Page 2: Important facts about the license

• By law, the license is voluntary, not mandatory. Some employers might require it of their teacher employees, but the state cannot force employers to make the license a requirement.
  
  
• There is only one license for all ABE teachers, regardless what they are or have been teaching (e.g. math, ESOL, GED test prep), and no license (yet) for counselors or administrators.
  
  
• The professional license is competency based; that is, license-seekers provide an application packet to DESE and then build a performance portfolio that shows how they have met requirements and teaching standards, following the ABE Teacher's Guidelines.
  
  
• A teacher's knowledge, experience, and training "count" towards professional licensure. Years in the field, coursework, teaching experience, staff development training, and even personal study might be valid evidence of meeting standards.
  
  
• There are four "routes" to the professional license, ranging from one for new teachers (who will have to pass the state Communication and Literacy Skills Test and the new ABE Subject Matter Test, perform field-based practica, and meet all 29 professional or "teaching" standards) to one for teachers with five or more years of ABE teaching experience (no test, no practica, and only eight specified standards to meet).
  
  
• All license-seekers, no matter how many years of experience and how much knowledge they have gained, must demonstrate their teaching, through a direct observation by a qualified observer, a videotaping, or an actual presentation to a review panel.
  
  
• There is currently no teacher preparation (e.g. college-based) program for ABE teachers in our state. To prepare for licenses, for now teachers will work directly with DESE or the SABES Central Resource Center.
  
  
• SABES has set up a support system wherein license-seeking teachers form "cohorts" and work once-a-month on portfolios together. SABES has found that by setting aside monthly time and working with peers with SABES support is much more effective. Each year, SABES recruits for new cohort members. [Interested? Contact Carey Reid: creid@worlded.org]

• This website contains most of the information and links that license-seeking teachers will need, but always check the DESE website for the latest official news.
  

Are you interested in pursuing the new license? Then go on to the next page.