Allowing Unlicensed Teachers Would Improve K-12 Education
Frederick Hess writes at NRO:
The desire for good teachers in the classroom is as old as teaching itself. Back in the early 19th century, teacher licenses were first issued to help ensure the quality of teachers and facilitate the rapid expansion of schooling. Before long, schools of education, state education departments, and urban school officials created increasingly bureaucratized licensure systems. Today, every state requires that educators be licensed to teach in the 100,000 public schools that enroll 90 percent of American students.In theory, licensure ensures that teachers can do their job; in practice, it burdens prospective teachers and deters promising candidates without delivering on that core promise. At a time when even the Biden administration has woken up to the costs of runaway licensure rackets, when COVID-related disruptions have created the need for more teachers with an array of skill sets, and when schools struggle with a perpetual "teacher shortage" produced by licensure's barriers to professional entry, it's time to give teacher licensure another look.
Let's start with the overly burdensome process of obtaining a teacher license. Earning a license requires would-be educators to sit through a lengthy set of education courses and then "student teach" under the supervision of education faculty. Undergraduates who by age 18 or 19 know that they'd like to teach can check these boxes by majoring in education. For most anyone else, licensure involves a graduate school of education or an alternative credentialing program.
The cost of this teacher training can deter potential educators. Former Obama-administration official Chad Aldeman has estimated that licensure requirements mean that training the average teacher costs about $25,000 and requires 1,500 hours (more than the typical teacher works in a year). If one considers the earnings that working professionals give up in order to pursue a credential, that cost is higher still.
Yet none of this guarantees that teachers are up to the job. Critics have pointed out that the nation's 1,250 teacher-preparation programs attract candidates with SAT math scores lower than those of the modal English major and with verbal scores lower than those of the typical math major. The programs are plagued by extraordinary grade inflation, and most make little to no effort to screen for academic performance. Indeed, one must wonder whether costly, less than respected preparation programs dissuade many who might otherwise be inclined to consider a teaching career.
Meanwhile, researchers have found no difference in performance between certified and noncertified teachers. Supervisors also don't seem to think licenses mean much: The Aspen Institute has found that just 7 percent of superintendents and 13 percent of principals think certification guarantees that a teacher "has what it takes" to be effective in the classroom.
Indeed, preparation programs frequently seem more focused on insisting that would-be teachers embrace an ideological deluge of "anti-racist" and "social justice" dogma. The American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education champions the "integral role educator preparation programs play in advancing scholarly work on Critical Race Theory" and urges them to "resist recent federal attacks." Accreditation standards for teacher preparation call for candidates to inventory "their personal biases" so as to promote "equity, diversity, and inclusion." At the nation's largest teacher-preparation programs, two in five faculty say that their area of study includes equity, race, or diversity -- and about a third of these scholars employ a critical-race-theory perspective.
...There's a better path to ensure teacher effectiveness, one that welcomes career-switchers, judges new hires on aptitude rather than credentials, and allows training to be employed when and if it's useful. In lieu of licensure, states should adopt safeguards that are more precisely targeted, such as rigorous criminal checks, tests in basic subject matter, requirements that K-3 teachers understand the research on early-childhood reading, and so on. If such requirements create a market for targeted, speedy, demonstrably effective training, so much the better.
Ending the licensure paper chase promises to benefit students and teachers alike.
...Cracking the teacher-licensure cartel would enable school leaders to imagine how they might recruit and best use all available talent, rather than narrowly seek candidates credentialed to meet century-old licensure restrictions.
Bring me in to teach students to think logically and write.
I'd never become a teacher -- with all the requirements that entails. It's also something I'd only do at times. However, I do private sessions with people to help them with their writing, I've taught a course here or there, and I've mentored two people who've been my part-time editors -- all the way through getting book deals.
I also read research on learning -- and how to teach so students learn -- in a way few going through the formal process to become a teacher probably do.
Unions will never allow it. High value of entry keeps their jobs and power safe and salaries high. (High for a 1500 hr/yr job, looks low when compared to 2000 hr jobs) It also guarantees the ideological purity push we are now seeing. Years ago had an acquaintance who was driven out of the education field, when in a week he had been asked/insinuated by several students, TAs, and instructors if the reason he was in education was he was a pedo. I had always assumed it was just the anti-male bias in the education department, but now question if it was more an ideological screening since he was more on the right. In looking at some of the vids of teachers (Libs of Tik Tok) sounds like it was more of an ideological screening.
Joe J at October 6, 2021 1:02 AM
A worthless change.
Are there high quality teachers being kept out of the system by licensing requirements? Yes! But not to a level that has significantly impacted hiring decisions.
This change will not significantly affect education outcomes up or down. Other factors are far more significant.
Ben at October 6, 2021 6:11 AM
Disband education depts. I’d rather my kids be taught math by someone who majored in math, not Ed. No more Drs. of Education.!
KateC at October 6, 2021 6:38 AM
Unlicensed teachers already exist. It's called "homeschooling".
Jim Armstrong at October 6, 2021 8:30 AM
Have you ever actually taught a class of kids for a year? Because it isn't the same as private tutoring or teaching a course here and there.
NicoleK at October 6, 2021 12:39 PM
I've seen too many people jump through all the hoops of educational certification, only to determine that the reality of teaching was so far away from their expectations. And they didn't really feel like they were in a position to just walk away after spending all that money and time achieving what they thought was a dream job. (I do know a few who did give up.) I'd like to see something along the lines of a starter program, with a few required courses and actual teaching for about five years before being forced to pursue certification. Heck, even where I went to school, the only requirement to be a substitute teacher was to have a high school education.
Fayd at October 6, 2021 3:14 PM
I don't think you want teachers to be unlicensed. However, the credential-dependent licensing system in place today in most school systems is cumbersome and unwieldy. In addition, there are people who could make a genuine contribution to the education system who are shut out by a licensing system that values College of Education credentials over subject matter expertise and experience.
Conan the Grammarian at October 6, 2021 4:24 PM
I haven’t thought about this in a while, but when I first began teaching, I remember wishing that we had learned the craft through an apprenticeship rather than a college education. I would have learned so much more if I had worked with 4 different teachers teaching the same subject for the entire year over 4 years. Not only would teachers be better prepared, but students would have more trained adults in the classroom, reducing the child adult ratio in the classroom.
That would have allowed me to see how different teachers developed relationships with students, different ways of teaching the same objectives, different ways of disciplining, and so much more. After 4 years, I would have known the subject thoroughly as well as the myriad of things teachers really need to know. In addition, it would be another mind and set of hands in the classroom. Teachers in training would really get a taste of being a teacher. They wouldn’t be surprised by the demands of teaching. It would open the profession to a wider variety of people. While teaching pays less than other professions, the student teaching requirement means it costs more.
When I went to school, I had 1/2 of a year in the classroom, after teachers had implemented relationship building and implemented an organizational and discipline routine. There was definitely a lot to learn. They have now expanded student teaching to an entire year where I was trained, which is helpful for the teacher candidate but costly.
Yes, I understand that many teachers have lower test scores. I don’t know how to respond to that except to say that I was very gifted in school. I was in a program where we were given the PSAT in 6th grade. From the results, they said that I could start taking college classes with parental permission. My parents were aghast and refused. To me, teaching is very difficult. It is exhausting both mentally and physically. There are hundreds of decisions per day and a hundred personalities to work with. I work with teachers who struggled in school, yet they are great teachers. They know how to win over students and engage them in learning. They know who is confused and how to clear up misunderstandings. They must have their own brand of genius.
Jen at October 6, 2021 7:34 PM
In my 2nd year of college I was given work-study in the main computing lab to help other students. I also happened to get the evening shifts. This also meant I was the de facto assistant for the evening Master of Ed. program for things like making copies (that program was in the same building). From reading stuff I was copying and helping students in the computer lab I was able to pass the practice tests at the end of the year. (I printed them out at home.)
I had an acquaintance years ago who got the lic. requirement waived to teach High School math for 2 years.
The Former Banker at October 6, 2021 10:57 PM
My kids spent some time in a Catholic primary ed school with a wonderful non-licensed math teacher. Think she had math degree, not education background.
Some years after my kids were older and out, she got licensed and was hired by the local public school system.
So unlicensed is not JUST homeschooled.
ruralcounsel at October 7, 2021 8:25 AM
I didn't get certified even though I got my EdM, and then I went on to teach... I regret, in retrospect, not having done the student teaching first. Even though my long-term plan was not to be a teacher.
NicoleK at October 7, 2021 10:36 AM
All this makes me wonder what you had to do to teach the people who put Neil and Buzz on the moon.
At my high school, the principal had the last say on whether you taught. We had a bunch of WW2 and Korean War veterans. Lots of us went to national science fairs, competitions of various types.
Yes, you had to get things right, chiseling your answers in stone...
Radwaste at October 7, 2021 12:56 PM
Joe J said: Years ago had an acquaintance who was driven out of the education field, when in a week he had been asked/insinuated by several students, TAs, and instructors if the reason he was in education was he was a pedo. I had always assumed it was just the anti-male bias in the education department, but now question if it was more an ideological screening since he was more on the right.
When I was in kindergarten in about 1972, I had a male kindergarten teacher. Now I'm not sure if I thought the following on my own, or if I had heard the neighborhood moms discussing the topic of a male kindergarten teacher, but I remember thinking why is a dad teaching kindergarten? As it turns out, I remember liking Mr. Sargeant quite a bit, and I remember him being a pretty fun kindergarten teacher. Looking back even now, I still think it was quite odd, particularly for those times, to have a male teacher at that level in school. Let's face it, until very recent times, men rarely helped with raising their own children.
sara at October 8, 2021 1:19 PM
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