Board of TeachingTeacher Support :

Minnesota Board of Teaching

The Board of Teaching, created in 1973, provides leadership for improvements in teacher education programs in order to assure that the state has well-qualified, professional teachers.

The Governor appoints eleven members to the Board of Teaching: six classroom teachers, one higher education faculty member, one school administrator and three members of the public, two of whom must have spent some time on a local school board. The board determines the standards and practices that will serve the state's teachers and teacher preparation institutions.  View the list of current board members.

Nonlicensed Community Expert and Waiver Requests

New forms for requesting Waivers and Nonlicensed Community Expert permissions are now available and MUST be used for requests for the 2009-2010 school year.  The new forms are located under the Special Permissions section link on the right.  The Board of Teaching cannot accept these requests until after July 1st.  Requests received prior to that date will be returned.

Teacher Discipline Inquiry System (TDIS)

A 2008 state law requires a school board or other school hiring authority to contact the Board of Teaching before hiring a new teacher to determine if disciplinary action has ever been taken against the individual.  The Teacher Discipline Inquiry System (TDIS) is an online search application created for this purpose.  Select the link at the right.

Special Education Update

Phase II of the Special Education Licensure Task Force has ended and Phase III is about to begin.  During Phase II, over 85 stakeholders with Special Education expertise worked to revise Core Skills and disability-specific standards.  These changes were made by incorporating current research and promising practices into already existing standards, creating new standards, and broadening the definition of exceptionality to include those students who are considered gifted and talented.  We also received input from dozens of additional stakeholders through focus groups.

The work of Phase III will include examining the Phase II recommendations and ensuring that the final product meets the needs of Minnesota’s students with exceptionalities. We anticipate bringing the final recommendations to the Board of Teaching in August 2009.