Bill would waive certification for charter school teachers

Of course, the union opposes the waiver. These teachers are in the classroom because they care not because they are marking years off the calendar looking towards retirement and pension. Most important some of these schools are excelling. So what does it say about so much of the dead wood hanging around the classroom blaming poverty, parents, funding etc.? As for CEA's Rossomando comment of "You have schools that continually flout the law, and now they want to change the law? That's a bad idea”, when did the union begin to worry about breaking the law? Did anyone says Wisconsin, protests, school closures, and fake doctor’s notes? Give me a break.

I suspect there might be an example of a person who graduated from a foreign medical school, but is not licensed to practice here, who might be a good doctor. I, however, feel much safer knowing that all doctors are licensed, even if the one unlicensed person might be able to do a good job. What if, in letting Ms. Salvador teach, we also subjected the youngsters to a large number of incompetent, unlicensed teachers. We require testing before people can practice medicine, law, and any number of other professions. Why not teachers?

Jeff, it was "most" [majority] not "vast majority" and the doctoral programs are cited in his study as most effective. UConn has a tremendous program.

There is no doubt that education, including teacher prep programs, have serious flaws. The position that certification is somehow meaningless is simplistic and reckless. Don't forget, certification includes various alternative routes outside of the aforementioned teacher prep programs.

As RealDemocrat wrote, there are many incompetent people who would enter the profession without certification. There is a means of filtering in a certification process, field studies and student teaching for example.

If you've ever been in an urban school you would realize why so many teachers are unprepared. The Achievement First schools have tremendous turnover based on the number of ads they run for openings - ctreap.net.

If certification merely meant mastery of content, any college graduate could teach. There is a lot more to certification than that. Certification also means mastery of the methods of teaching.

I truly hope that this does not pass the legislature.--because this would only be the first step in reducing standards for teachers, all in the name of reducing costs. I understand that GoatBoy doesn't want to pay someone with a master's degree + 30 (that would be 30 additional credit hours beyond their master's degree) $100,000/year. Why not? That actually doesn't sound like a lot of money for someone with that amount of education to make. Of course, most teachers make far, far less...but it is helpful to those who want to have teachers education only slightly exceed their students to make the claim...wait, teachers education slightly exceeding the students. Isn't that what happens in 3rd world countries?

Finally, I should note that Achievement First schools get their terrific results from extra teaching hours (students are in class longer every day, and the school year is extended), strictly enforced discipline, mandatory homework completion, and from mandatory parent involvement in the education of the child. It would be surprising if the results from their schools merely matched public schools, rather than exceeding them.

Some corrections are warranted:

Sammy - Yes, of course we need to ensure that the best teachers are in front of our kids. But the quality filter would be far more effective at the school level rather than at a centralized bureaucratic level. Give the responsibility to ensure high quality instruction to the front line, those principals who are most closely accountable to parents for academic results. The article is correct. Some of the best teachers in Connecticut will be dismissed if we don't fix this.

- Achievement First has lots of ads because it is a growing school network which opens at least one additional school per year and increases dozens of grades per year in their existing schools. Their teaching force grows every year as more and more poor parents vote with their feet and seek high quality, tuition-free school alternatives for their children.

- Julie, why does certification in your mind equate to teacher quality? Tell us how certification correlates with actual educational outcomes?

- Everyone wants to prevent even "one bad incident" as BellaQuest points out. But what we overlook is that there are hundreds of thousands of bad incidents every day in urban public schools in Connecticut. For decades we have allowed unacceptably high numbers of children to be pushed through school without learning at grade level. We now have a 30% poverty rate in New Haven largely because of an under-educated population. Certification, which has been with us for decades not only did not prevent the achievement gap from becoming the widest in the county, but probably contributes to the divide by credentialing people who are not adequately prepared for the rigors of the mission.
And coming at the problem of the closing the achievement gap with only a compliance mindset is missing the larger point.

The Ct. certification process reminds me of an education joke:

At the start of the school year an ambitious principal instructs her teachers that this semester she expects that no less than 100% of students will be taught to read, write, and do math at grade level. Having set the bar quite high, the principal at the end of the term is very disppointed to find that less than half of the students passed their final exams. She calls a staff meeting to discuss the test results only to find that none of the teachers seem to be visibly upset about the lack of student success. "Why do you all look so happy?" she inquires. "I told you that ALL of your students had to learn reading, writing, and math at grade level and it turns out that less than half of your students passed. What happened?"

After a few awkward moments a teacher raises his hand and responds "Ma'am, I beg your pardon but you told us 100% of the students had to be taught. You didn't say anything about "learn"..."

In East Hartford's a Master +30 is worth $18,000 a year more than a Bachelor's without any real evidence a Masters +30 produces better results for anyone except the teacher holding the credentials. Over 20 teaching years that's $360,000 plus subsidized tuition costs and another estimated $250,000 in pension costs.

No one likes these discusions but the questions remain "What's the best way to spend the taxpayer's money? What's the best Return on Investment (ROI)? What would we do if 20% of the payroll budget became available to spend in other areas in education?".

http://www.easthartford.org/page.cfm?p=93l

All day education? Year round? Universal pre-school from age 3? Regionalization and vouchers (true choice)? High school as Community College? 'Pay for play' for at-risk low income kids accompanied with home tutoring from the earliest age?

Cheap labor is a bad reason to change the law. Cheap labor is the weakest case for waiving certification. Thanks Goat Boy. Now we all know the goal of the so-called "reformers". This would explain the churn of uncertified teacher turnover in these schools.
Average teacher salaries are about $64k, and that includes the many veteran teachers who have more than 30 years of experience. Nobody is getting rich teaching, unless they are doing it in one of the countries we view as having the highest achievement. Incidentally student achievement is highest where teacher pay is on par with other professions and where teachers are unionized. That’s as true across the US as it is across the globe.
Few districts pay any teacher in excess of $90k, let alone $100k. The few that do negotiate the salary levels in exchange for other concessions in compensation and benefits – just like contracts in the private sector. So the example Goat Boy posted is misleading.
There are many teachers who have attained a doctorate or something close (MA +30). Paying a few of them $100,000 after 15 years of experience is not exactly off the charts and is in line with the pay others receive for similar education and experience. In the real world, people are paid for these things. It seems that those who believe they are above the certification law also believe they are not affected by the laws of the job market.
It should also be noted that the self-proclaimed success of certain charter schools is just that, self-proclaimed. They market their charter schools as some sort of educational Utopia. Of course, Utopia never actually existed – it was made up. Yet advocates premise their proposals on this mirage of success. But, how many lower-scoring children were counseled/weeded out before taking the CMT? How many kids who graduate from the advocate's charter schools have trouble keeping-up in their high school? The answers are beginning to come forward and the news is not good. This is a dangerous way to make public policy.

thanks Goatboy- so many people get masters in the private sector just to keep their job- nobody gets paid more for a masters. Multipe education courses are a revenue producer for colleges- a revenue drain on towns. I know so many teacher/coaches who run AAU sports programs who say you cant get better without playing in the summer- funny how that does not hold true for academics..

Here's Bill Gates and Obama Educational Secretary Arne Duncan pitching the same plan. Get rid of the bonus for over education.

http://tinyurl.com/23paqgp
Every year, American schools pay more than $8.6 billion in bonuses to teachers with master’s degrees

Nevada's ready to do away with pay increases for education beyond a BA/BS.

http://tinyurl.com/3zxfvbs

"We are entering a decade where the average certified teacher age 40 with their Masters + 30 (far more common than many think) in the Hartford suburbs will be getting paid 100K plus benefits to teach Earth Science and Algebra and Health--8th grade subject material." - Goat

By Hartford suburbs you mean a fraction of the facutly in a single district possibly making 100k in 6 years. (You still haven't explained how you know there are 85 teachers in Avon at that level.)

In regards to your original point, you offer a false dichotomy. Your position is that the extra money paid is somehow throwing good money after bad because you don't see any benefit to the additional education. I gave a counterexample; a math teacher who gets a master's in statistics is very likely better prepared to teach statistics classes. You believe the extra pay for this additional education is unwarranted? So a PhD is useless in practical terms?

ctsunlight.org is incredible. I have found many people i know in there and ask disintested knowledgeable people who know these people "how much do you think so and so makes". Invariably they will say a number that is 25% less than the actual number. They will then say "you have got to be kidding". Same with pensions(although we have been surprised what older teachers pensions are- not as much as i thought). A current pension for a 50 year old DEP ranger is 60K? Most estimated 40K.
The thing that amazes me is the posters who support high salaries/ pensions who act like this is unknown information. It is laughably irrefutable and is the reason the actuaries say that we are in the mess we are in.
As far as additional credits generating additional income for teachers- a teacher can take credits during the summer which are self financing in salary increases, a masters program(like an MBA) is taken at night at RPI-Hartford during the work week and guarantees you nothing. It is a far greater sacrifice with far less sure return for the private sector worker and since almost everyone i know has a post grad degree i dont know what is so special about teachers getting one. I suppose growing up when everyone worked in factories it was a big deal but nothing now.

Are not Charter Schools Public Schools.Is this not what these Charter Schools always say,We are Public Schools.No all teachers need to have certification.As one of the reports That I read says.Certification tests ensure that there is a nationalized or state-wide standard for the teaching profession.Studies have not yet proven that certification requirements are inadequate. Education schooling can instill many important skills in prospective teachers, such as classroom management and lesson plan design.The problem is to many waivers are being give out.Look at what happen in New York when King Bloomberg had got a waiver
for Cathy Black.And she had to step down.Hell no.No waivers,Let them go back to school.