Ohio’s Visiting Spanish Teacher Program

Ohio’s Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Education and Science of Spain was created, in part, to address the critical shortage of qualified instructors of Spanish in the state of Ohio. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the two agencies in January, 2006.

Under this agreement, visiting Spanish teachers can be brought to teach in Ohio schools for a period of up to three years, depending on the availability of each individual teacher, his or her willingness to stay for an extended period, and the school districts’ interest in extending the teachers’ contracts

ODE’s obligations to districts wishing to avail to the visiting teacher program are as follows:

  1. ODE will collaborate with the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science and participating districts to ensure the smooth coordination of the visiting teacher program.
  2. ODE World Languages Consultants will work with districts and schools to assess their needs and, if appropriate, secure and place Spanish visiting teachers.
  3. Based on the information gathered from the districts and school sponsors regarding the Spanish teaching positions they hope to fill, a qualified ODE World Languages Consultant will interview and select teachers to fill district positions. These educators will meet the requirements of the Ohio Visiting Teacher License which recognizes their status as a Highly Qualified Teachers (HQT).
  4. ODE, as the official visa sponsor, will work with the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Homeland Security to expedite the processing of the teachers’ J-1 Exchange Visitor visas in a timely manner.
  5. Upon the arrival of the visiting teachers in Ohio, ODE and the Ohio Foreign Language Association (OFLA) will provide them with a five day orientation on a variety of topics including, but not limited to, Ohio’s educational system, standards-based education and the Ohio Academic Content Standards, culturally-appropriate foreign language pedagogy, lesson-planning, differentiated instruction, class room management, assessment, record-keeping, and professional ethics.
  6. During orientation, ODE will facilitate the teachers’ required state and federal background checks and have the teachers’ TB test results certified for district use.
  7. Over the course of the school year, ODE World Language Consultants will monitor visiting teacher placements and work with districts and schools to resolve any issues that might arise.
  8. ODE World Languages Consultants will provide additional formal training or intervention in the form of a fall professional development workshop.

The conditions and requirements for district use of a visiting Spanish teacher are as follows:

  1. Districts and school sponsors will place their visiting teachers under contract and pay them the same salary that they would pay any other teacher, commensurate with their educational levels and years of service (if any). An initial one year contract can be followed by contract renewals of one or two years if all parties agree.
  2. Districts and school sponsors will ensure that the visiting teachers’ working conditions are safe and sanitary at all times.
  3. Because most visiting teachers are beginning teachers who must also undergo the lengthy and very challenging process of acculturating to life in the U.S. and working in our schools, districts and school sponsors are strongly encouraged to limit the number of the visiting teachers’ preps to a maximum of two or three per school year whenever possible.
  4. The district or school sponsor will identify a suitable host family with whom the visiting teacher can live for the first two or three weeks he or she is in the community. This will give the visiting teachers a safe place to stay and an initial opportunity for cultural immersion and adjustment while they apply for a social security number, open bank accounts, locate and furnish an apartment, buy a car, etc. It also provides the visiting teacher with a family that can help the teacher become quickly involved in the local community. Assistance should be given to the teacher by the district or school sponsor in order to facilitate all of the activities associated with “settling in.”
  5. During the first few days the visiting teacher is in the community, the district or school will assist the visiting teacher with the process of securing a social security number. Not only is having a SSN crucial for the administrative purposes of the school or district (e.g., payroll, insurance, etc.), but the visiting teacher will probably not be able to open a bank account, rent an apartment or make a major purchase without this number. The social security number is also necessary for the teachers’ Ohio Visiting Teacher Licenses to be expedited.
  6. The district or school sponsor must ensure that the visiting teachers have at all times the following insurance coverage* required by the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Homeland Security, and Ohio’s Memorandum of Understanding with the Spanish government:

    - Employee health insurance (minimum of $50,000 benefit per accident/illness)
    - Medical evacuation insurance (minimum of $10,000 coverage)
    - Repatriation of remains insurance (minimum of $7,500 coverage)

    * At the current time, the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science has been requiring that the visiting teachers purchase their own medical evacuation and repatriation of remains insurances prior to their arrival in the U.S. If a teacher does not have his or her own coverage for any reason, the district or school sponsor is responsible for providing coverage.

  7. The district or school will deduct taxes, STRS contributions, union dues, etc., from visiting teachers’ pay just like they normally would for non-visiting teachers. However, districts or schools may not deduct Medicare for the first 18 months that the teacher works in the United States.
  8. The school(s) where the teacher will be assigned must identify suitable mentors to work regularly with the visiting teacher over the course of the school year. Regular classroom observations should be made by mentors and administrators, especially at the beginning of the school year, in order to provide the visiting teachers with needed feedback and guidance. Visiting teachers must also be enrolled in the district’s entry year mentoring program, even though they are not required to undergo formal Praxis III evaluation. The importance of strong, positive mentorship cannot be stressed enough in order to ensure the effectiveness of the visiting teachers!
  9. The district or school will provide adequate orientation for the visiting teacher prior to the start of the school year. If a new teacher orientation is held or professional development is provided prior to the start of classes, the visiting teacher should be included. If a stipend for these events is paid to the regular teaching staff, the visiting teachers must also be given the same compensation.
  10. The district or school will cover the expenses (i.e. hotel, meals, mileage and substitute coverage) for the visiting teachers to attend a one-day professional development workshop provided by ODE during the fall. The content of this training will be based on site visits and observations of the visiting teachers’ instructional and classroom management practices conducted by the ODE World Languages Consultants, feedback gathered from the visiting teachers’ mentors and administrators, and the needs expressed by the visiting teachers themselves.
  11. The district or school sponsor will cover the expenses (i.e., registration, hotel, meals, mileage and substitute coverage) associated with the visiting teacher’s participation in the Ohio Foreign Language Association’s three day annual conference held during the early spring of each school year.
Revised in November, 2007.