The areas and levels of licensure for the new Performance Based Licensure System that were adopted by the State Board of Education dropped journalism as a separate licensure area.
Plans at that time were to incorporate journalism into the Secondary English Education programs allowing teachers licensed in English to teach journalism without securing an approval or add journalism as an endorsement.
Current review of Secondary English education programs at our colleges and universities reflect that journalism has not been required as part of the English program. Therefore, our teacher education graduates in Secondary English are not prepared as was anticipated to teach journalism.
Teachers licensed through Arkansas colleges and universities in Secondary English since May 2002, who have been employed to teach journalism, will be required to secure an approval for journalism by documenting at least six hours of journalism coursework or document they have met requirements to add journalism as an endorsement area through the completion of a program of study and the required Praxis II Assessment.
School districts that have hired a teacher who has been licensed in Secondary English through an Arkansas college or university since May 2002 to teach journalism, will have until August 1, 2004, to secure either the approval for journalism or the journalism endorsement for the teacher without drawing a citation from Standards Assurance.