What does teacher certification contribute to outcomes for students with disabilities?

Posted on June 21, 2022June 7, 2022 by coreeducation

Reams of research have reported contradictory outcomes for students with disabilities (SWDs) who are taught in general education classrooms alongside their non-disabled peers versus learning in settings with only SWDs. A new report focuses on teacher certification as a possible mechanism to explain the variations in outcomes. J. Jacob Kirksey from Texas Tech University and Read more about What does teacher certification contribute to outcomes for students with disabilities?[…]

50-State Comparison: Teacher License Reciprocity

Posted on June 30, 2020June 28, 2020 by coreeducation

A new 50-State Comparison from Education Commission of the States on Teacher License Reciprocity has been updated for 2020. Most states have policies that allow licensed teachers from other states to obtain a license in their state, under certain conditions – and a growing number of states offer special reciprocity for military spouses. However, few Read more about 50-State Comparison: Teacher License Reciprocity[…]

Student Teaching and Initial Licensure in the Times of Coronavirus

Posted on April 28, 2020April 26, 2020 by coreeducation

Writing for the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), Patricia Saenz-Armstrong explores how student teaching and initial licensure practices are shifting during this time of school closures. Excerpts from the piece appear below: School closures have obvious impacts on current students and teachers and are also creating challenges for teacher candidates hoping to graduate this Read more about Student Teaching and Initial Licensure in the Times of Coronavirus[…]

Three State Policy Priorities to Give Every Student Effective, Diverse Teachers

Posted on February 12, 2020February 10, 2020 by coreeducation

When it comes to ensuring every student gets great teachers, state governments play a crucial and underappreciated role. Without access to the right data, school systems will struggle to match the supply and demand for new teachers. Without certification policies that prioritize student impact over paper credentials, too many talented people will be shut out Read more about Three State Policy Priorities to Give Every Student Effective, Diverse Teachers[…]

Few States Consider Prior Job Performance When Licensing Out-of-State Teachers

Posted on January 23, 2020January 21, 2020 by coreeducation

New data from the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) reveal that the majority of states (35) do not ask for evidence of prior successful teaching for those teachers coming from out of state who are applying for a teaching license-in spite of imposing many demands covering a host of other factors. As important, there Read more about Few States Consider Prior Job Performance When Licensing Out-of-State Teachers[…]

A Fair Chance: Simple Steps to Strengthen and Diversify the Teacher Workforce

Posted on May 15, 2019May 12, 2019 by coreeducation

Each year a significant number of aspiring elementary teachers, having successfully completed their formal preparation, are still unable to become licensed professionals. That’s because an alarming number of candidates fail their licensing tests, far surpassing the failure rate for other professions’ entry tests, bar exams, and boards. The fact that more candidates fail than pass Read more about A Fair Chance: Simple Steps to Strengthen and Diversify the Teacher Workforce[…]

Teacher Leadership Toolkit: Strategies to Build, Support and Sustain Teacher Leadership Opportunities

Posted on January 31, 2019September 1, 2021 by coreeducation

School systems—and the challenges they face—are often complex and diverse; effectively addressing these challenges may require a leadership approach that moves beyond traditional teacher and administrator roles. Teacher leadership is one strategy many states and districts are pursuing to facilitate meaningful change and support better outcomes for their students. To support these efforts, the Teacher Read more about Teacher Leadership Toolkit: Strategies to Build, Support and Sustain Teacher Leadership Opportunities[…]

Promoting Professional Learning Through Teacher Licensure Renewal Policies

Posted on September 6, 2018September 3, 2018 by coreeducation

Writing for New America, Melissa Tooley and Taylor White highlight how the policies undergirding most states’ licensure renewal systems not only conflict with what is known about best practices in adult learning, but that “whether a teacher grows considerably while fulfilling her state’s renewal requirements or does not improve at all is of no consequence Read more about Promoting Professional Learning Through Teacher Licensure Renewal Policies[…]

NCTQ Releases 2018 State Teacher Policy Best Practices Guide

Posted on April 24, 2018April 23, 2018 by coreeducation

NCTQ’s 2018 State Teacher Policy Best Practices Guide highlights leading state work across 37 different policy areas that impact teacher quality. This resource serves as a guide to all states seeking concrete ideas and examples of how to improve teacher policy. Despite consistent concerns regarding whether states are acting quickly and ambitiously enough to improve Read more about NCTQ Releases 2018 State Teacher Policy Best Practices Guide[…]

Making Teacher Recertification Meaningful

Posted on December 18, 2017December 15, 2017 by coreeducation

Recertification: It’s obscure. It’s ill-understood. It’s never studied. But most teachers have to meet these continuing education requirements every five years. A new special report from Education Week takes a hard look at recertification, posing questions about how it could be strengthened to support teachers better. The articles include an overview of the diverse provider Read more about Making Teacher Recertification Meaningful[…]

Teacher License Reciprocity: 50 State Review

Posted on October 19, 2017October 14, 2017 by coreeducation

Since 2016, 11 states have passed regulations making it easier for out-of-state teachers to get their licenses. This finding comes from a new report from the Education Commission of the States on teacher licensure reciprocity across all 50 states. This policy report defines and provides a review of teacher license reciprocity, explores how state-specific licensing Read more about Teacher License Reciprocity: 50 State Review[…]

America Needs More Teachers of Color and a More Selective Teaching Profession

Posted on October 11, 2017October 6, 2017 by coreeducation

Recently the Center for American Progress released an article exploring the diversity and talent of the American teacher workforce. Excerpts appear below: This report examines the case for making candidate diversity and ability equally important criteria in the recruitment and selection of teachers. Looking at available evidence, the report shows that rigorous recruitment and Read more about America Needs More Teachers of Color and a More Selective Teaching Profession[…]

The Certification Maze

Posted on March 9, 2017March 4, 2017 by coreeducation

Teachers often can’t easily get a teaching job in a new state – usually because of confusing bureaucracy, a battery of expensive exams, and complex rules about which university courses will be accepted. There is little research showing these rules lead to better teachers, but some evidence that they harm students and push teachers to Read more about The Certification Maze[…]

Landscapes in Teacher Prep: Undergraduate Elementary Education

Posted on January 26, 2017January 23, 2017 by coreeducation

The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) has released new ratings for 875 undergraduate elementary teacher preparation programs. The latest Teacher Prep Review found evidence that the nation’s top programs–those that graduate teachers well versed in both evidence-based content and methods of teaching–are not all the nation’s best known elite universities, but include Purdue University, Read more about Landscapes in Teacher Prep: Undergraduate Elementary Education[…]

Putting Children First in Teacher Licensing

Posted on November 23, 2016November 19, 2016 by coreeducation

Natalie Orenstein of New America has written an article about the need for states to offer specialized certification for teachers of early childhood. She writes: Teaching young children takes a different skill set than teaching older children, yet many states’ training programs are not preparing teachers for these special demands. Experts have long noted that Read more about Putting Children First in Teacher Licensing[…]

Tying Teacher Certification Test Scores to Secondary STEM Achievement

Posted on June 30, 2016June 27, 2016 by coreeducation

A recent article by the National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) investigates whether STEM teacher candidates who score better on licensure tests are also more effective at improving student performance once they enter the teaching workforce. After replicating earlier findings that teacher basic-skills licensure test scores are a modest and Read more about Tying Teacher Certification Test Scores to Secondary STEM Achievement[…]