PELSB announcement
12/19/2024 9:53:14 AM
The Commission is also pleased to share this announcement from the Minnesota Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB). PELSB is launching a cohort for teachers seeking K-12 World Languages and Cultures licensure to teach their heritage language and culture. We encourage American Sign Language teachers seeking K-12 World Languages and Cultures licensure to apply.
During the 2024 legislative session, the Commission and advocates successfully advocated for the definition of "heritage language and culture teacher" be expanded to include teachers with a childhood connection to ASL and whose primary language is ASL. The definition previously relied on a familial connection, which excluded many deaf people with native fluency in ASL in the past. Not all deaf individuals are born to deaf families.
PELSB is excited to announce the launch of another Heritage Language Pathway Portfolio Cohorts for teachers seeking K-12 World Languages and Cultures licensure to teach their heritage language and culture!
Minnesota’s students and families speak more than 300 home languages. In an effort to increase the opportunities for language instruction across the state, PELSB is committed to supporting heritage language teachers in the licensure process.
"Heritage language and culture teacher" means a teacher with a familial connection to their community's language and culture, who is proficient in the language and engaged in the culture, and uses this connection to support students as they learn academic content, become proficient in the language, and engage with the culture of that particular linguistic and cultural community.
For the purposes of this program, a heritage language and culture teacher of American Sign Language is a teacher with a childhood connection to American Sign Language, whose primary language is American Sign Language.
Two separate cohorts will begin in January 2025. Each cohort will be guided and supported by PELSB staff through the licensure via portfolio process as they complete the requisite portfolio items with the goal of attaining a Tier 3 World Languages and Cultures license to teach their heritage language.
The Initial Licensure Cohort will consist of teachers who are currently teaching with a Tier 1 or 2 license. Cohort members will complete portfolios for the Standards of Effective Practice and World Languages and Cultures over an 18 month program.
The Additional Licensure Cohort will consist of teachers who are currently teaching on a Tier 3 or 4 license, but either on an OFP to teach their language or licensed in an area other than World Languages and Cultures. This cohort will complete a portfolio for World Languages and Cultures over a 6 month program.
This application consists of two steps:
Complete the application form by Friday, January 10, 2025. Please share this link with any interested candidate.
2025 HLP Portfolio Cohort Application Form
Each candidate must have TWO completed professional references. The link for this reference form is also embedded in the application. Applicants are responsible for ensuring that two professional references complete this form by the January 10, 2025 deadline.
2025 HLP Professional Reference Form
Thank you again for your collaboration and for all you do for teachers and students in Minnesota. Please reach out to PELSB's Heritage Language Pathways Specialist, with any questions you may have at heritage.PELSB@state.mn.us.
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