Tuesday, June 4, 2019

AV #195 - Alternative Teacher Licensure in Colorado - What a change!


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
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*
*Total after subtracting the number in the Alternative Preparation programs designed for principals.

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: “796represents 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)
   



Even with these advances, work remains to ensure that we can adapt to a rapidly changing world. … today, shortages of teachers by geography and content area combine with persistent attainment gaps between white students and students of color to underscore why work must be accelerated now to address our shared challenges.  (All bold mine.)

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 ProgramsNational 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.




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
[iv]Email to me from Dana Smith, Chief Communications Officer at CDE, Feb. 26, 2019.
[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).