Teacher Preparation and Evaluation: Goodbye Qualifications, Hello Effectiveness

NCLB’s Title II (Sec. 2123), focused on the recruitment and retention of highly qualified teachers and principals. Funding was authorized to assist LEAs in, “Developing and implementing mechanisms to assist schools in effectively recruiting and retaining highly qualified teachers, including specialists in core academic subjects…” NCLB identified the need for highly qualified teachers and attempted to empower schools to seek out and recruit such individuals. ESSA’s Title II is very different. The measure used in the new law does not detail qualifications, but seeks to gauge effectiveness, overlooking and in fact negating in some cases the need for qualifications. For example, ESSA establishes teacher, principal or other school leader preparation academies by way of federal funding. These new federally funded and state authorized academies remain in existence if they are able to meet the minimum number or percentage of effective teachers or principals or other school leaders. (p. 302) Effectiveness in ESSA is measured in student assessment test scores. Academies that are to be authorized under this federal program need to demonstrate that they do not, “…have unnecessary restrictions on the methods the academy will use to train prospective teacher, principal, or other school leader candidates, including- (i) obligating (or prohibiting) the academy’s faculty to hold advanced degrees or conduct academic research… (iii) restrictions related to the number of course credits required as part of the program of study.” (p. 305) These academies are not necessarily degree granting institutions, but they are able to issue certificates of completion or degrees. After reviewing the academy’s record of producing effective teachers, or principals, or other school leaders as determined by the State, they may recognize these certificates or degrees as the equivalent to a Master’s degree in education for the compensation or hiring purposes. ( p. 306) The new teacher/school leader training academies also require a yearlong internship. Teacher performance assessment may also be used in the federally funded academies. ESSA also includes funding for changes to teacher assessment. These new assessments are based in part on evidence of student academic achievement and may include student growth and other measures of educator performance. This language in ESSA closely parallels the much of the state legislation that has passed in recent years whereby teachers are evaluated by their students through surveys and through documentation of teaching practice through state wide longitudinal data systems that connect student test scores to teacher and principal evaluations systems. (p. 316-317) This paper focuses on the noted changes in ESSA that require teaching effectiveness based on nationally recognized assessments that are administered at the state level which may include measures of growth that compare students with other students. This is a sudden departure from NCLB that focused on teacher and principal qualifications and measured achievement based on set criteria established by the state. This paper will discuss the changes and consider the possible implications for Pre-Service Teachers