Facing Reality as We Embrace the Challenge of Overhauling K-12 Education, Part Three

Part Three:  The Power of Entrenched Interests in Opposition to Alternative Pathways to Teacher Certification in Minnesota

“If Barack Obama wanted to teach government in the state of Minnesota, could he do so under teacher certification laws in Minnesota?" I asked a teacher licensing official at the Minnesota Department of Education in a telephone conversation during late summer 2013.

“He would have to seek what’s known as ‘limited licensure,’ “ she replied.

“The reason I’m asking is because the way I read the information on your website and elsewhere,” I continued, “there are as yet no alternatively licensed teachers under the law that went into effect in early March of 2011. As I understand it, there can be no such teachers, because no alternative licensure program has yet been approved.”

“That’s right,” she responded. “Actually, no applications for approval of an alternative licensure program have been submitted.”

“And Barack Obama has not been through a traditional teacher preparation program,” I said, “so that with no alternative licensure program yet in place, this means that the limited licensure option would be the only way that he could teach government in Minnesota, correct?”

“That’s right.”

“And what does limited licensure entail?”

“The President would have to submit a portfolio and evidence of his academic credentials in the subject area.”

“It would seem that the President would have a strong portfolio, with his position as Chief Executive and having graduated with bachelor’s and law degrees from Harvard University,” I opined.

“Yep,” the official chuckled in agreement.

“So for how long could the President teach in Minnesota under limited licensure?” I asked.

“Three years in all. He’d have to reapply every year, and after three years Mr. Obama would have to demonstrate that he’d earned 20 credits in an approved teacher preparation program.”

“And if by that time he had not accumulated those hours and gained certification through a traditional program, the President of the United States could no longer teach in a public K-12 school in Minnesota?”

“That is correct.”

Formally, We Do Have Alternative Teacher Certification in Minnesota

President Barack Obama would have an easier and more secure path to teacher certification in Minnesota if the matter were simply a legislative formality. By law, we could have many alternative routes to teacher certification.

In March of 2011, the state legislature passed a law that was supposed to make it easier for supremely qualified teaching candidates such as Barack Obama to gain certification. Minnesota Statute 122A.09 provides that a teaching candidate could gain certification from an alternative teacher preparation program approved by the Minnesota Board of Teaching.

Under the provisions of the law, a college or university can create an alternative certification program; officials at any school district or charter school who want to include alternatively certified teachers in their teacher candidate pool could then partner with the college or university program. Nonprofit corporations organized under Minnesota Statute 317A for an education related purpose can also submit applications for alternative teacher licensure programs for consideration by the Minnesota Board of Teaching.

Candidates must avail themselves of one of these two options (either the college/university or the nonprofit corporation program). They may not apply directly to the Board of Teaching. Such candidates must have a bachelor’s degree and a transcript that records a cumulative 3.0 GPA. They must pass exams demonstrating mastery of basic skills, content-based pedagogy, and content-based subject area exam, in addition to presenting content-based performance assessments. Candidates seeking alternative teacher licensure must have completed 200 instructional hours, with evidence of student teaching, mentoring, induction, and evaluation.

To gain the desired certification, a candidate must be a member of a collective bargaining unit, abide by all requirements for new teachers in a local school district, and be recommended by a school site team for licensure.

When Minnesota Statute 1224A.09 was passed, there was excitement in a number of quarters over the prospects of the new law for invigorating the teacher corps in the state:

This “is about putting the best and the brightest qualified teachers in the state of Minnesota into the classroom,” said Representative Patrick Garofalo (R-Farmington). “Both parties recognize that “the current system is broken. It’s not controversial. It works. It helps kids. It’s the right thing to do.”

And indeed, although most affirmative votes came from Republicans, Democratic governor Mark Dayton signed the bill, and there was a certain amount of bipartisan support. 

Carlos Mariani (D-St. Paul) noted that “The Garofalo bill is not perfect, and I still have a number of concerns.” But he also said that, “This bill is a small step forward toward improving our education system and closing the achievement gap.”

These and other direct quotations from here on in this article have appeared in coverage by reporters for the Star Tribune.

But Education Minnesota, the teachers union in the state that wields a great deal of power at the advent of new legislation and in the implementation phase, opposed the measure. The union’s stance was that any alternative licensure program should have a firm link to an institution of higher education.

The union’s opposition to alternative licensure, and the daunting prospect of gaining approval before the Board of Teaching, could well explain the lack of applications for establishing alternative pathways to teacher licensure. The Board of Teaching is dominated by members closely associated with Education Minnesota.

Here, the experience of Teach for America becomes instructive. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

The Power of Entrenched Interests in Opposing Changes Prospectively Beneficial to Students

Teach for America is the organization founded in 1989 by Wendy Kopp, a graduate of toney Highland Park High School in the Dallas, Texas, area; and of Princeton University. Kopp proposed the creation of Teach for America in an undergraduate thesis and went on to do just that, establishing an organization filled with idealistic young people much in her own image.

The idea is that graduates from Ivy League and other first-rate institutions will commit at least two years to teaching in challenged rural and urban environments. The teachers in Teach for America feature unquestionably bright young people. 

A Teacher License Certification Officer at a well-regarded institution in St. Paul told me, “My figures show that Teach for America members average 20 points higher on the exams required by the state to gain teacher licensure by comparison with students enrolled in our traditional teacher preparation program. Some of our students struggle to pass the exams, and some fail. In my observation, all Teach for America candidates in Minnesota have passed these exams with ease.”

But Teach for America has faced much opposition in gaining a foundation in Minnesota. In a 2009 article published in the Star Tribune, Carleton College professor Deborah Appleman asserted that,

“Implicit in Teach for America’s approach is the insidious notion that anyone who knows a subject and is willing to be with kids can teach--- with little training.”

Appleman also said,

“The story of TFA becomes a kind of master narrative, a story of heroic and altruistic young people that focuses much more squarely on them that it does on the lives of the children they are committed to serve. There is an elitist tone to the structure of TFA, a belief that the best and the brightest can make a difference in the lives of children who are less fortunate, even when they are not professionally prepared to do so.”

In May of this year, Governor Mark Dayton vetoed a $1.5 million biennial appropriation that would have provided funding for 25 additional Teach for America members. The following month, the Minnesota Board of Teaching denied an application by the organization for blanket license exemptions that the board had granted in previous years.

Upon presentations of support by many building principals and other school district officials, though, individual applications for teaching positions were approved by the Board of Education in July. More than 70 corps members are teaching in 26 metro area schools during the current academic year, with representation in the classrooms of numerous charter schools and the Minneapolis Public Schools.

In September, Teach for America forged an agreement with the University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development (UMCEHD), whereby the university would offer an alternative teacher licensure program tailored to TFA. Teaching corps members of TFA would undergo eight weeks of training (an increase of three weeks in the training typically rendered to TFA members), then enter classrooms with the understanding that TFA teachers will take on credit-based coursework and additional training after placement in schools.

This agreement has further fueled the debate over the presence of TFA in Minnesota, and the level of preparation received by TFA members. Three hundred students and alumni of UMCEHD have signed a letter of opposition to TFA, expressing the view that the organization’s teachers are unprepared to enter classrooms filled by many impoverished children and do so at the latter’s expense. When news of a forthcoming agreement spread in the months before finalization and the expansion to eight weeks of training, UMCEHD doctoral candidate Erin Dyke asserted,

“Basically, they are creating two tiers with this partnership. One serves the elite few who are guaranteed a job after five weeks of training and another who will spend thousands of dollars getting an education, who will study for years and have no guarantee of a job.”

Teach for America/ Twin Cities executive director Crystal Brakke remained optimistic, though, that the Minnesota Board of Teaching would approve the proposal, saying: “I know that they are eager to continue our conversation about alternate pathways to teaching.” ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The National Trend Toward Alternative Teacher Certification: There May Be Hope for Barack Obama’s Teaching Prospects in Minnesota, After All

Nationally, the trend toward alternative certification is definite and increasing. During academic year 1985-1986 there were 300 alternative route teachers; the National Center for Alternative Certification reported 59,000 alternatively certified teachers in the nation during 2008-2009. Between the years 2003 and 2013, the number of incoming Teach for America corps members increased from 1,646 to over 6,000; the number of regions with TFA teachers increased from 20 to 48.

If the Minnesota Board of Teaching does approve the alternative teacher licensure program agreed upon by the University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development and Teach for America, this will be the first of its kind to gain approval under Minnesota Statute 122A.09 since the law was passed in 2011.

If this does in fact happen, Barack Obama could aspire to a more permanent gig teaching government in the K-12 schools of Minnesota, after all.