Jackson, Miss. — The Commission on Teacher and Administrator Education Certification and Licensure and Development approved items 9 through 25 at its May 2 meeting, granting routine program modifications, deletions and course-title changes requested by several educator-preparation providers.

MDE staff said the requests are common at this time of year as providers update curricula, streamline course equivalencies and respond to enrollment trends. The items the commission approved included Blue Mountain Christian University's request to delete four approved supplemental endorsements and multiple modification requests and new-program requests from Delta State University, Mississippi State University, Mississippi College and William Carey University.

Doctor Van Cleave and other MDE staff presented the batch of items and described most as administrative or programmatic updates intended to clarify course equivalencies and reduce costs for candidates. The commission approved the items by voice vote; the public transcript records repeated "Aye" responses and several "Motion carries" confirmations for the grouped agenda items.

No items in the group resulted in recorded roll-call tallies in the public transcript; the meeting transcript shows motions, seconds and voice votes for each grouped item and multiple commissioners saying "Aye." MDE staff said the approvals allow providers to implement revised course titles, required courses and supplemental endorsements for program cohorts preparing to start in the coming academic year.

Commissioners did not request additional information on the majority of the items; MDE staff said providers will move forward with implementation and that the department continues routine oversight of educator-preparation program approvals.

The commission's approvals were part of a longer slate of agenda business that included licensure rulemaking, test-score adoption and disciplinary-case ratifications.