Florida lawmakers eye teacher certification rules

FORT LAUDERDALE – Two key Florida lawmakers say they’re looking to “blow up” the state’s teacher certification regime, giving school administrators greater authority to hire instructors who don’t follow traditional paths to careers in the classroom.

Speaking at a gathering of district and charter school leaders last week in South Florida, Reps. Manny Diaz and Michael Bileca said reducing barriers to entry to the teaching profession might help schools hire qualified instructors — including career switchers with expertise in areas like physics or computer science.

The two South Florida Republicans have both chaired education subcommittees and shaped big-ticket legislation over the past six years. Their influence could grow after the November elections.

If someone has an interest in teaching and an advanced degree in, say, electrical engineering, they said, that person shouldn’t have to take a series of classes on topics like pedagogical theory before going into the classroom. Schools or districts could help those new hires learn to plan lessons and manage classrooms.

“Allow the superintendents and the principals on the ground to make decisions on who is a quality teacher, because they are the ones who know,” said Diaz, R-Hialeah, a former public school teacher and administrator. “There has to be some formula to go with it as well, but give them some say over that. A principal in today’s day and age, with the accountability system that we have, and the competition we have, is not going to keep somebody in the classroom that they don’t feel is going to do the job.”

Florida requires prospective teachers to pass exams in general knowledge, their subject area, and educational practice before they receive full-blown certificates. Those who didn’t get a degree in education typically have to take a series of professional preparation courses.

Bileca, R-Miami, said he’s looked at certification rules in other states, and research casting doubt on the efficacy of those requirements. He said schools should be able to hire teachers based on their subject-matter expertise and “passion” for education, rather than their ability to persevere through a preparation program and jump through a series of bureaucratic hoops.

The idea received a mostly warm reception at a meeting hosted by the Florida Consortium of Public Charter Schools. But several school leaders said other factors — including funding and compensation — affect their ability to recruit top professionals and keep them around for the long haul.

“I think you should blow it up,” said Linda Terranova, the principal at Western Academy Charter, an A-rated school in Palm Beach County, said of the existing certification system. She said her best teachers improved with the help of the professional development offered by her school and the local district, rather than the classes they took to get certified.

To make the teaching profession more attractive, she said, administrators need to stop micromanaging teachers’ every move, down to how they decorate their classrooms.

“I think we need to start treating these teachers as professionals,” she said. “That’s what you hire them for, and you need to respect them and allow them to be innovative and pragmatic in the classroom. That’s how you’re going to get highly effective teachers.”

Jim Pegg, who leads the charter school office for Palm Beach County Public Schools, said teacher recruitment is often a make-or-break issue for upstart charters.

“There is a large relationship between a failing charter school, and their ability to recruit and retain highly effective teachers,” he said.

But Pegg also offered a personal anecdote to drive home the point that lower barriers to entry won’t solve teacher recruitment on their own. His son is a career switcher, who left his job as an X-ray technician to teach science this year at an alternative high school. A few weeks ago, when his first paycheck arrived, Pegg recalled his son’s reaction: “‘Dad, this is all I get?'”

His point: Money matters too, especially in math and science fields where college graduates command higher salaries.

Diaz and Bileca said they agreed teacher pay is an issue. But they said there’s also a need for structural reforms.

“We need to get away from this factory model and treat these teachers like the professionals that they are,” Diaz said, adding: “We have to blow up this box, and look at the ways that we can attract the experts in these fields into the teaching profession, and then figure out how to compensate them on performance, on quality.”

Robert Runcie, the superintendent of Broward County Public Schools (Florida’s second-largest district), said that to recruit people with math and science expertise, districts may need more money to offer higher salaries. But they may also need to break away from traditional step-and-lane salary schedules that pay all teachers the same way, based on graduate degrees and years of experience.

“It can’t just be about tweaking the existing system that we have, and throwing more money into that model,” he said.