... if you know your subject material, anyway. A new federally-backed program is being tried out that will allow professionals without education degrees to become certified teachers after taking a computerized test.
Walter Lutes, of Boise, Idaho, is trying to become the first teacher in America certified by solely taking a $400 computerized test — no education degree, no student teaching — shaving three years off his career change from mechanical engineer to math teacher. "It seems like a shortcut, but I don't view it as that," said Lutes. "I view it as this was a route I could take to get to what I really want to do — what I'm good at doing — in a more efficient manner."
As a fellow engineer, that's exactly how I view it as well. Naturally, teachers aren't enthused.
The goal is to reduce barriers for expert professionals to teach, especially subjects like math and science. But some teachers say it's misguided."It's cutting corners," said Kathy Phelan, president of the Idaho Education Association (search). "And what it's doing is ... the most important part of teaching is not being measured. It discounts your ability to interact with students and impart what you know."
Funny, I would have figured that the most important part of teaching is knowing the material you're trying to teach. I've had lots of excellent teachers who didn't "interact" with the students much, but I've never had a good teacher who didn't know their material.
Critics say these test-certified teachers will have no oversight during their on-the-job training. But in fact, the program calls for two years of mandatory monitoring.
And so forth and so on. Considering the dismal quality of public education, are teachers really the best people to be judging the utility and effectiveness of this new program?
This is great! I went to a community college and most of the adjunct faculty were actually professionals "in the field" (at least in my field of study) who taught on the side. I know college is probably a little less regulated in that sense since it's not mandatory but I always wondered why this wasn't more widely applied.
Michael - Sorry about all the posting today but I haven't been able to read you in about a week and of course I have an opinion on almost everything.
Good post on an encouraging development. Your observation about knowing the material is right on.
I had a science teacher in junior high school who had been an engineer with Westinghouse, in its nuclear programs divsion, no less. He was not a favorite of mine and I don't think he was realizing his heart's desire teaching us. But he knew his stuff and did a decent job, certainly as good or better than teacher-only science teachers I had before and afterward.
Another junior high teacher who was incredibly good and left an indelible impression on me and every student he had was a short, spunky, outspoken ex-Army artillery sergeant, from the WW II era. He taught history, at which he was extremely knowledgeable. He injected a lot of humor, straight talk and some sarcasm. You didn't mess with him, but by God you learned your history. He was also fanatical about Kentucky basketball. thanks and God bless you, Ed Russ, wherever you are.
Wow, awesome subject matter! This one hits close to home. For the last two years I have taught web development, SQL, ASP, and networking concepts at a private technology college.
I pushed hard to get in, as it was something I've always wanted to do, and seemed to be a good side job...as in not putting all your eggs in one basket. (I run an ISP during the day)
I took some flak from some of the other "degreed" instructors in the beginning, but the bottom line is this: (not tooting my horn for fun, just making a good point)
For 2 years running I've held the highest student retention rate, near-perfect quarterly student reviews, and the other instructors now openly approach me for my field knowledge in assisting with their own lesson plans.
Students regularly look at switching schools unless they can be moved into my classroom, the recruitment dept. asks me to train their new IT recruiters, and the school's net admin requested that I be given administrative access to the network (in his words, I'm more qualified than he is). It's absolutely wild.
I learned that a degree means absolutely nothing- unless you actually go out and immerse yourself in your field. And, you have to love it a lot.
I personally think my students respond to me the way they do because they see me as a "normal" person. Not as someone who only knows a book.
I do plan to pursue a degree when life settles down, because I believe it is very important to my future, and I encourage my students NOT to do it the way I did- I believe I am lucky to have the kind of life I have today.
P: Comment all you want! I'm still trying to reach a 3:1 comment:post ratio :)
SWA and Anon: I'm not sure if this program requires the applicant to have a degree or not. I agree that degrees certainly aren't necessary, but I do think they correlate strongly with competence. There are exceptions, and many smart and capable people without degrees, but you're wise to advise your students to finish their education rather than jumping at the first $50k job offer.
I have friends from college who did that and are paying for it now.
I'd sure take the $400 certification route, if it were available to me (and I could scrape together $400). The certification requirements these days are so onerous that few people want to go to all the trouble to meet them. I teach right now at a charter school, because I don't have a teaching certificate. I also teach at a university. Somehow I'm perfectly qualified to teach calculus to college sophomores, but I'm not qualified to teach algebra to 9th graders.
When my grandfather was in high school, he took a little math course from Albert Einstein. What an honor! But nowadays Einstein would not be allowed to teach this same math course in a high school, because he didn't have a secondary teaching credential or a math endorsement.
Wow, good post, great subject. My kid had a HS teacher right here in NJ who wasn't a "teacher", and he was the very best teacher she ever had. He is an avid and experienced outdoorsman and hunter, and teaches a natural sciences class. The most popular teacher in the school, last I heard. Although he got in under a NJ plan for bringing in qualified teachers and allowing certification based on experience, rather than the method mentioned here, which I support as being a far-seeing program.
I just wanted to share a little more about Walter Lutes (since he is my brother). He is a graduate from West Point (United States Military Academy). Extremely smart (don't tell him I said so), and extremely caring (although he didn't seem that way to me growing up since I was the little bro).
He's had a desire to help kids, as well as a desire to be a teacher for a long time. He has been working for the school system for several years out there as a career counselor, and teaching kids who were in jails. He is a foster parent for 4 kids and is in the process of adopting one of them. His wife is also a teacher (regularly certified) who teaches in the special education department of the school where he works.
There are a couple of errors in the story that fox ran, minor ones. For instance the test isn't $400, but $500. There are two parts to the test, one was subject knowledge (for him math), and one on teacher competency (which for him was the hardest one to do). He told me the teacher competency test lasted 6 hours, and when he finalized the test on the computer he had 4 seconds left.
Well anyway, I'm extremely proud of my brother for doing this and becoming a real teacher for the kids who need him.
ML: Thanks for the additional info, your brother sounds like a great guy and I'm sure he'll make an excellent teacher.
well, knowledge of the material is a necessary but not sufficient condition for being a decent teacher. Surely knowledge of the material is an improvement over untold numbers of current teachers, but it's not enough.
Teaching well is DIFFICULT, not easy. A good teacher actually gets inside the heads of their students, and figures out why it is students are confused. They don't just teach the right way to do X; they go back and figure out how the student invented their own wrong way to do it. They need to sort through the understandings and misconceptions present in a student that took them down the wrong path. And they clear up those misconceptions at the source, not just say "no, you did that wrong. It works like this..."
I think the program is misguided for a different reason, however. Once you are an engineer or scientist who got that certification, you will so hate teaching that you won't bother to stay in it--because without massive amounts of autonomy, it's a completely lost cause. These certification programs, much like Teach for America (which provided "emergency" certification for B.S/B.A degreed young adults to teach in inner cities and other places with need for teachers) will fail, because the percentage of teachers who drop out of teaching in under 5 years is roughly 50% in most states; in the urban cities, etc. it's higher. (stats from a variety of sources; google "attrition rate new teachers" to see the numbers are roughly 50% per state for many states.)
the principals don't want these teachers. The current teachers don't want these teachers. The schools boards don't really want these teachers.
you can accredit them, but it will change nothing unless you can give your students homework without parents, teachers, and principals complaining to you, kick out the students who are disruptive, and use the materials you wish to use. even then, most students hate school so much and have so deeply internalized how to game the system to avoid learning that no teacher can change that.
Yes, this certification program does require you to have a bachelor's degree. My wife has a MA in English. She has taught at private schools for two years (7th and 8th grade); substituted in public schools (on an emergency California credential); and now teaches at George Fox University (Boise Center). This certification program may open some doors for her to teach half-time.
Well, I know these are old posts, but I've just recently become aware of them. I am "Udo" and I did recieve my teaching credentials by taking the test. This program allowed me to get into the teaching profession quickly and now I am able to help youths learn math. I currently work in a residential facility for young males. They range in grades from 3rd or 4th grade through high school. I have been a teacher most of my life whether my job said it in the title or not. I have been a superviser, trainer, manager, private school teacher, professional tutor and many other jobs. This program worked for me, but I know it probably won't work for everybody. Getting a teaching degree doesn't work for everybody either. The most important part of being a teacher is patience and getting energized when the light goes on for the student. I have met many "trainers" who were subject matter experts. They don't always make the best teachers. It is far easier to make a teacher a subject matter expert than it is to make a subject matter expert a teacher. The key to this program is to provide more candidates that can become teachers without having to give up their jobs and incomes to change careers. School districts will benefit greatly with more teachers that have some real world experience to pass along to their students rather than just book learning in school.
I spend a lot of time trying to touch the lives of children who are "at risk." As a foster parent of 4 boys and working in the facility I do, I can see the effect I am having on boys who thought they couldn't do math. Boys who have written English papers about a math teacher that got them to do Algebra when they were convinced it was beyond their grasp. I can have the patience to deal with my foster children and the young men in the facility because I have a heavenly father that loves me so much he sent his son to save me.
Jesus loves you and can give you the hope to pass along to others. It is through his peace and strength that we can touch others.