

Some candidates have asked whether they can use evidence collected online for their student work samples, summative assessment materials and data for Component 2. You are allowed to submit evidence collected online; however, you should carefully consider the extent to which your virtual classroom environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic allows you to provide evidence of the accomplished teaching principles in the rubrics for those components.

You might consider, for example, the extent to which your online assessment or assignment is appropriate for formative or summative purposes. You might also consider the extent to which you can get an accurate sense of student progress or set new learning goals based on the use of a particular assessment or assignment in an online environment. Be sure to review the Component 2 Rubric as you complete your submission.

The instructions for some certificate areas such as Music and School Counseling may state exceptions, so follow your certificate area instructions–except “rostered class” now means you can draw from multiple rostered classes to form one class or group.

For Music candidates completing Component 2, the instructions do not require you to be visible in the video segments. Music candidates should follow instructions in Recording Your Video Segments.
Note: If you bought a component in 2019-2020 and request an October extension or deferred to 2020-2021, please visit this page for details specific to your candidate journey.

Component 3: Teaching Practice and Learning Environment

Video of Virtual Classrooms – Allowance

This guidance on video of virtual classrooms reflects allowances that have been allowed in the past and that will continue to be provided after the pandemic.

Videos of virtual classrooms can be a split screen recording, a platform-provided recording (Google Meet, MS Teams, etc.), or a video made with a camera/phone/tablet that captures the teacher at the computer with students on the screen. Regardless of the way in which a candidate chooses to film a virtual classroom, the guidelines about visibility in the Component 3 instructions that apply to all Component 3 candidates must be followed. If you do not adhere to the guidelines and rules on recording your videos for your certificate area, your portfolio component will not be scorable and you will receive a code of NS on your score report instead of a numerical score.

• The videos should show as much of the class as possible, but it is acceptable to focus on a particular student while he or she is talking. Use a camera angle that includes as many faces of the students in the class as possible.
• You and your students must be seen and heard in both videos. It is important for assessors to be able to see and hear you and your students together, your students interacting with each other, your students’ reactions to what you are doing, and their engagement in learning. Videos of virtual classrooms featuring only icons without any live video of students are not acceptable. Live student faces must be seen. Asynchronous lessons are not an acceptable form of evidence, as there is no student-teacher or student-student interaction.
• Carefully review the rubric used to assess your submission.

See instructions and tips on recording in the General Portfolio Instructions and Component 3 instructions.

Editing for Anonymity

Candidates should try to preserve anonymity throughout their entire portfolio, including their videos, in accordance with the General Portfolio Instructions and component instructions. Candidates using video of virtual classroom(s) should do their best to set up the video so that only students’ or adults’ first name is displayed in the video.

However, if you are unable to remove personal identifiers despite all reasonable efforts, submitting a video with personal identifiers will not impact the review of the submission. If a candidate is unable to remove personal identifiers, for any reason, the candidate should submit the video without making any edits to cover names. Editing videos to remove personal identifiers is not an allowed edit.

Variety of Evidence – No change

The variety of evidence requirements, found in both the General Portfolio Instructions and certificate-specific portfolio component instructions, remain the same. In particular, video(s) are required and must meet requirements stated in the instructions. For example, Component 3 videos must show different instructional units, and the contents of the two videos combined must represent different instructional formats and different teaching strategies. You are not required to feature more than one instructional format or teaching strategy in a single video, although you may. You must be sure, however, that the combined contents of your two videos represent a breadth of the content area and show at least two different instructional formats (i.e., large group, small group, one-on-one, classroom, laboratory, or other configuration that is appropriate for your situation) and two different teaching strategies.

Note: If you bought a component in 2019-2020 and request an October extension or deferred to 2020-2021, please visit this page for details specific to your candidate journey.

Editing for Breakout Rooms – Clarification

Editing the video because you and/or your students are moving to a breakout room is not an allowable edit. If you are recording a virtual lesson, you can include breakout rooms in your video provided the recording is continuous and unedited. Moving from whole group to virtual breakout rooms is similar to transitioning from whole group to small group during in-person instruction.

Component 4: Effective and Reflective Practitioner

Evidence Collected Online – Clarification

Some candidates have asked whether they can use evidence collected online for their student work samples, summative assessment materials and data for Components 4. You are allowed to submit evidence collected online.

As you consider submitting Component 4, you should carefully consider the extent to which your virtual classroom and the context of the COVID-19 pandemic might affect your ability to develop and apply your knowledge of your students, use assessments for formative and summative purposes with the same class of students for which you developed the group profile, and engage in professional learning based on a student need. Review the Component 4 rubric and the Standards in your certificate area. You might consider, for example, the extent to which your online assessment is appropriate for formative or summative purposes and given what you know about your students as a class. You might also consider the extent to which you can get an accurate sense of the progress of the students as a class or set new learning goals based on the analysis of assessment results limited to a partial classroom.

Component 4 Knowledge of Students and Generation and Use of Assessment Data sections must be based on one class or group of students. Candidates are not allowed to use evidence from different rostered classes, period, and not across school years.

Participation in Learning Communities evidence does not have to be drawn from the same school year as the evidence for Knowledge of Students and Generation and Use of Assessment Data.

See the Portfolio Instructions and Scoring Rubric for Component 4 for more details. If you submit your Component 4 portfolio with one or more sections that feature a class, an assessment, a need, and/or evidence that is older than the time frames described in this section and in the instructions, that response will be considered inappropriate and will be treated as missing material during scoring.

Note: If you bought a component in 2019-2020 and request an October extension or deferred to 2020-2021, please visit this page for details specific to your candidate journey.