MUNSTER, Ind. — Indiana school districts looking for new teachers to fill gaps created by retirements, resignation and rising enrollment say lay teachers who get state permits by passing a test won’t be able to meet the needs of the classroom.
The system approved in December by the State Board of Education allows anyone with a bachelor’s degree and a 3.6 grade point average to pass a subject test and immediately qualify to teach that subject to middle and high school students in Indiana.
The traditional path to the classroom requires a degree in education that involves training in child development, child psychology and how to run a classroom, along with teaching internships.
“There are opportunities to observe and teach in a classroom before a student gets the degree,” Boone Township school district Superintendent George Letz told The Times for a Monday story. “The content knowledge is very important, but you have to be able to differentiate the instruction based on the child’s ability.”
He said he wouldn’t hire anyone who didn’t have the formal education he thinks they need to be effective in the classroom.
Valparaiso Community Schools Superintendent Mike Berta said a person can be an expert in a subject, but that a teacher also needs skills such as empathy and knowing how to guide students.
“Absent these skills and talents in the teacher, the probability is low that a successful teaching and learning experience will happen,” Berta said.
But the principal at 21st Century Charter School in Gary said the school strives to hire the most qualified candidates it can find, whether they have a license or not. Up to 10 percent of a charter school’s teaching staff is not required to have a teaching license.
“While a teacher may possess a license, that does not always guarantee quality,” Angela West said. “We do prefer teachers who are licensed. If we have an applicant who is unlicensed — but highly qualified — and they want to teach at our school, they would not be precluded from the job opportunity.”
