508.10 Purpose

The purpose of these procedures is to describe how the Washington Administrative Code (WAC), chapter 131-16, "Faculty and Staff Personnel" will be implemented at the Seattle College District for teaching personnel, other instructional personnel, and administrators in professional-technical programs. Copies of chapter 131-16 WAC may be obtained from the college chief professional-technical administrators office or accessed on the Internet at apps.leg.wa.gov/wac/.

508.20 Initial and Standard Certification for Instructors

  • 508.20.1 Teaching Personnel Requiring Certification

    All new full-time professional-technical instructors are required to attain an initial certification within the first quarter of employment with the Seattle College District.

    Full-time faculty who teach both professional-technical courses and academic courses will be required to obtain certification if two-thirds of their workload for 3 consecutive quarters excluding summer is derived from professional-technical teaching assignments. The certification must take place within the first quarter following the three quarter eligibility period.

    At the district, WAC 131-16-092 will be interpreted to mean that part-time professional-technical instructors who teach a two-thirds load for three consecutive quarters excluding summer are required to attain an initial certification within the first quarter following the three quarter eligibility period.

  • 508.20.2 Initial Certification

    Upon hire, eligible teaching personnel who meet the requirements listed below will be issued an Initial Certificate by the chief professional-technical administrator or designee. The Initial Certificate will be valid for three (3) years and is not renewable. An Initial Certificate is required to attain Standard Certification.

    1. Candidates must meet the general standards of qualification for community college personnel described in WAC 131-16-080.
    2. Candidates must meet or exceed the educational and professional experience requirements for their area of specialization or receive a waiver from the college president (only granted in extraordinary cases) per WAC 131-16-091.
    3. Candidates must create a professional development plan as prescribed by WAC 131-16-092 and WAC 131-16-094 and by Seattle College District Policy 508 and Procedure 508. The plan must be based on a self-assessment of the candidates attainment of the state professional-technical skill standards.
    4. An orientation will be offered during the first month of each quarter for faculty who are pursuing certification.
    5. Candidates must be recommended by the chief professional-technical administrator or designee.

  • 508.20.3 Standard Certification

    Professional-technical instructors who have completed the requirements for the initial certification must obtain a standard certification in order to maintain their ability to continue teaching. Standard Certification is valid for five (5) years and must be renewed on a five-year cycle.

    Professional-technical instructors who meet the requirements listed below will be issued a Standard Certificate by the chief professional-technical administrator or designee.

    1. Candidates must meet the general standards of qualification for community college personnel described in WAC 131-16-080.
    2. Candidates must meet or exceed the educational and professional experience requirements for their area of specialization or receive a waiver from the college president (only granted in extraordinary cases) per WAC 131-16-091.
    3. Candidates must create a professional development plan as prescribed by WAC 131-16-092 and WAC 131-16-094 and by Seattle College District Policy 508 and Procedure 508. The plan must be based on a self-assessment of the candidates attainment of the state professional-technical skill standards.
    4. Candidates must be recommended by the chief professional-technical administrator or designee.

  • 508.20.4 Reciprocal Certification

    Instructors issued either an Initial Certificate or a Standard Certificate by any college in the Washington state community and technical college system will be recognized as certified by the Seattle College District per WAC 131-16-095.

508.30 Professional Development Plan

Candidates for initial certification, standard certification and renewals of standard certification must have a development plan that has been approved by the supervising professional-technical administrator or designee per WAC 131-16-092 and WAC 131-16-094.

  • 508.30.1 Content of Professional Development Plan

    Each professional development plan will include:

    1. Priorities for professional growth that, at a minimum, address an instructor's ability to: provide student instruction; supervise learning environments; and implement curriculum, outcomes, and assessments.
    2. Five professional development activities linked to the state professional-technical faculty skill standards. More than one activity can be identified for any given skill standard.
    3. Measurable outcomes for each activity and objective measurements of skill standard achievement.
    4. A timeline for successful achievement of outcomes.

    For planning purposes, faculty may include more than five planned activities in their professional development plan. To fulfill certification requirements, faculty will only be required to complete five activities linked to the state professional-technical faculty skill standards.

    Copies of the state skills standards manual will be available in all professional-technical division offices and may be accessed via the Internet at www.wa-skills.com/guidelines.html.

  • 508.30.2 Plan Development

    The professional development plan will be developed collaboratively by the instructor and the supervising professional-technical administrator.

    As part of the certification process, faculty are required to perform a self-assessment based on the state professional-technical faculty skill standards. Faculty are encouraged to document how they performed their self-assessments that led to the creation of their professional development plans and to discuss their self-assessments with their supervising professional-technical administrator prior to creation of their professional development plans.

  • 508..30.3 Definition of Professional Development Activities

    The following standards shall be used to determine professional development activities for professional-technical certification.

    1. Planned, pre-approved work experience outside of regular college teaching assignments
    2. Credits earned in accredited programs at colleges or universities
    3. Pre-planned and pre-approved participation in events such as conferences, seminars, workshops or symposiums
    4. Independent pre-planned and pre-approved research and other individual development experiences in excess of normal contracted obligations

    Each activity must be linked to at least one state professional-technical faculty skill standard. The supervising professional-technical administrator will be responsible for any pre-approvals of specific activities.

    Professional development activities that meet the certification requirements shall also qualify for professional improvement credits for movement on the salary schedule.

  • 508.30.4 Plan Approval and Appeals Process

    The supervising professional-technical administrator will be responsible for approving professional development plans. Final approval shall be assumed if the faculty member is not informed otherwise by the supervising professional-technical administrator within 30 days after submission of the plan by the faculty member.

    If approval of the plan is not granted by the supervising professional-technical administrator, the decision can be appealed to the vice president for instruction. The final decision will be made by the vice president.

    Once the plan has been approved, certification will be granted. Faculty may update their professional development plans when changes in their fields or programs cause a shift in the direction of their plans; these new plans are subject to approval by their supervising professional-technical administrator.

  • 508.30.5 Plan Implementation

    The chief professional-technical administrator or designee will maintain a file of all approved professional development plans. The plans will be reviewed periodically by the supervising professional-technical administrator per WAC 131-16-092.

508.40 Other Part-time Instructors

  • 508.40.1 Hiring Requirements

    Part-time professional-technical instructors who do not teach a two-thirds load for three consecutive quarters excluding summer must comply with the following requirements.

    1. Candidates must meet the general standards of qualification for community college personnel per WAC 131-16-080.
    2. Candidates must meet or exceed the educational and professional experience requirements for their area of specialization or receive a waiver from the college president (only granted in extraordinary cases) per WAC 131-16-091.
    3. Candidates must be recommended by the chief professional-technical administrator or designee. Verification of how the minimum educational and professional experience requirements have been met must be on file for each part-time professional-technical instructor for each quarter of teaching employment per WAC 131-16-091.

  • 508.40.2 Assessment

    Part-time professional-technical instructors who do not teach a two-thirds load for three consecutive quarters excluding summer will be assessed as to their ability to provide student instruction, supervise learning environments and implement curriculum, outcomes, and assessments per WAC 131-16-092. The assessment will be conducted in accordance with the faculty evaluation guidelines in the current SCD/SCCFT agreement.

508.50 First Aid and CPR Certification

All professional-technical instructors who teach in environments where hazards exist are required to earn a current first aid certificate, including CPR and blood borne pathogens, prior to the second quarter of employment per WAC 121-16-093. Examples of hazardous instructional environments include bringing students into physical proximity with machinery, electrical circuits, biological, radioactive substances, chemicals, flammables, intense heat, gases under pressure, excavations, scaffolding, and ladders. Instructors must keep their certification current as long as they teach in a hazardous environment.

Professional-technical instructors who teach related subjects in classrooms rather than shops or laboratories as well as physicians, nurses and others with occupational competencies and extensive training in first aid are exempted from the first aid requirement per WAC 131-16-093. Professional-technical instructors who teach in classrooms with computers are also exempt from this requirement provided they do not open, install or move the equipment.

The chief professional-technical administrator or designee is responsible for ensuring that instructors who teach in a hazardous environment have first aid training.

508.60 Requirements for Other Instructional Personnel

Other professional-technical instructional personnel, including teachers' aides, lab assistants, and tutors employed in the college professional-technical programs either on a full-time or part-time basis must possess appropriate technical skills and knowledge in the specific program area assigned, and work under the direct supervision of, or in direct coordination with, an appropriately qualified professional per WAC 131-16-091. The district office will maintain job descriptions for each position in this category.

508.70 Requirements for Administrators

  • 508.70.1 Chief Professional-Technical Administrator

    The chief professional-technical administrator must meet the qualifications under WAC 131-16-080 and WAC 131-16-091. The chief professional-technical administrator at each college is also known as the "executive dean for professional-technical programs".

    Upon hire, the chief professional-technical administrator will be issued initial certification by the college president. A copy of the current certificate must be kept in the chief professional-technical administrators personnel file.

    To maintain certification, the chief professional-technical administrator must develop and complete a professional development plan. Per WAC 131-16-093, the plan must include at a minimum his/her ability to use professional-technical faculty skill standards to guide and support the professional development of the professional-technical instructors he/she supervises.

    The college president will maintain the chief professional-technical administrators professional development plan per WAC 131-16-092.

  • 508.70.2 Other professional-technical administrators

    Professional-technical administrators who oversee professional technical programs must meet the qualifications under WAC 131-16-080 and WAC 131-16-091.

Companion Document : Pol
Adoption Date : 2005/08/22
Revision Date : 2005/08/22