Alternative pathway now prepares nearly one-quarter of our new
teachers
A preliminary study
1.
Introduction – “The State of Education” (2018)
and the Keystone Conference (1989)
2.
The new law received grudging support in the
early 1990’s. Today, a much-welcome option.
3.
A look back: Keystone Conference (1989),
Alternative Licensure bill (1990), the early 1990’s.
4.
Three reports - where they touch on (albeit
reluctantly) this huge change in teacher preparation.
A.
FROM “The
State of Education,” issued by Colorado’s Education Leadership Council,
2018.
Stresses the need for a) flexibility in our education system
and b) “affordable
and diverse pathways” to address the teacher shortage. But offers only lukewarm
support of the flexibility now available through alternative licensure. Disappointing,
when this option now prepares over 750 teachers a year.
B.
FROM Colorado Department of Higher Education: “Teacher Shortages Across the Nation and
Colorado - Similar Issues, Varying
Magnitudes,” Dec. 2017.
This report described
the problem well, but as for solutions …. perplexing that not one of the 10
Policy Recommendations at the end of the report (pages 38-41) spoke to the
value of the alternative licensure route. All seen through the lens of the
traditional higher ed programs. As if blind to the fact that over the past three
years, the alternative route has prepared over 23% of our future teachers.
C.
FROM Colorado Department of Higher Education and
the Colorado Department of Education– annual Education Preparation Reports (2015-2018)
The data speaks volumes: declining numbers licensed through
the traditional programs in Colorado;
a significant percentage of new teachers earning an alternative license; the woefully low completion rate (under 30%) of
those in the traditional preparation programs versus the dramatically higher
completion rate (over 65%) of those in alternative programs. But have we
noticed? Are we getting the message?
5. “Total
Completers by Alternative Educator Preparation Program - Most Recent 5 Years”
(from CDE)
6. Rural teachers and alternative licensure - from
my report, “Paradox Valley Charter School – Twenty Years On, Choice Survives,”[i]
Independence Institute (Feb. 2019).
7. A typical view of alternative licensure from
higher education: skepticism, criticism, disdain.
FROM
“Taking the Long View: State Efforts to Solve Teacher Shortages by
Strengthening the Profession,”[ii]
by Espinoza, Saunders, Kini, & Darling-Hammond, Learning Policy Institute
(Aug. 2018).
8. Information on Colorado’s Alternative Licensure
Program at the Colorado Department of Education website. Including “Aspiring Teachers” and “Alternative
Pathway—Alternative Teacher License.”
1.
Introduction
“The
State of Education,” a report of over 50 pages produced in 2018 by Colorado
Education Leadership Council, will be a reference point for several newsletters
during the rest of 2019. It is important. It represents the thinking of
hundreds of Coloradans who, over 18 months, worked hard to offer “a vision and
strategic plan for the education system.” Agree or disagree with aspects of it,
this report provides some common ground for our discussions, so I will turn to
it in each of these newsletters.
“Public Education:
A Shift in the Breeze”
September 22-25, 1989 – Keystone Conference
State
leaders heard from an exceptional list of guest speakers—Ernest Boyer, John
Goodlad, Albert Shanker, and Ted Sizer among them.[iii]
They explored a wide range of ideas to improve the K-12 public education
system. At the conclusion 19
recommendations on governance, school design, teachers, standards, and choice
received a support from a majority of the attendees. These recommendations proved
a useful guide for many of us in the 1990’s.
|
Over the coming months I also intend to look back - 30 years!
– to 1989, to consider if and how Colorado’s education system has changed. In September 1989 over 225 state leaders
gathered at Keystone, Colorado, for a three-day conference, “Public Education: A
Shift in the Breeze.” I will use the 19
public policy recommendations from that conference as a touchstone for this
and future newsletters.
A common refrain back then was that
K-12 public education needed to move away from a “one-size fits all” and
“compliance-oriented” mindset to one with greater flexibility and choice. A
system with fewer unnecessary rules and regulations. One with more freedom.
Has it happened? Another
View will examine if and how Colorado’s K-12 system is different today.
**
AV#195 looks at one of the 19 recommendations from the
Keystone Conference: to bring Alternative Teacher Certification to our state.
By the following spring of 1990 the alternative licensure bill had become law, signed
by Gov. Roy Romer. At first it appeared
to have little impact on the system. But that was then. Here I offer a
preliminary report on the significant role alternative licensure now plays in
the preparation of new teachers in Colorado. (I hope someone else will use this
newsletter as a starting point for a more well-researched and nonpartisan
study.)
I conclude that we have indeed created an option that
provides greater flexibility in how future teachers enter the profession. It offers
proof, for those who grow discouraged, that we can expand choices and opportunities. We have done exactly that. We
now welcome and prepare new teachers without the many roadblocks many once
considered mandatory.
This is personal for me. I was able to teach in public
schools because the system I encountered was so flexible. So yes, I am a fan of
this option. And I am certain there is more we can learn from its success.
2. The new law received
grudging support in the early 1990’s. Today, a much-welcome option.
One of the most important changes in how teachers in
Colorado can earn their license—the alternative licensure program—was created
by the legislature in 1990 (HB-1150). It took many years to grow, but now these
alternative pathways bring hundreds of talented people into the teaching profession.
It is especially valuable today—even necessary—given Colorado’s teacher
shortage.
I became a public school teacher (in Vermont, in the late
1970’s) without a traditional teaching license.
Two previous years teaching in a private school (where I had been hired in
1975 without any concern about my not having a teaching license), with
recommendations from that school, proved sufficient to allow me to teach at a
public high school—and earn a full license over the next three years. As one who
followed the implementation of HB-1150 (the Gates Family Foundation, where I
worked, made a grant to the Colorado Department of Education to support the
program in the early 1990’s), I have been surprised–and encouraged–to learn
about the growth of the alternative licensure option in our state.
1. My first wake-up
call came last fall when I visited a small rural charter school. Most of the
strong faculty were first hired without a license. Four of five teachers now
have one, or are working on obtaining a license. For them, the alternative licensure
program at Telluride’s Uncompahgre BOCES has been a godsend. (See excerpt from
my story on Paradox Valley Charter School, Section
6.) Here we find a key factor in why these new teachers were a good fit—and
likely to stay at the school: most were committed to living in that part of
Colorado (or in the neighboring county across the Utah border) before they discovered the school and
their desire to teach. Place matters. It is where they want to be.
2. This led to my
second discovery, seeing the current number now earning their alternative
license. Such a contrast to those early years of the new option–when demand was
modest. What a change!
IN COLORADO, THAT WAS
THEN
THIS IS NOW
# of individuals
earning a teaching license in the Alternative Educator Preparation Programs
*Total after subtracting the number in
the Alternative Preparation programs designed for principals.
1992- 1996
|
1997 … 2013
|
2014- 2018
|
||||||||
1992
|
1993
|
1994
|
1995
|
1996
|
2014
|
2015
|
2016
|
2017
|
2018
|
|
21
|
44
|
40
|
67
|
48
|
573
|
816
|
796
|
771*
|
749*
|
|
In 2018 these six programs alone supported 499 new teachers as
they earned an alternative license. Note
the significant growth at all six since 2014, another sign of the popularity of
this option.
Designated Agency
|
2014
|
2018
|
1.
University
of Colorado, Denver: ASPIRE*
|
139
|
186
|
2.
Public
Education Business Coalition: Boettcher Teacher Residency
|
26
|
98
|
3.
Metropolitan
State University
|
47
|
67
|
4.
Centennial
BOCES
|
19
|
52
|
5.
Pikes
Peak BOCES
|
30
|
49
|
6.
Mountain
BOCES
|
20
|
47
|
(*A visit with Dr. Barbara Seidl,
Associate Dean of Teacher Education and Undergraduate Experiences, and Dr. Suzanne
Arnold, Director, ASPIRE to Teach Alternative Teacher Licensure, both at the
School of Education and Human Development at the University of Colorado,
Denver, opened my eyes to the enthusiasm some higher education folks now show
for the alternative routes. What a refreshing change from what I had witnessed
during a year evaluating one such program, 1996-97.)
The number
of designated agencies offering this option has also grown: from 24 in 2016 to
32 in 2018. [iv]
3. My third “find”
came from reports I reviewed—first from the Colorado Department of Education,
and then especially from the Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE) and
its annual reports on teacher preparation. I found it telling that CDHE reports
as recently as 2009 and 2010 did not
even mention the alternative licensure programs – no data at all on any of
them.[v]
(Even though later reports revealed that close to 500 individuals earned their
alternative license both years.) Furthermore, CDE only began collecting “formal
alternative licensure data” in 2014.[vi]
CDHE reports did reveal, however, all too clearly, the dramatic decline in
numbers completing traditional teacher
preparation programs.
2010-11
|
2011-12
|
2012-13
|
2013-14
|
2014-15
|
2015-16
|
2016-17
|
2017-18
|
|
# of teachers
|
3,274
|
3,078
|
2,858
|
2,704
|
2,563
|
2,472
|
2,674
|
2,453
|
Eventually, the
growing number in the alternative programs became impossible to ignore. In its
2015 report CDHE acknowledged the trend. It stated that the 816 individuals “completing the
alternative teacher licensure programs … represents
24.5% of all the total completers in the
state.”[vii]
And again, in 2016: “796
… represents approximately one quarter
(25%) of all the total completers in the state.”[viii]
It is a story that deserves more attention. I hope AV #195 encourages
others to weigh in. Isn’t it time for a comprehensive state report? One that addresses
richer questions than I speak to here, one that examines not just the quantity but the quality of the alternative licensure programs in Colorado. It would
do well to explore more provocative questions, too, such as:
·
Why the growth? What does it say about the
current perception of schools of education and traditional teacher preparation
programs? Are the alternative licensure programs more attractive to many prospective
teachers because of (a) the shorter time commitment needed? (b) the lower cost?
or (c) fundamental questions raised by teachers about the value of “all those
education courses that made little difference to me when I started teaching”?
All of the above?
·
How has higher education responded to the decline
at traditional programs and the increased interest in alternative routes? Where
– and why – do we see schools of education now full participants, creating alternative
programs of their own rather than tossing off smug judgments about those
“skimpy,” “superficial,” “fast-track” programs that “demean the profession,”
claiming “they suggest almost anyone can teach,
as if all you need is six weeks of boot camp and then they throw you into a classroom.
No one would allow this for doctors, lawyers, --.”
·
In that same vein, how have teacher unions
responded? No fans of the alternative licensure program in Colorado when it was
established, now that it plays a central role in preparing Colorado teachers, do
unions still regard it with such contempt?
·
For rural districts in particular, what can we
learn from alternative licensure programs about how best to find, encourage,
and prepare teachers who will thrive in these communities? Why are these programs
proving such a draw for would-be teachers in Colorado’s rural schools? What can
we do to build on the success of such programs to attract and prepare more
teachers for so many hard-to-fill positions in these schools?
3. A look back: Keystone
Conference (1989), Alternative Licensure bill (1990), the early 1990’s
September 1989
– Dr. Saul Cooperman, New Jersey’s Commissioner of Education, was among the
distinguished speakers at the Keystone Conference. He touted the early success
of his state’s new alternative licensure law, when New Jersey faced its own teacher
shortage. In 1985, the first year of the new program, 121 “alternative routers”
had been hired; by 1988 that total had almost doubled: 238.[ix]
Cooperman’s presentation must have been persuasive. Adopting
an alternative teacher certification policy became one of the 19
recommendations widely supported (83% of responses) by those at the Keystone
Conference:
In order to strengthen the academic
competence of Colorado’s public school teaching corps, it is essential that
Colorado follow New Jersey’s highly successful alternative teaching
certification system. Such a system will welcome into the teaching profession
the graduates of the nation’s most academically rigorous colleges and
universities, mid-career scientists, engineers, mathematicians, college
professors, retirees, and others who wish to commit themselves to teaching.[x]
April 1990 – House Bill 1150 – passed Colorado’s House and
Senate Education Committees.
April 1990 – Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, Chair of the Board of
Xerox David Kearns, and Charles Froelicher (soon to be my boss), executive
director of the Gates Family Foundation, made the case for the new legislation
at a symposium, “Teacher Certification: Safeguard or Superstition?”[xi]
*Thirty years on, most private school heads, I would
venture, are equally inclined to place little value on whether teaching
candidates have a teaching license. This winter I asked the head of my New
England boarding school if that piece of paper mattered in her hiring decisions.
Her answer, in short: Of course not!
|
That spring,
when I joined the Gates Family Foundation, Mr. Froelicher explained his own
reasons for his support of the bill. A similar kind of flexibility in
determining a teacher’s
qualifications had been critical to who and how he hired during his 20 years as
the headmaster of Colorado Academy.* Public school principals, he believed,
should have that same freedom to hire good candidates, regardless of whether
they possessed a traditional teaching license.
By June, HB 1150 was signed into law by Gov. Romer.
(Amendments have been added throughout the past 29 years. See State Law:
22-60.5-201, 205, 206, 207.)
Later that year the Gates Family Foundation made a $209,947
grant “to the Colorado Department of Education to support the implementation of
the Alternative Licensure Program in its first few years.”
As a program officer at Gates, I tracked the progress of the new effort. Unlike New Jersey, the numbers in Colorado were low, at first. We were, of course, disappointed. Looking back, one reason for the small numbers seems obvious. Unlike New Jersey, our state had no shortage of teacher candidates. As I wrote in my 1996 report for the Gates Foundation (“Public Education Reform - Assessing Results”[xii]), “In Colorado, the colleges of education prepare over 2,800 new teachers each year. In addition, roughly 1,000 people certified or licensed in other states move into the state each year. As there are often fewer than 1,200 new teachers hired each year, there is no shortage of teachers with a teaching license in most communities.”
Nevertheless, in that report to the Gates trustees, I tried
to sound hopeful about their investment.
“As districts and principals become
familiar with the program, and as good teachers complete the program and
convince skeptics that this approach can bring highly capable teachers into the
public schools, the numbers should grow. It is worth noting that the alternative
program has attracted a higher percentage of minority teachers to public
schools in Colorado (over 15% of the participants in the first four years) than
are found among the teaching force in the state (9%). The program has been
particularly helpful to rural districts seeking to provide licensure to men and
women who have worked as teaching assistants or in other careers and wish to
become teachers.”
“The three-year evaluation of the
alternative certification program found a number of strengths and weaknesses.
From the perspective of the 120 administrators, mentors, and teachers who
participated in the alternative certification and … the evaluation, most were
satisfied with the program. ‘Teachers (99%), mentors (90%), and administrators
(76%) were definitely positive in stating they would recommend the Alternative
Teacher Program to others.’”
Some of those early hopes have been realized. As the numbers completing teacher education programs in
Colorado declined, we too faced a teacher shortage; the flexibility available
through alternative routes became a welcome option. In addition, the growth of
charter schools, with their freedom to hire teachers without a license (as was
true for me in 2001, at Parker Core Knowledge Charter School), no doubt played
a role. Once hired in a charter, many teachers (see the Paradox Valley story)
then worked to obtain their license through the alternative route.
And so, as I have been pleased to discover,
those small numbers from 1992 and 1993 kept mounting—to a level unimagined back
then. The past four years – between 749 and 816 new teachers each year.
4. Three state reports related to the
role of alternative licensure programs in Colorado
A. FROM “The
State of Education,”[xiii]
by Colorado’s Education Leadership Council, Dec. 2018.
Starting
Point
Colorado is a leader and
pioneer in the country on many fronts. …
Our education system also has many strengths, and leaders from early
childhood care and education, K-12, higher education, and our talent
development system have made tremendous advances that have supported Colorado’s
rise.
“Expand teacher marketing, recruiting, and retention incentives to
help address statewide teacher shortages.” (p.7)
|
Educators and
School Leaders (pages 33-40)
Education is the fourth largest sector of the workforce in the
state. From pre-school teachers to higher education faculty, from
paraprofessionals to special service providers like speech pathologists – a
thriving education workforce is essential. … While recent survey results
suggest that eighty-nine percent of Colorado teachers believe their school is a
good place to work and for students to learn, a number of factors have led to geographic and content-specific
shortages. … In addition, only 16
percent of novice teachers remain in the profession, and approximately
one-third of our current educator workforce will be eligible for retirement
within the next five years. … Challenges exist at every stage of the career,
and Colorado’s leaders must take steps to address them.
The Educators and Leaders subcommittee identified respect,
support, leadership, and growth as central themes in the development of
cross-sector strategies to advance the education profession. In addition to
addressing financial concerns, the
subcommittee emphasized strengthening pipeline programs, modernizing the postsecondary preparation
system, improving working conditions, expanding leadership and growth
opportunities, increasing diversity, promoting collaboration, and recognizing
the importance of early childhood experiences. There is work to be done, and
these strategies offer direction for the upcoming effort. (p. 33)
Strategy C. Support pipeline programs to promote
affordable and efficient entry into the profession.
•
Offer affordable and diverse pathways to bring candidates from all backgrounds
into traditional and alternative
preparation programs, such as Fellowship programs which may link tuition
reimbursement to service in high need areas of the state. (p.34-35)
Strategy F. Ensure a high bar for entering the profession.
• Maintain rigorous
licensure requirements to ensure that educators have met certain standards
in their content areas and received training in the best practices for
pedagogy.
• Hold alternative and
traditional preparation programs to the same level of rigor regarding standards
for authorization and reauthorization. (p. 36)
MY COMMENT: Do you hear
a judgement, as I do, in Strategy F? As if teachers prepared through
alternative routes have not “met certain standards” and do not provide “the
same level of rigor” as traditional programs. (In short, schools of education
know best). Snobby, yes? It might explain why little has been done to promote,
or even learn from, these alternative pathways.
**
B.
FROM Colorado Department of Higher Education: “Teacher Shortages Across the Nation and
Colorado - Similar Issues, Varying
Magnitudes,”[xiv]
December 2017.
FROM “Executive Summary”
The state of Colorado is one of many
states currently grappling with teacher shortages. Throughout the last seven
years, Colorado has seen a decrease in enrollment and completion of EPPs (education preparation programs).
As these numbers decline, the demand for
qualified educators continues to rise due to career attrition and increasing
numbers of retirees…. The state legislature passed Colorado House Bill
17-1003, Concerning a Strategic Action Plan to Address Teacher Shortages in
Colorado, and its subsequent inclusion in the Colorado Revised Statutes under
23-1-120.9 to address this pressing and
growing need.
FROM “Geographic and Economic Status
Variance”
… we do know rural schools and schools serving low-income students experience
greater hiring and retention challenges. States with rural areas, such as Colorado, struggle with recruitment and retention
of qualified teachers, but these issues are intensified in remote rural
areas that face transportation (distance from highways and routes) and communication
challenges (technological connectivity such as access to the internet); hence,
increasing the isolation of such communities (NASBE,2016). … As highlighted in numerous scholarly articles
and in the regional media, these rural
schools have experienced increased difficulty recruiting and retaining
educators—particularly in the areas of secondary math, secondary science and
speech pathology. (p.13)
FROM “Educator Preparation in Rural Areas”
Allowing interested rural students
to have access to educator preparation programs in their communities is
important. However, four-year institutions are often not located in rural
areas. …
Most states require completion of a
state-approved educator preparation program and licensure requirements for
certification. However, a lack of access to four-year institutions’ educator
preparation programs and internet connectivity required for distance education,
facilitates an exportation of potential teachers out of their home communities
(NASBE, 2013). This need for completion of a state-approved program, coupled
with the urgency of the need for
teachers in the classroom has also resulted in an increase in alternative
certification programs. … Colorado
offers alternative educator preparation programs in every corner of the state
through the Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) and other
nonprofit providers. The challenge in remote areas is finding the
candidates to enter these programs. (p. 15-16)
FROM “Pre-Service: Educator Preparation Programs – National and Colorado Enrollment and Completion Trends”
Colorado … requires completion of a
state-approved educator preparation program to obtain teacher licensure. There
are two routes available to aspiring teachers in the state and across the
country, i.e., traditional and alternative programs. Colorado offers programs through 21 state approved traditional educator
preparation providers and 25 alternative educator preparation program providers.
(p. 20)
In Colorado, the number of students completing traditional
educator preparation programs has consistently declined over the last six years.
Recent data shows a 24% decrease in enrollment in Colorado traditional educator
preparation programs from AY 2010-11 through AY 2015-16 (3,274 in AY 2010–11 compared to 2,472 traditional program completers in AY 2015-16).
Traditional vs. alternative -
How do
these approaches differ?
“Most alternative
programs require participants have an undergraduate degree. Also, alternative
programs allow participants to complete required licensure coursework and
practicum experiences while serving as a teacher of record. Some programs
require a limited amount of coursework and practicum experience prior to
entering the classroom; however, some do not. Additionally, the amount of
coursework and length of teaching practice (if required) varies. Lastly,
whereas teacher candidates in traditional educator preparation programs are
not allowed full-time employment during the student teaching practicum, most
alternative programs require placement and/or service as a teacher of record
as a condition of admission. Hence, participants receive a teacher’s salary
if they are required to serve as a teacher of record while matriculating
through the program. Teacher residency participants receive a stipend during
their residency.” (p. 20)
|
The
number of completers prepared through alternative route EPPs has increased
nationally, as well as in Colorado. However, the percentage of alternative EPP
completers is higher in Colorado than at the national level. Nationally, 32,704 completers were preparedby
alternative programs in AY 2014– 15, an 11% increase from AY 2011–12 (28,969). Colorado
educator preparation data shows that in AY 2015–16, 24% of completers (796) exited alternative educator preparation programs.
… Colorado has also seen a consistent
increase in the number of alternatively prepared teachers from AY 2010–11 to AY
2015–16 as the percentage increased by 18% during that period. (p. 23)
FROM “Preparedness
for Entry to the Field”
Traditional EPPs require completion of program requirements,
including coursework and practicums, as a part of licensure eligibility and
prior to service as a teacher of record. However, many alternative programs
allow participants to serve as a teacher of record while completing licensure
coursework. Some alternative programs offer limited coursework and practicum
experiences prior to entering the classroom, but participants received
significantly less preparation than traditional teacher candidates. Since
teaching practice increases retention and length of time in the profession, the decreased amount of teaching practice
that alternative program participants receive impacts their perceptions of
preparedness.
Teachers prepared through alternative
programs leave the field at twice the rate of traditionally prepared teachers (Redding
& Smith, 2016). However, early
research indicates that teachers prepared through alternative programs that are
teacher residencies feel more prepared and remain in the classroom for longer
periods than teachers prepared via traditional programs (Silva, McKie,
Knechtel, Gleason, & Makowsky, 2014). (p. 32)
**
C. FROM the annual EDUCATION PREPARATION REPORTS prepared
by the Colorado Department of Higher Education (alone, in 2014-15) and, ever
since, with the Colorado Department of Education.
MY
COMMENT: The following statement in the 2017 annual report echoed those made the two
previous years: “Colorado continues to see record low enrollment numbers in
educator preparation programs at institutions of higher education and
designated agencies.” These annual reports also began to note the impressive numbers completing the alternative licensure
programs.
The statements below for 2014-15 and 2015-16
come from the Executive Summary for each year. However, for 2016-17 and 2017-18,
the Report Highlights in the Executive Summary fail to mention the numbers
prepared by the alternative licensure programs.
Why? No desire to point out, once again, that such programs continue to
prepare almost on-quarter of the new teachers in the state? A refusal to give
credit to the alternative pathways?
2014-15
report[i]
(FROM Executive Summary)
·
The total number of individuals completing an
educator preparation program at Colorado colleges and universities during the
2014-15 academic declined by 6% from the previous year to 2,529. This is the
fifth consecutive year the number of completers has declined.
·
The number of individuals completing an
alternative licensing program has increased to 816 during 2014-15. This represents a 42% increase from the
previous year and represents 24.5% of all the total completers in the state.
2015-16
report[ii]
(FROM Executive Summary)
·
The total number of individuals completing an
educator preparation program at Colorado colleges and universities during the
2015-16 academic declined by 2.2% from the previous year to 2,472. This is the
sixth consecutive year the number of completers has declined.
·
The number of individuals completing an
alternative licensing program was 796 during 2015-16. This continues to remain consistent over the last two reporting cycles
and represents approximately one quarter (25%) of all the
total completers in the state.
For
2016-17 and 2017-18, I add the “missing” totals. The data is taken from the annual reports.
2016-17 Report[iii]
(not in Executive Summary – but if you turn to page 11 …)
·
“Total
alternative preparation enrollment increased by 7.54% for teacher candidates …
from the 2015-16 to the 2016-17 academic years.”
2017-18
Report[iv]
(not in Executive Summary, but again, see page 11 ….)
·
“Total
alternative preparation enrollment increased by 2.16% for teachers … from the 2016-17 to the 2017-18 academic
years.”
MY
ADDITION: The number of teachers
completing an alternative licensing program was 749 during 2017-18 –
representing approximately 23% of all the total completers in the state.
Enrollment Versus
Completion
If you look at the reports over the last three years, you
will find the woefully low completion
rate of those in the traditional preparation program versus the dramatically higher completion rate of
those in the alternative licensure program. And yet the reports fail to point
out the difference. So I will.
# Completing out of # Enrolled - Traditional Prep Programs vs.
Alternative Licensure Programs
Traditional
Preparation Programs
|
Alternative
Licensure Programs*
|
|
2015-16
|
2,472
/ 9,896 = 25%
|
739
/ 1,035 = 71%
|
2016-17
|
2,674
/ 9,789 = 27%
|
771
/ 1,113 = 69%
|
2017-18
|
2,553
/ 10,380 = 25%
|
749
/ 1,137 = 66%
|
*These
numbers do not include those
enrolling in and completing alternative programs for principals.
The 2017-18
report makes this observation on the low completion numbers in traditional
programs.
There is some evidence to suggest
that drastic drops in IHE [Institutions of Higher Education] enrollment and
completion observed during previous years may be stabilizing. However, a
smaller proportion of enrollees are finishing their preparation programs.
Unfortunately, these results are well below what will be required to meet the
Commission’s target of 3,280 educator credentials to be completed by the year
2025. Educator preparation programs must ensure that candidates enrolled are
receiving the support, coaching, and resources necessary in order for excellent
candidates to persist and become excellent teachers. (p. 15)
MY COMMENT: Well, yes—but that’s all? Nothing more reflective?
Aren’t we missing the obvious here? So a terribly small proportion of enrollees
in the traditional programs finish, whereas two-thirds or more complete their
alternative program. Isn’t higher education—and more pointedly, the Colorado
Department of Higher Education that produces this report—struck by, perhaps
even embarrassed by, the difference? To reach that 2025 target, isn’t there
something to learn from the alternative programs?
Yes,
circumstances (age, point in their career) differ for the two approaches. But a
careful study of alternative teacher licensure in Colorado will examine why such
a small percentage of those who start in teacher preparation programs in our
colleges and universities complete them.
(Compare
Figure 1 on page 15 of the 2017-18 report: “Five-year Enrollment vs. Completion
at IHE,” to the much more positive Figure
2: “Three-year Enrollment vs. Completion at Designated Agencies.” Return on
Investment, anyone?)
I
believe the numbers suggest considerable dissatisfaction or disillusionment on
the part of those who drop out of the traditional programs. They also suggest why
nearly one-quarter of our future teachers now enter the profession through the more
streamlined alternative pathways.
5. Total Completers by Alternative
Educator Preparation Programs For Most Recent 5 Years*
Designated Agency Name
|
Total
|
|||||
The Archdiocese of
Denver
|
20
|
19
|
24
|
16
|
18
|
97
|
University of
Colorado, Denver: ASPIRE
|
186
|
192
|
171
|
185
|
139
|
873
|
Boulder Journey
School
|
24
|
33
|
35
|
30
|
26
|
148
|
Catapult Leadership
|
1
|
3
|
4
|
|||
Centennial BOCES
|
52
|
41
|
32
|
39
|
19
|
183
|
Colorado Christian
University
|
24
|
21
|
18
|
31
|
25
|
119
|
Colorado State
University, Pueblo
|
17
|
10
|
13
|
11
|
7
|
58
|
Colorado State
University
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
|||
Colorado River BOCES
|
1
|
1
|
||||
Denver Public
Schools: Denver Teach Today
|
9
|
9
|
||||
Denver Public
Schools: Denver Teacher Residency
|
36
|
35
|
50
|
83
|
68
|
272
|
Denver Public
Schools: Lead in Denver
(Alternative
Principal)
|
6
|
6
|
||||
Denver Public School:
Harvard Fellows
|
1
|
1
|
||||
Douglas County School
District
|
15
|
7
|
10
|
32
|
||
Eagle Rock School
& Professional Development Ctr.
|
5
|
1
|
4
|
6
|
3
|
19
|
East Central BOCES
|
11
|
22
|
11
|
7
|
7
|
58
|
Friends’ School
|
30
|
31
|
26
|
32
|
31
|
150
|
Global Village
Charter Collaborative
|
1
|
1
|
||||
Mountain BOCES
|
47
|
36
|
41
|
28
|
20
|
172
|
Northeast BOCES
|
1
|
9
|
20
|
5
|
35
|
|
Northwest BOCES
|
11
|
3
|
10
|
5
|
29
|
|
Pikes Peak BOCES
|
49
|
48
|
38
|
40
|
30
|
205
|
Pinnacle Charter
School
|
2
|
1
|
3
|
|||
Principal Institute,
LLC
|
9
|
2
|
9
|
20
|
||
Public Education and
Business Coalition:
Boettcher Teacher
Residency
|
98
|
93
|
67
|
62
|
26
|
346
|
Relay
|
12
|
2
|
14
|
|||
San Luis Valley BOCES
|
10
|
6
|
9
|
11
|
6
|
42
|
School Leaders for
America
|
6
|
1
|
17
|
24
|
||
Southeast BOCES
|
4
|
5
|
10
|
16
|
10
|
45
|
Stanley British
Primary School: Stanley Teacher Preparation (merged with PEBC-Boettcher
Teacher Residency in 2018)
|
-
|
42
|
53
|
48
|
38
|
181
|
Uncompahgre BOCES:
West Central Licensing Program
|
4
|
6
|
7
|
4
|
4
|
25
|
University of
Colorado, Colorado Springs
|
13
|
7
|
15
|
13
|
15
|
63
|
University of
Colorado, Boulder
|
3
|
3
|
||||
Western State
Colorado University
|
12
|
23
|
13
|
19
|
10
|
77
|
University of
Northern Colorado
|
2
|
2
|
||||
Metropolitan State
University
|
67
|
94
|
82
|
103
|
47
|
393
|
TOTALS
|
767
|
782
|
774
|
816
|
573
|
3712
|
*Sent to me by Colorado Department of
Education. CDE also included this caveat:
“… we recommend caution in interpreting completion rates
for alternative programs because some of them
are designed to last more than one year, so they are not designed to have 100
percent completion rates for all enrollees each year and this is probably what
you see affecting the data you have already analyzed. Similarly, most
traditional programs are designed to last more than one year and thus we do not
expect to see 100 percent completion rates for all candidates each year. The
Department does not collect data on reasons that might affect a candidate’s
decision to remain in their program or dropout.”
(Email from Dana Smith, Chief Communications Officer,
CDE, Feb. 26, 2019.)
6. FROM my report,
“Paradox Valley Charter School – Twenty Years On, Choice Survives,”[v]
Independence Institute, Feb. 2019.
A charter school’s freedom to hire men and women without a
state teaching license is a chief reason PVS has gathered such a committed and
capable faculty. Perhaps equally important is the state’s alternative licensure
program. Many charter schools like PVS do not believe that a good candidate
must have a license as a ticket in the door. The path taken by the three
teachers of the youngest students are fairly typical for this school, though
hardly the “traditional route.”
Kelly Bouwkamp said that “once we find someone” who can do
this work and wants to be here, “we find a way” to help them stay, grow, and
get that license. It was true for her. Bouwkamp graduated from Nucla High
School, so this region is home. In 2013 she was “hired on the spot,” with an
early childhood degree, but without a license. She became the preschool teacher
(though like most on the staff, she has multiple roles). She is now taking
courses through the University of Northern Colorado to earn her teaching
degree.
Rosie Boone had a background in outdoor education when she
began working for a school in Moab, Utah, with a strong outdoor and arts focus.
In 2004 she met Renee Owen and learned of PVS. When a position opened up, she
came to Paradox to teach. Boone has made the arts a vital part of her teaching.
Visit her cheerful, colorful K-1 classroom and you believe it. She obtained her
alternative license though the program managed by the Uncompahgre Board of
Cooperative Educational Services (UnBOCES) in Telluride.
Christina Wilt was working full-time and was trying to
homeschool her son, but saw that she “couldn’t do it all.” She “had heard a lot
of really good things” about PVS, so she enrolled her son in the school. Over
the next five years, she became involved with volunteering in his classroom,
then substitute teaching, then helping with the summer program—and then to a
full-time job teaching the 2nd/3rd grade class. Now she also takes part in the
alternative licensure program through UnBOCES.
Principal Perritt notes that this year, four of five
teachers with their own classrooms are either licensed or are in the process of
earning their license.
7. A typical view of alternative licensure from higher education:
skepticism, criticism, disdain.
From “Taking the Long View: State Efforts to
Solve Teacher Shortages by Strengthening the Profession,” by Daniel Espinoza,
Ryan Saunders, Tara Kini, and Linda Darling-Hammond, Learning Policy Institute,
Aug. 2018.[vi]
High-Retention Pathways Into Teaching (all bold mine)
Creating stronger teacher retention also requires stronger
training and mentoring for new teachers.* Research demonstrates that teacher
turnover is higher for those who enter the profession without adequate
preparation. Studies of the relationship
between teacher preparation and teacher turnover suggest educators with little
to no pedagogical preparation are 2 to 3 times more likely to leave the
profession than those with the most comprehensive preparation, which
includes student teaching, formal feedback on their teaching, and multiple
courses in student learning and teaching. Adequate mentoring for beginning
teachers also matters. These studies highlight that there is a continuum of
preparation along which individuals enter the profession which is associated
with levels of teacher attrition. The best-prepared teachers are also,
typically, the longer lasting.
Some of the attrition of underprepared teachers could be due
to the fact that those with the least training are often hired in the schools
with the most difficult-to-fill vacancies and the most challenging teaching
conditions. However, a recent large-scale analysis that controlled for school
and teacher characteristics, subject area, workplace conditions, and district
salaries found that teachers who enter
the profession through alternative certification pathways are 25% more likely
to leave teaching than other teachers, even after all the other factors are
taken into account.*
While alternative
certification programs come in a range of models—some of them more rigorous
than others—research shows that
alternatively certified teachers typically receive less pre-service coursework
preparation than those who enter through traditional programs and are less
likely to have student taught before being placed as teacher of record in the
classroom.* Those who do receive some student teaching have typically taught under the wing of an
expert for only a few weeks.
As a result, most
studies find that teachers who enter through alternative routes are less
effective with students when they begin teaching than teachers who have been
fully prepared before entry. Those who stay long enough to complete a
preparation program typically grow in effectiveness (as do most teachers over
the first few years of teaching); however,
large proportions leave in the first 3 years and before they have had a chance
to become effective.* Studies comparing outcomes across alternative routes
have found that those with more coursework and student teaching have stronger
outcomes than those in programs that offer less training and support.*
*MY COMMENT – Each asterisk indicates endnotes
“supporting” points made here. Keep in mind, however, that these endnotes refer
to articles also co-authored by Linda Darling-Hammond. If Colorado
conducts a study of alternative licensure, let’s be sure it is more objective
than “Taking the Long View” – or AV #195!
Recruitment Policies
Against the backdrop of persistent teacher shortages, states
face continued challenges in providing the level of school funding and
resources necessary to offer all students an education that meets state
standards. … In light of these fiscal constraints, one common response to
growing shortages and shrinking state budgets is to lower the bar into the profession through relaxing licensure
requirements or increasing the use of emergency permits. Although these
strategies may appear low cost, what is often overlooked is that underprepared
teachers have high rates of costly teacher turnover and typically are less
effective. High turnover negatively impacts both student achievement and
districts’ bottom lines, as the cost of replacing every teacher who leaves can
be more than $20,000 in urban school districts.
More productively, in
place of lowering the bar for entry into the profession, many states have
opted for a set of low-cost policy solutions that expand the pool of qualified
educators within a state. Such strategies include recruiting recently retired
educators back into the classroom to fill open positions and strengthening
licensure reciprocity to provide a more streamlined route into the classroom
for experienced educators coming from outside the state. (p. 28)
The Appendix lists “State Policies Included in This Report.” For Colorado, the following policies are
mentioned:
High-Retention Pathways:
1. Service
Scholarships and Loan Forgiveness
2. Teacher
Residencies
3. Grow
Your Own
Competitive Compensation: Targeted Financial Incentives
Recruitment Policies: Retired Teachers
MY
COMMENT: Can you guess which
Colorado policy is NOT referred to here in the Appendix? Alternative licensure.
No surprise, given the tone of the comments on alternative licensure
preparation in the report. As if blind to the fact that this option prepares nearly
a quarter of the new teachers licensed in our state. Again, the mistrust of
alternative pathways is clear.
8.
Information
on the Alternative Licensure Program at the Colorado Department of Education
website.
- Aspiring Teachers - http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdeprof/aspiringeducators
- Educator Preparation Programs - http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdeprof/epp_index
- Alternative Pathway - Alternative Teacher License – - https://www.cde.state.co.us/cdeprof/checklist-alt_teacher
Endnotes
[iii]
“In the fall of 1989, the Gates Family Foundation convened the conference at
the ski resort town of Keystone, with the stated purpose to bring together a
critical mass of Colorado’s leaders with the nation’s leading experts on
educational reform in order that the State’s leaders can learn first-hand about
the successful reforms presently under way throughout the United States so that
they might, if they wish, act to institute such reforms as seem to be
potentially productive, throughout the state of Colorado. The conference, held
September 20-23, was named “Public Education: A Shift in the Breeze.” Nine
national leaders in public education, representing various efforts at
educational reform, spoke to 225 leaders of the Colorado legislature,
educational establishment, and various business and private sectors.
“Keynote speakers for the conference were: Dr. Ernest
L. Boyer, President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
and Senior Fellow of the Woodrow Wilson School in Princeton; Fletcher Byrom,
retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Koppers Company, Inc.; Dr. Saul
Cooperman, Commissioner of Education for the State of New Jersey; Dr. John
Goodlad, author of 22 books and the Director of the University of Washington’s
Center for Educational Renewal; Dr. Frank Newman, President of the Education
Commission of the States; Dr. Ruth Randall, Commissioner of Education for the
State of Minnesota; Roy Romer, Governor of Colorado; Albert Shanker, President
of the American Federation of Teachers; Dr. Theodore R. Sizer, Chairman of the
Education Department at Brown University and Chairman of the Coalition of
Essential Schools; and Dr. William Youngblood, Principal of the North Carolina
School of Science and Mathematics.”
FROM “On the
Road of Innovation: Colorado’s Charter School Law Turns 20,” Independence
Institute, June 2013
[v]
from 2011 report (submitted January 2012)– “This is the first year that the
Department of Higher Education’s annual Educator Preparation Report has
included data on alternative certification educator preparation programs at
designated agencies. Previously, the report only contained data on institution
of higher education-based educator preparation
programs.” – That year 501 individuals completed the alternative licensure
program.
[vi] Email to me from Dana Smith, Chief Communications
Officer at CDE, Feb. 26, 2019.
[x] FROM “Summary of Public Policy
Recommendations from the Keystone Conference sponsored by the Gates Family
Foundation.”
[xii]
“Public Education Reform – Assessing Results,” A study of grants made by the Gates Family Foundation 1990-1995, by
Peter Huidekoper Jr. (1996).
