Posts tagged education politics teachers

Many jobs require certain skills in order to perform them in a competent manner and teaching is no exception. Teachers are required to have at least a BS in education, and many states require secondary teachers to have, if not a major, then a given number of courses in the subject in which they will be licensed. In addition, many states require teachers to obtain a Masters degree in order to obtain tenure, the belief being that more formal education for the teacher will make them a better instructor in the classroom. Over the course of the past few years, this belief has come under increasing attack by conservative elements who see little connection between student learning and teacher credentials.

There are three ways in which teacher credentials are being attacked. First, and foremost, is the cost of paying teachers for more education. Many states have salary schedules where teachers receive higher monetary compensation for advanced degrees. When I taught, there were separate salary schedules for teachers with a BS, with a Masters, with a Masters plus 30 additional credits, and for a Doctorate. The second way in which teacher credentials are being attacked is with studies which purport to show that student gains are negligible when taught by teachers with varying levels of formal credentials. Of course these studies measure student achievement through standardized testing. The last way in which teacher credentials are being attacked is by trying to show that younger teachers with lower credentials are just as effective in the classroom as are older, more highly credentialed teachers.

Each of these attacks are flawed. It is easy to see why advanced credentials are a source of contention to those who want to end public, and advance private, education. Paying for higher credentials could potentially mean higher taxes, anathema to many conservatives. Obviously, tying a teacher’s evaluation to student performance using the voodoo of value-added evaluations can be manipulated to show that credentials have little to do with student gains. The same manipulation can also be used to show that younger, less credentialed, employees produce student results that are equal to those of more highly credentialed employees.

The question I would ask of those who argue against paying teachers more for advanced degrees is this; would it matter if your child in college was taught by inexperienced professors who had nothing more than a bachelors degree?