NH has had "Character Ed." as a re-certification requirement for its K-12
teachers for the past 5 or so years. The requirement will be around for
about 2 more years and then is getting incorporated into revised standards.
Although offered and supported by the then conservative State Board of Ed.,
those of us in the (then funded) Equity office used it as a golden
opportunity to offer workshops on racism, sexism and especially sexual
harassment, and respect for diversity (which tried to cover the other
"isms"). In our state, each Supervisory Administrative Unit (SAU) was the
determiner of what would be an acceptable workshop for re-certification
credits under the character ed. criteria. I don't know of any instance where the
Equity work was not accepted.
This is a little different than what Georgia is doing, since from my read,
this will be going directly into the classroom. I think the same equity
opportunity exists and hopefully someone(s) who look at the world through
that lens will be sitting at any table that constructs how to implement the
new requirements.
Sue
"Reading, writing, arithmetic are important only if they serve to make your
children more humane." from Teacher & Child by Haim G. Ginott
Susan McKevitt
Administrator
Bureau of Career Development
New Hampshire Department of Education
101 Pleasant Street
Concord, NH 03301
Phone: 603-271-6613
Fax: 603-271-1953
Email: smckevitt@ed.state.nh.us
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