Addressing the Teacher Shortage: Professional Pay Scale & Credentialism (pt2)

Addressing the Teacher Shortage: Professional Pay Scale, Credentialism and ROI

Part 2: “Professional Pay & Credentials”

In this 2nd part of 3, I’ve decided to take a deep dive in order to look at addressing the difference between the professional pay scale and the credentials that are required for teachers to work in the public school systems. However, even for just this portion I believe there are several other contemporaneous issues surrounding this current teacher shortage and precipitous plummet of students choosing to study education. As we dive into this, we must circle back to the original point of part 1: it seems to be a fact that teacher salaries have remained largely stagnant for ? a Century (!), but now we also have to look at the requirements and regulatory changes that have had an equally profound effect on the teaching profession both good and bad.?

Regulatory powers that be: The Department of Education, which was founded in 1867 by President Andrew Johnson, and quickly demoted to the “Office of Education” because at that time, the Federal Government did not believe that they should have any federal regulatory powers over the teachers within the individual states and municipalities. (10) Instead, the certification of teachers, a practice that started in the early decades of the 1800’s, was and would remain a state and municipality issue. Due to this, the certification requirements remained different in each state, and therefore those certifications were handed out through different agencies throughout the states. (11) At one time, most teachers in rural areas were only educated through the high school level. (12) However, by 1938, most states required some form of formal training to become a teacher, averaging 12 (+/-) credit hours before being awarded a certification. By the 1950’s the “National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education” (NCATE) was created, while simultaneously (or nearly) there was a rise in unions for teachers, notably the American Federation of Teachers, and the National Educators Association. (13) Additionally, throughout the 1950’s, many states were requiring a Bachelor’s degree to be a teacher.

As the 1970’s waned there was yet another push to get a standardization of teaching methodology and liberal arts education, and in 1979, the Congress passed the Department of Education Organization Act, which began operations in May of 1980. This helped federalize the overseeing of American education throughout the country, as well as, the funding levels of populations. To be clear, the Department of Education does not set curricula, nor set graduation requirements, at least directly, but through their data collection and dissemination of information to the states and congress, they can “strongly suggest changes”. (14)

As well, through things like Title 9 and other federal programs, they can control the purse strings.

?“He who controls the money supply of a nation, controls the nation”.?(14)

Add into this eventual federal education interventions like the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2002 (16), which added accountability for the achievement of students on the federal level, directly controlling the “purse strings” through Performance Achievement Goals which were met via high stakes testing. States did not have to comply, but risked losing Title 1 money for not doing so. Furthermore, schools that didn’t maintain a particular AYP (“adequate yearly progress”) for 2 years had a cascading effect of sanctions that essentially took money away from the schools. In addition, schools also had to have teachers that were “highly qualified” beginning in SY 2002-03 school year, with all school paraprofessionals needed to have additional qualifications to be hired or retained in the schools by SY 2005-06.

No Irony At All: The federal government decided that the schools in most peril of these sanctions were found in largely socio-economically depressed areas, therefore, they created a rule that these “highly qualified teachers” must be equally distributed throughout the states with parity.?(17) All the while threatening to pull funding from the very same schools that needed both the funding and the qualified teachers.?

Gaming the System: How did this affect schools and districts around the country?? Many schools, including one I worked at, actually lost instructional time due to “practicing for examination” in order to show adequate yearly progress. Others created a unique headcount system where students were unenrolled from certain programs to avoid having artificially lowered “grades”, or had X students enrolled at Freshman year, and Y students taking the exam in Senior Year, and no reported dropouts. (18)

The Evolution of NCLB: Technically the NCLB was only from 2002-2015, but it was only replaced by another federalization of the schools through the “Every Student Succeeds Act” (ESSA), which simply upped the ante. But starting in the year 2000, teachers had both state and district laws governing their life inside the classroom, and in 2002, you got to add the Federal government to the act. And, if students were not successful? Your federal funding would be cut. This was added pressure that was sent through the rank and file teachers, as the principals, administrators, and system itself could end up being under the control of the State. (19)

So we teachers went from Farmhouse schools in the 1800’s taught by people who had little formal education? to having municipality certification requirements and testing in the early and mid-1900’s. Then we go from a municipality AND state run certification program in the 1950’s & 60’s,? to a Cabinet Secretary of Education in the 80’s, to direct federal interventionism with NCLB/ESSA.?

Yikes! Each change brought more demands on the teachers from demands of higher formal education, and demands for more credentials, to demands for tighter restrictions and curricula that met the standards of high stakes testing. And eventually, a shortage in available, qualified individuals

Becoming a Teacher in the 2000’s:

But, what does it take to be a teacher today?

Between the 1930’s-1970’s the standards were quickly changing from testing and examination certificates at the town or county level. In fact between the 1930s & 1950s most “normal schools” had expanded to become “Teacher Colleges” - places where you went to specifically train to become a teacher. However, by the close of the 1970’s teacher preparation became the property of the University system, specifically the State Universities. (20) By the 1970’s every teacher had to have a certain level of teacher preparation and a bachelor’s degree. However, now, in 2022 America, now it’s just a little different:

All states now require certain standards for anyone to enter the classroom as a teacher:

1. All states require a minimum of a Bachelor's degree and a Teacher Education program (21)
2. Whilst many of these programs may be coupled together (eg: Music Education, Early childhood Education), today, many are roughly a 5 year program generally at a state run university. (22)
3. The 5 year programs include a BA + Practicum + Teacher Certification Program. This will get you an “initial certification” in many states.
4. For specialists at the High School level, you are likely to be required to have a 4 year degree in your speciality (Chemistry) while also holding an Educational Program Graduation (2 year program + Practicum)
5. For other specialists (Music, Art, Theatre): These “Elective” courses often have other special circumstances requiring a particular level of education in the practical application of the speciality. Specifically, the Music Education major will have to be proficient in a number of instruments, as well as a working knowledge of music history, theory, and performance. This is usually a minimum of 5 years + practicum. Many Music Education majors are dual majors in Music Performance, the same is true in the other Fine Arts. This is a generalization, but is also a personal anecdote.
6. These Education Preparation Programs are usually a 1-2 year TCP, or other Certification program, not necessarily a graduate degree.
7. There are, as well, APC programs (Alternative Pathways to Certification) that are in place in many states. These are generally accelerated programs which allow the prospective teacher to teach while completing their certification. The caveat is they must have their bachelor’s degree at minimum to complete the APC. Generally these will take a minimum of a year (and a summer).
8. All states have a certain level of examination that must be passed:
9. In general those examinations are the Praxis core “Academics Skills for Education” test and Praxis “Subject Assessments”
10. Many states have a mandated “Teacher Examination” that must be passed, as well as a specialty exam for those in a specialty field.?(23)

AFTER GRADUATION:

At this point you may then apply for your Teaching certificate. And, of course these processes are different in each state throughout the United States. If you are lucky enough to pass your initial program review (especially if you went to an out of state University), you will awarded one of these levels of Certification:

1. Emergency Certificate - generally given in exigent circumstances when a fully qualified teacher is not available. Generally a year long “pass”, but you must complete training to maintain your position
2. Provisional - generally given when changing states, or when a review reveals a small number of deficiencies in the teacher’s training, or differences in the program you attended vs the state’s minimum requirements. This can occur when you attend university in a state different from the state in which you reside, or desire to teach. In general it’s a 2-3 year “certification” during which time you must make up for your deficiencies, and reach the minimum requirements for an initial certification.
3. Initial Certification - In general this will be good for 3 years, however, Professional Development must be maintained, along with demonstrated favorable reviews in your professional position. You must continue to “Professional Certification”, otherwise your certification will become inactive and unusable.
4. Professional Certification - This is usually considered your “permanent certification”, and in the past, it was true that you didn’t have to “renew” your professional certification. (24) It is now true that in each state they have different Professional Development requirements, however, all states require renewal and minimum ProD.?
5. National Board Certification - The National Board Certification is the highest level of certification in the United State. In general, NBPTS Certification is considered to be “equal” to Doctorate level education.?

Professional Development after Certification

So let’s take a macro->micro look at the ProD (25) requirements to either move between certification levels, or maintain your licensure and simply to maintain your position. Once again these requirements are distinct in each state, and sometimes municipalities, throughout the country. Therefore, for the purpose of this I decided to focus on 2 states that are literally next to each other: Massachusetts and Rhode Island. These states each utilize a central education department ProD structure for certification requirements, but each also have differing ProD requirements in each school district for maintaining their positions. Those district specific requirements are for:?

1. Retention of employment (district based).?
2. Advancement in your career. Often this refers to movement from teacher to department head, administration or “other” advanced positions beyond classroom teacher. This may also be controlled at the state level, depending on the state, as new credentials and further state certifications may be required.
3. Increasing their pay. This is often the case in districts where you get paid $X for Bachelors Degree, $X+Y for Bachelors +15 Credits, or $X+Y+Z for your Masters, and so on and so forth.

Massachusetts:

Massachusetts has 4 basic levels of licensure for teachers: (26)

1. Temporary License
2. Valid for a single year, and cannot be renewed
3. Teachers holding this license must have a Bachelor’s Degree, have been employed in another state on a valid teaching certificate at the same grade level and a comparable subject field for 3 years!?
4. Teacher must have either not taken, nor failed the required MTEL (Massachusetts Teacher Education Licensure) examinations
5. Provisional License
6. Valid for five years of employment in an educational setting, and cannot be renewed or extended (as of May 2019).
7. The teacher who holds a Provisional License holds a Bachelor’s degree, is seeking a core academic license and HAS passed all required MTEL examinations.?
8. If there is no MTEL Examination, there must be a core competency review completed by the MASS DOE.?

Initial License

1. The Initial License is valid for 5 years and can be renewed 1 time for an additional 5 year period.?
2. The teacher holding the Initial License must have a Bachelor’s degree, has passed all required MTEL examinations. They may hold an SEI endorsement for core academic teacher, administration or supervisor/director
3. Additionally, this teacher has completed either an approved educator preparation program in Mass, or, if from out of state the completion of an “approved educator preparation program” in a state within the NASDTEC Interstate Agreement or a program that has been accredited by a national organization accepted by the Mass DOE.

Professional License

1. Valid for 5 years, must be renewed in the 4th year of the 5 year cycle thereafter
2. The teacher applying for the Professional License must hold an initial license in the same field, “be employed for a minimum of 3 years and have completed a one-year induction program with a mentor, as well as a minimum of 50 hours of mentored experience beyond the induction year”.
3. Additionally the seeker of a Professional license will have completed at least: 1) an approved licensure program for the professional license sought, 2) A program leading to eligibility for Master Teacher status such as the National Board Certification or other approved program, or 3) have completed a Master’s Program, or a minimum of 12 credits of Graduate Level courses in their subject matter. (27)

Super simple — right??

No, not really….

Now for the ProD requirements for renewal of your professional certificate, per the Mass DOE:

The Massachusetts Department of Education requires 150 PDP (Professional Development Points) in order to retain Professional Licensure per each 5 years of employment.?

1. “Professional licenses are valid for five (5) calendar years and must be renewed in order to remain active. Professional licenses that are either one (1) year from expiring or currently on inactive status can be renewed only if the required number of Professional Development Points (PDPs) has been earned.” (28)

This means that in Mass the teacher who has achieved “Professional Certification” status and is “1 year away” from renewal, will need to have already earned the ProD hours required, or risk being placed on inactive status. Now, having a few teacher friends in Mass I know that this is a hard task to accomplish, this means for 4 years they need to maintain +/- 37.5 hours of Professional Learning. This means a lot of ProD is being done throughout the “unpaid” summers, due to the teaching and work loads of teaching staff.

(Wait till I do the article on Scheduling, and its effect on the life/work balance of the average teacher!)

1. “Regardless of when an educator is expected to renew their professional license, if employed, the educator must obtain final approval of their individual professional development plan by their supervisor; the educator must have a minimum of 10 PDPs in a topic area in order to use the PDPs towards license renewal. Each additional license that an educator renews requires 30 PDPs in the content area of each license to be renewed.” (29)

Breakdown: What this seemingly means is that the state expects that with each license you hold, you must maintain 30 credit hours in each content area to be renewed. So let’s say you are a teacher who teaches in the English Department, and you teach English (Creative Writing), Drama, Reading, and ESL. This is at minimum 4 different content areas for the teacher, or 120 content hours every 4-5 years of classroom education. Now let’s say that the teacher is also the certified Director of Department for ELA which is an additional license and another 30 credits (150). Add to this the required 10 per year in the topic area set by the supervisor, this teacher is at minimum 200 credit hours per 4-5 years. This is a Bachelors + 75 (ProD or credit hours) every 5 years. (30) So, it really is a small wonder that teachers burnout, as well as how it seems that teachers are constantly “collecting degrees”. Additionally, there is the question of where, and how, one will be receiving this ProD: Is it paid for by the district? Is it in the form of short form educational classes through an approved content provider? Is it at the university level? What counts as a ProD credit (ie: conventions, speech, classes, courses, what/who is an approved vendor)?

Anecdote is NOT Data (but): I personally know a young, energetic founding teacher (first in content area at a new school) in Boston. She started in 2016, and has since gone into admissions. The workload is less, the pay greater, and the ProD requirements are lesser. She was 28, another teacher lost to the requirements.

Rhode Island: So let’s drop down to their neighbor to the south, Rhode Island, which requires 15 PLUs (Professional Learning Units) per year in order to retain your license once you have reached the level of “professional certification”. (31)

But, digging a little deeper here’s what you learn: In order to reach “professional certification”, a teacher is first issued an “initial certification” which is good for 3 years. During this time the teacher must complete 25 PLUs per year (or 75 PLUs total) to advance to Professional Certification. Failure to do so results in a deactivation of your certification and presumably your employment. RI also features an opportunity to advance to? “Advanced Professional Certificate” which is demonstrated and achieved through the following means:

1. A PhD, EdD or other advanced “terminal degree” in education
2. A RIDE(Rhode Island Department of Education) or a National Award designation (eg: Milken Award, State Teacher of the Year, or a “Presidential Teaching Award”)
3. Completion of an approved NILS Certification program incertain identified “shortage areas” which include many “normal areas” like: Arts, Art, Drama, ESL (table in appendix)

These are vastly different requirements from 2 states who are literally right next door. To do the same job. I also would wonder at the ability to easily move from state to state.

Anecdote is NOT Data (again): I did in fact receive my certification in MA (English (5-9 & 8-12) and Music(All Levels)), but when I moved to teach in RI, I had to take several courses (deficiencies) centering on teaching English to Non-English speakers and taught on the “New England Credential” for 2 years. I never did receive my full certification in RI after being bumped out via seniority (a subject of another article in the future).

Reciprocity

As there is not a Federal Certification for Educators, it is up to the individual states to license teachers, who if serving in Public Education, by federal law must be state certified/qualified. Increasingly even in Private and (Public) Charter education, certification is either “required” by the individual schools or companies, or is highly preferred. Incidentally, this is not an argument against any sort of regulation or credentialing, it is however, an argument about the issues surrounding teacher certification, the resulting credentialism, and the nationwide teacher shortage. In order to look more deeply at the juxtaposition of these elements, reciprocity becomes a huge issue within this discussion.?

Just looking at information taken from the Education Commission of the States (ecs.org), as of the early 2000’s, most states offer some form of reciprocity in certifications. (32) Which is good!?

However, nearly all states have “technicalities” that make the process long and cumbersome, and in some cases, seemingly insurmountable.?

1. Eight States (8) offer full reciprocity for all fully (professional level) certified teachers, only requiring their state's ProD standards to be upheld, or having been fulfilled prior to the move into the state in question.
2. Thirty-seven (37) states and the District of Columbia (DC) have different requirements for experienced and inexperienced teachers, with limited barriers provided that candidates meet minimum requirements which vary with the level of credential held.?
3. Thirteen (13) States and DC require that teachers moving into their municipality provide evaluations of “highly effective” from past SYs demonstrating prior success. The number of years vary, but generally are 3-5 years of evaluations.
4. Thirty-one (31) states require some or all out of state teachers to successfully complete additional coursework or training prior to beginning the new school year, though a few will allow for teachers to continue teaching a certain amount of time with mentoring whilst completing the additional requirements.?
5. 43 States and DC require some (or all) out of state teachers to take and successfully pass additional State Educator competency assessments, including assessments they have already completed in order to become teachers in their home states.?
6. 38 States have specialty reciprocity for military spouses - which waive these requirements for these special circumstances. (32.5)

If you’ve been keeping up with the numbers you have:

• 8 states offering full reciprocity for “Professional Certifications”?
• 37 states and DC offering a varying levels requirements dependent on level of certification held
• 13 states (+DC) requiring past SY evaluations of “highly effective”, but again no standard here
• 31 states require some or all out of state teacher to take additional coursework and training
• 43 states (+ DC) requiring additional state educator competency assessment

And finally:

• 38 states having a special level of reciprocity for military spouses

Conclusion: This is essentially 170 different sets of regulations for varying levels of reciprocity, credentialing and retention of certification if you move from one state to another. (33) This is a country of 50 states - with 170 varying sets of regulations in 1 profession, how is this even possible? Some of these various state and municipality regulations on just reciprocity seem to countermand each other. Not confusing at all!

So once again, how is it that many still wonder why there is a national teacher shortage, when clearly it is so very easy to acquire and retain certification! Not to mention the ease of acquiring and maintaining a position in education if you have an “out of state” opportunity, or you have to move for personal or family reasons. Or, rather it feels as though you are in a credentialing nightmare, and if you do need to move from one state to another you are sent straight back to “credential jail” for a while, until you pay the money or take the courses needed to acquire your “get out of credential jail free” card.?

Am I saying it’s like a monopoly - no, it is a monopoly, and the people who suffer for it are just the teachers and the next generation of learners and leaders of America.

{Once again, I can't quite figure out how to put in Footnotes into a LinkedIn Article - but clearly there's a a ton of research and other to give attribution to so the (numbers) are related below - additionally I will link the original (full) article in part 3}

10: ?History of the Department of Education, ww2.ed.gov/about/overview

11. ?Pbs.org: Only a Teacher: Teaching Timeline

12. Professionalism and the public Good: A brief history of Teacher Certification,01/2000, David L Angus, Thomas B Fordham Foundation

13. Professionalism and the Public Good: A Brief History of Teacher Certification, authored by David L Angus

14. DOE.ORG - Department of Education:1)? establishes policies relating to federal financial aid for education administers distribution of those funds, and monitors their use. 2) Collects data and oversees research on America’s schools and disseminates this information to Congress, educators and the general public 3) identifies the major issues and problems in education and focuses national attention on them 4) Enforces federal statutes prohibiting discrimination in programs and activities receiving federal fun.

15. Quoted by James a Garfield, 1831 - 1851, (American President)

16. ?https://www.understood.org/en/articles/no-child-left-behind-nclb-what-you-need-to-know

17. EdWeek.org, No Child Left Behind and Overview

18. Many children left behind : how the No Child Left Behind Act is damaging our children and our schools, 2004, Deborah Meir, George Wood

19. Understood.org/The difference between NCLB and ESSA

20. An Uneasy Relationship: the History of Teacher Education and the University, David F Labarre, Stanford University

21. ??https://teach.com/careers/become-a-teacher/teaching-credential/state-requirements

22. teachworthy.org/getting-your-teaching-certificate

23. National Center for Educational Statistics

24. ??https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/focus/what.html

25. Professional Development (abbreviated)

26. DOE.MASS.org/licensure/academic prek-12

27. DOE.MASS.org/Licensure/academic prek-12/license types

28. modelteaching.come/professional development requirements/massachusetts

29. (Same as 29)

30. https://gateway.edu.doe.ma.us

31. RIDE.ri.gov - Certification Issuance and Renewal

32. ECS.org/50 state comparison teacher reciprocity

33. (same as 32)