POTPOURRI Making and Implementing Policy on Teacher Licensure

The authors describe one state’s efforts to formulate and implement policy with regard to the licensure (or certification) of its public school teachers. They dis-cuss conditions that led to the develop-ment of certification policy, the rather unique evaluation system that was de-veloped to assess teacher competence, and the assistance provided by the state to those teachers who fail to demon-strate the competencies required for cer-tification. Consideration is also given to factors that will eventually determine the success or failure of this policy and similar policies in other states. he development and im-t plementation of new methods t of evaluating teachers is aprevalent part of the current movement to promote excellence in schools. Major efforts have been under-taken throughout the United States to improve evaluations of both elementary and high school teachers for certifica-tion purposes. ’ This article describes one such effort as it has developed in the Commonwealth of Virginia and examines how similar teacher certifica-tion policies and practices in other states may affect teaching. As of July 1, 1985, all first-time applicants for initial teacher certifica-tion in Virginia who meet certain minimum requirements are granted a two-year nonrenewable teaching certifi-cate. A regular five-year renewable cer-tificate is awarded only after these teachers demonstrate satisfactory com-petence in actual classroom perfor-mance within the two-year provisional period. To do so, they become partici-pants in what is called the &dquo;Beginnin