Certification Glossary

Effective July 1, 1994, the responsibility to waive credentials and credential requirements shifted from the California Department of Education (CDE) to CCTC under the authority of EC 44225(m). There are two types of waivers authorized by regulations. 

Short Term Waiver: Short term waivers may be approved at the local level to provide the employing agency with one semester or less to address unanticipated, immediate, short-term organizational needs by assigning only individuals who hold basic teaching credentials to teach outside their credentialed authorizations, with the consent of the teacher. They may be issued once to any individual teacher and only once for a given class. 

Variable Term Waiver: Variable term waivers are waiver requests that are reviewed by Commission staff and acted upon by the Commission at a regularly scheduled meeting. This waiver provides the employing agency up to one year to: 1) allow individuals additional time to complete a credential requirement, 2) facilitate assignment in school programs to address issues of educational reform, 3) allow geographically isolated regions with severely limited ability time to hire and develop personnel, or 4) obtain waivers for situations when all other hiring efforts have been exhausted.