The certification connection: licensure ought to guarantee that every classroom comes equipped with a skilled knowledgeable teacher. The new performance standards for teachers are making that possible

Education Next, Spring, 2002 by Mary E. Diez

I recently game across a flyer from the National Private Schools Association offering, among other things, certification for private school teachers. Intrigued, I went to the association's website discovered these requirements: provide information, all self-reported, on your academic background, teaching experience, and character; obtain a reference from an employer or colleague who will nominate you for certification (although no criteria for such nomination are provided); and pay $50 (your school also must pay an annual fee of $75 for you to eligible).

While the existing system of licensure for public school teachers is more rigorous than simply rubber-stamping someone's self-report on competence, most thoughtful people agree that the system is in need of a major overhaul. As a result, the processes and institutions that license teachers are changing and many of the changes promise to ensure that teachers enter the classroom well equipped to work effectively with learners.

Why License Teacher?

Requiring teachers to be licensed seems intuitively appropriate, given their role in society. S Society requires many professionals who work directly with the public, including awyers, psychologists, nurses, and doctors, to be licensed in order to protect the public. These regulations ensure that the professionals working in these fields have the skills and knowledge required to perform their services effectively and ethically. Should the professionals who spend six to eight hours alone in a room with 20 vulnerable children be subject to any less scrutiny? Licensing teachers is a way to assure the public that teachers are competent, are qualified, and will, at the very least, to do harm.

The most basic purpose of licensure is to give the state control over who can teach, preventing those convicted of sixual misconduct, child abuse, or other relevant offenses from becoming or continuing to be school employees. Most states require a criminal background check as a part of licensure. Similarly, states screen with tests of basic skills in literacy and mathematics to ensure that the academic skills of would-be teachers are at least above some minimum threshold.

Like other bureaucratic processes, licensure also serves as a means of enforcing regulations. Most states have prescribed the coursework that candidates for licenses must take, down to the number of credits in specified courses with specified content. In Wisconsin, for example, elementary teachers cannot receive an initial license or renew a current license without proof of having completed coursework in how to teach reading using phonics. For an initial license, that proof comes as part of a 12-hour concentration in reading and language arts. In many states, teachers must earn additional professional development credits (usually six credits every five years) in order to renew their licenses, but teachers can earn these credits in areas that bear little relationship to their practice. Many teachers select courses based on their convenience and cost instead of their professional value. At a recent Wisconsin Education Association Council's convention, banners over the booth of one out-of-state professional dev elopment provider read, "Three credits--five days!" States have written their policies in such a way that the number of credits earned has become more important than the skills learned, both in teacher education and continuing professional development.

The problem with many states' licensure requirements has been that they have not been thoughtfully developed as a coherent picture of what teachers need to know in order to be effective. Rather, they have been piecemeal collections of basic knowledge and skills, coupled with trendy political issues that have been voted into statute. For example, state legislators added the study of environmental education, human relations, and conflict resolution to the licensure requirements in Wisconsin. And if you want to be licensed to teach high-school social studies in Wisconsin, state law requires that you study the economics of dairy cooperatives.

Licensure, for the most part, has served its basic purpose of keeping dangerous people out of the classroom, ensuring that teachers are literate and numerate, and enforcing training and coursework requirements. Furthermore, in the past 15 years, the route to licensure has become less rigid and bureaucratic, In some states, dual systems of licensure--for" regular" and "alternative" routes--have emerged, sparking lively discussion among those who continue to be held to the "regular" requirements. Nevertheless, the process of licensing teachers has come under scrutiny in an increasing number of states, as critics ask whether current licensure practice actually leads to higher student achievement, More and more, the challenge to business as usual in teacher licensure is resulting in a complete overhaul of the process.

A Meaningful License

Reformers have asked three questions in seeking to develop a licensing system that guarantees not only that teachers have met a series of requirements, but also that they are prepared to enter classrooms as effective teachers, They concern: