This is the sixth in a series of exchanges about the new Every Student Succeeds Act. I asked the questions, and David P. Cleary, chief of staff to Senator Lamar Alexander, responded with answers.
How will teacher education be affected by ESSA? Does the law enable non-traditional institutions to award degrees to teachers, i.e., “graduate” schools that have no faculty with advanced degrees, like Match and Relay? Does it encourage alternative routes like Teach for America? What happened to the idea that all students should have “highly qualified teachers”?
Highly Qualified Teachers.
The new law removes the requirement that all teachers of core academic subjects be “highly qualified” as defined under No Child Left Behind. Instead, states will be responsible for ensuring that teachers meet applicable state teacher licensure and certification requirements. The requirements to be a teacher in a state will be up to that state, with no additional federal requirements.
Teacher Education
The new federal law doesn’t make changes to state laws on teacher certification or requirements for institutions of higher education. Those are decisions left up to the states.
A state can reserve up to 5 percent of the money that comes to the state under the Title II formula program for state activities related to teachers and principals.
The law does allow states to use some of the funding they receive under Title II to be used to improve teacher preparation or education within the state, but with no federal requirements or restrictions on what a state decides to do.
States are allowed use these funds in many ways. For example, they could use funds to develop teacher residency programs, where teachers simultaneously take coursework in an institution of higher education and teach alongside another teacher for at least a year. States could also use these dollars to reform teacher, principal, or other school leader certification, recertification, licensing, or tenure systems or preparation program standards and approval processes.
Additionally, a state could choose some of the funds they reserved at the state level to establish or expand teacher, principal, or other school leader preparation academies, like Relay or Match, if allowable under state law. It is a state choice, and those decisions will be made at the state level.
The bill also allows states to use federal funds to establish, improve, or expand alternative routes to certification, so programs like Teach for America can continue if they are currently allowed in a state.
But the key here is that all of these decisions are left to the state to figure out. While the new law includes lots of examples of things the state or district could do, none of them are required at the state or local level.
In Section 2101(c)(4)(B) of the new law we have a list of 20 types of things that states can do with their reservation of funds, and then a catch-all in clause (xxi) that reads:
“(xxi) Supporting other activities identified by the State that are, to the extent the State determines such evidence is reasonably available, evidence-based and that meet the purpose of this title.”
This means that the state can do pretty much whatever it wants to do with the federal funds from this program.
There is similar language in Section 2103(b)(3)(P) of the new law that allows local school districts to do whatever they want to do with their federal funds from this program.
My State of Indiana Representative Hal Slager sent out a flyer saying;
“Legislators also allocated $70 million in teacher performance funding to reward effective and highly effective teachers.”
My comment: “$70 million could have made a difference in schools that are structurally falling apart and students don’t have up to date materials. Public schools are underfunded.”
Indiana is having problems since teachers are quitting, either moving to other states or going into other fields. Some districts are having difficulty filling positions.
Indiana’s response to that is “…we will work to identify opportunities to improve teacher quality and retention while attracting more great teachers to Hoosier classrooms. This means we will focus on attracting top performing high school students to enter the profession, incentivizing college students to teach in Indiana upon graduation and providing educators with more flexibility.” Politicians are looking into the possibility of paying more for hard to fill positions like special education and science.
In other words there is no recognition that Indiana’s politicians are causing a problem. They don’t listen to teachers but make decisions that will not help this state. Leaving policy up to states is not helping teachers in Indiana.
So right on, carolmalaysia!
“Leaving policy up to states is not helping teachers in Indiana.”
It’s not meant to help students, parents or teachers. The edudeformers can now work quite quietly behind the scenes at the state level, not cause a commotion and get their deforms enacted by paid off legislators. Note the recent Skandera appointment/movement to another position without hardly anyone knowing.
The deformers have figured out that they need to do as much of their damage to the public institution that is the community school in very small almost unnoticeable parts-quietly and quickly-and then move on to the next part. Our fight has gotten all the more difficult with ESSA (notice the olde English spelling of that backwards).
It’s a bold strategy. Could backfire if people start paying attention.
It helps when someone like Bernie Sanders comes along and pulls aside the political curtain. He’s changing the game — it’s not gonna work the same way for too much longer. It’s time for people power.
This is a big dump of money that is rationalized by a laundry list of possibilities for teacher preparation and freedom of action for the states and Secretary of Education to determine what counts as “evidence” in support of any choice.
Match, Relay, and Johns Hopkins programs will all qualify and benefit from ESSA. All will also benefit from secondary funding sources, notably from the recent Gates Foundation grants for Teacher Transformation Centers. All of these programs are marked by a disdain for scholarship in and about education. They focus on a limited set of “high leverage” practices that will raise test scores. Novice teachers are NOT encouraged or expected to think critically. They are expected to engage in endless practice before they enter a classroom and on the job during a low pay residency. The “theory of action” is that strategies like those from Doug Lemov should become “automatic.” The framers of ESSA do not mind if taxpayers are funding programs that honor Skinnerian conditioned response training for teachers and for their students.
Flexibility is nuanced term. It may mean that an activity could be innovative and creative. Unfortunately, it may also mean that an activity is wasteful and unproductive. I would have preferred that the allowable activities be evidence based. Why should more public money be spent on shooting in the dark? We have already been doing this for years with charter schools, and we have very little to show for it. It would make more sense to spend tax dollars on methods that are known to produce more effective teachers, not on billionaires’ pet projects/
The way the term “evidence based” is thrown around it offers me no comfort. The “evidence” does not have to be credible (according to professional standards); all that is needed is a quasi study that supports what its proponents need it to support.
“Additionally, a state could choose some of the funds they reserved at the state level to establish or expand teacher, principal, or other school leader preparation academies, like Relay or Match, if allowable under state law. It is a state choice, and those decisions will be made at the state level.”
Do I understand it correctly, that now, instead of using state funds, federal funds (reserved by the state) can be used to fund Relay?
They may be hoping that teaching positions are filled by people in other occupations. But if a STEM candidate can earn 2-3 times the pay in industry as a teacher, have better opportunities for promotion, less stress, flexible schedules – the likelihood this approach will work is nil. If teacher college enrollment is declining, why do legislatures believe if those students CONSIDERING teaching are choosing some other career, those already in a better career will choose teaching? Reformers have destroyed teaching. My advice to teaching prospects is run, don’t walk, away and first consider something else. Teaching is the only profession where a majority of those in charge 1) have no experience in the field when making policy, 2) are actively seeking to undermine the very organizations they are tasked with leading. If an executive team of a publicly held company worked as hard to destroy the company as our legislators try to destroy education, shareholders would sue those execs into oblivion at best.
MathVale—I am not certain we have a shortage of STEM teachers or STEM candidates for employment. Someone posted this link on this blog before: http://www.businessinsider.com/top-25-us-defense-companies-2012-2?op=1 What I am hearing is we are having a difficult time getting candidates to pass the security clearances for these jobs for whatever reason. Maybe the reason issue of shortage is not being discussed.
Not to mention that a lot of these “business types,” honored as some kind of saviors for deigning to work with “common” public school students, are terrible teachers. I have only worked with one science teacher who was hailed for coming from a business background. She was abusive to students and teachers, and the kids didn’t learn anything. Now, I know that my sample of one isn’t indicative of everyone, but I automatically recoil now when people talk about how “wonderful” business people are when they come into teaching.
Please understand, those of you who have career changed into education, that I’m sure most of you are fantastic teachers. HOWEVER, the implication that those from business are automatically amazing teachers, while those of us who started our careers as teachers, are dreck, just rubs me the wrong way. Not your fault, of course.
My son had a biology teacher, a gentleman that had retired from private industry who was granted a waiver, to teach in public schools. He was not able to run a lab, and he didn’t know how to manage the students. It was one of the worst classes my son had in high school.
I originally was one of those business types returning to education. My first attempt was a disaster. Not one to give up and with a love of teaching, I returned years later, but this time with sound teacher prep and much more education. The road has been difficult due to a field experience supervising teacher with a vendetta and lacking ability, but also a state government against education, rational thought, and teaching as a valued profession. I love teaching, but hate education as it is now implemented.
Many of my opinionated private sector colleagues would last only months in a classroom. Their hubris would bring them down. Dealing with teenagers and real life issues is a far cry from ordering around employees and the insular world of a corner office. I learned quickly the value of listening to experienced teachers and to give them the respect they deserve, but rarely receive from those outside of teaching.
The STEM shortage could well be manufactured. But we’ll never know due to the influx of H1bs. But a starting programmer with a two year degree can easily make twice the starting salary of a math teacher in a charter. I do not know about other fields. It is time to improve and value teaching. But we seem to be going the other way.
MathVale- It is unfortunate that you have returned to teaching during this period of strife in education. Having lived through a difficult time of labor relations and a relative idyllic period, I think this is the worst time ever. I never thought I would see state or federal governments intentionally work to undermine the efforts on behalf of the majority of our students, but here we are. My only advice is to try to drown out the white noise of negativity and focus on the needs of the students. Get up each day with the resolve to do the best for them that you can.
As far as STEM goes, good math and science teachers are hard to find. Many top math and science graduates choose the more lucrative opportunities in private industry. We need to attract people with a strong foundation in their subject matter as well as a commitment to doing the best job for our young people.
retired teacher: “My only advice is to try to drown out the white noise of negativity and focus on the needs of the students. ”
We are not talking about negativity. The reality is that so much is prescribed to a math teacher, and she has to teach and grade so much every day that she has no opportunity to be creative or inspiring. It’s easy to replace her with a computer. It’s a relief.
This is very discouraging; I don’t bet on Florida on doing anything remotely positive for pre-service teachers, let alone teachers already in the profession. As a 12-year veteran teacher (in a second-career), I am hungry for professional development that will inform my instruction and improve my instructional practices. What do I get? More PD on Marzano (as a teacher evaluation tool) and close reading workshops! I don’t count on my district to give me anything more than indoctrination. Everything I must attend (or even remotely want to attend) is funded by Gates or Broad; moreover, the critical certifications/endorsements which I must have to be “in field,” such as gifted endorsement (the gifted students were placed in my class), require me to pay the district for training (which are inconveniently scheduled and sparsely available). Florida (and my district) wouldn’t need to spend money attracting top-notch teachers if they respected the top-notch teachers that teach in our state, but this is all a game about money, at worst. At best, it’s is smoke and mirrors (I went to the ECET2 convention for my district). If you make the teachers pay and fill their coffers with positive mindset memes, they think the PD is worth more and they are valued as true professionals. Why would anyone add a certification or endorsement or seek post-graduate work for the sheer reason of being a better teacher to all students? To quote one of my favorite movies: “Inconceivable!”
What is ECET2?
Erika, you can attend some Gates funded workshops and make a noise. Or just simply find out in detail, what they do. Investigation. We get the best info from ex TFAers.
ECET2 is funded by the Gates Foundation. These “convenings” are designed to draw teachers away from meetings of professional associations within their specializations and to narrow the role of scholarship in and about education to preferred “perspectives and ideas. The “mindset” promotions are noteworthy as commercial ventures originating in scholarship, and (in my opinion) well-received by accountability hawks who think every kid can succeed at anything with enough practice and “correct” reinforcement.
In other words, the best and worst part of ESSA is that it moves education to the state level.
Time for everyone to get involved locally.
ESSA is a disaster for the profession and field of teacher education. Leaving it up to the states does nothing but legalize the deprofessionalization of teacher education.
Here is Wisconsin our state representatives and governor have already taken swings at teacher education. Why would a new federal law that sends power to the states be in the best interest for teachers and teacher educators in Wisconsin?
I’m sorry there is nothing here but a federal law that ENABLES AND EMPOWERS states to dismantle teacher education!
It also enables and empowers people to fight back at the local level. Double edged sword. If people do nothing, it may be worse.
Some states will certainly overcome the reformers, and then the example and noise would get people’s attention all over. The point is that small victories are easier to achieve than big ones. Big victory (at the federal level) hasn’t happened, has it?
No doubt, some states like mine or Wisconsin will get run over with the help of ESSA.
Yeah, I will amend my earlier statement. If people do nothing, it WILL be worse.