Board Plan Targets Teacher Shortage State Panel Would Offer Alternative Ways For Teachers To Become State Certified

In hopes of helping alleviate Washington’s teacher shortage, a state board has come up with recommendations for alternative ways for people to become state certified.

The Professional Educator Standards Board, which met in Spokane on Tuesday and Wednesday, is recommending a more expedient and affordable process for teachers’ aides and professionals to become certified teachers.

The 19-member board, created last summer by Gov. Gary Locke, was given until Friday to come up with recommendations for two “high-quality alternative routes to teacher certification.” The board, which completed its report Wednesday, came up with three. The recommendations will be presented to lawmakers.

Jennifer Wallace, executive director of the board, expects the report will get strong support from Locke.

“We have a governor who has made educator quality a priority for several years,” Wallace said.

But whether lawmakers agree the state can afford the recommendations remains to be seen.

“I’ve got to assume they will give it serious attention, but the question is, do they have the dollars to fund it?” said Spokane School District 81 Superintendent Gary Livingston, who is on the state board.

The first recommended alternative route would allow teachers’ aides experienced in special education and teaching English as a second language to become certified in two years, assuming they have an associate of arts degree. Special education and ESL are among the specialities with the highest teacher shortages in the state.

The proposed program, which would include a partnership with higher education, would allow teachers’ aides to complete their bachelor’s degrees and mentored internships within two years through flexible course work. The program would cut a year off the traditional route from an associate’s degree to a bachelor’s degree and teacher certification.

The second route would allow experienced school personnel with bachelor’s degrees to become certified in subjects where teachers are needed or in geographic shortage areas. The one-year program would be based on a mentored internship.

The final route seeks to recruit applicants with expertise in subject shortage areas, such as math and technology, from other professions. Candidates would have to hold a bachelor’s degree and have at least five years of work experience. They would attend an intensive summer teaching academy, followed by a full-year internship, and then another summer teaching academy.

The board is recommending forgivable student loans and paying the candidates for their internships to make the program viable.

“You want the shortest distance from the paycheck you have to becoming employed as a teacher,” Wallace said.

She said the board is still working out the projected costs of the program.

Currently, people can become certified in the state by completing teacher training programs at one of 22 colleges and universities approved by the state Board of Education. Under those programs, certification takes a minimum of a bachelor’s degree.

Washington state’s teacher shortage is following the national trend as a generation of baby boom teachers nears retirement age. Half of the country’s current teachers are expected to retire by 2010. In Washington, an estimated 14 percent of the state’s roughly 60,000 teachers will be eligible for retirement in the next five years.

However, the Spokane area remains better off than other parts of the state. With four colleges and universities in the region that offer state-approved teacher training programs, Spokane traditionally has had a glut of qualified teachers.

But that is beginning to change, Livingston said. Qualified candidates to teach special education, ESL and higher levels of math, science and technology have dwindled considerably, he said. “We aren’t in a crisis like other parts of the state, but we are seeing fewer applicants in those areas, and in some areas of special education, no applications,” he said.

The board is also charged with implementing the state’s new teacher-testing requirement. Beginning in September 2002, prospective teachers must pass a basic-skills test for admission into a teacher training program. The following year, newly trained teachers must past a test in subjects they plan to teach in order to become certified.