Southwest Missouri Beginning Teacher Assistance (B.T.A.) Collaborative
Frequently Asked Questions:
What is the Southwest Beginning Teacher Assistance (BTA) Collaborative?
The program is provided by the following Southwest Missouri colleges and universities to assist beginning Educators and in fulfilling the DESE requirement to attend a BTA program: Baptist Bible College, College of the Ozarks, Drury University, Evangel University, Missouri State University, and Southwest Baptist University.
The program provides on-going professional development for beginning and career educators. The program provides educators within the first three years of their teaching careers with access to a series of professional development workshops.
How does the program work?
Workshops presenting individual or broad topics are posted on our website. The universities listed above will each have workshops they host and any beginning educator (regardless of where they obtained their teaching certification) can attend. Regardless of where the workshop is located, the following information will need to be given to the contact person for that university:
- DESE Educator ID Number (a six digit number that can be found on your on-line DESE profile)
- Phone Number
- Current Home Address
- Certification area and grade level (e.g., Mathematics (9-12) )
- School District where you teach
- University where certification was obtained.
Additional registration information will vary based on the location and each event coordinator will make you aware of this. Various workshops will be offered, fees vary based on the workshop, and each workshop has a certain number of points. All of this information is outlined in the sections below.
What Types of Workshops Are Offered?
Topics vary depending on the location of the workshop. Popular topics include: Classroom Management, Literacy and the Common Core State Standards, Differentiated Strategies of Instruction, School Poverty, Reading Strategies, etc. All topics are relevant to the first years in education and activities are designed for immediate usage in the classroom.
All conferences/workshops will be posted on the Southwest BTA homepage with registration instructions.
Is There a Registration Fee?
Yes. If the workshop is provided by the participating universities listed above, the fees can be outlined as follows:
- 2-3 hour workshop: $20.00
- ½ day workshop: $25.00
- Full Day workshop: $50.00
- Webinars: Price varies by presenter.
If you attend an MSTA workshop at any of the above institutions, you will be charged by MSTA alone and not the Collaborative. Currently, MSTA charges $40 for members and $70 for non-members to attend.
What is the Point System?
All beginning educators fulfilling their BTA requirement through the Southwest BTA Collaborative must obtain a minimum of 6 points. This can be completed in one of the following ways:
- Evening Seminar – 2 hour workshop on a particular topic (2 points).
- Webinars – The number of points depends on the extent of the content, which is reviewed by the BTA collaborative before publication.
- Half-day workshops – Topics are presented during a morning or afternoon session (3 points)
- Full-day workshops – Typically provided in conjunction with MSTA, or the Developing Successful Youth Conference (6 points).
Once participants have obtained their six points, they will receive a certificate of completion listing all workshops attended and total points earned.
