Controversial alternative teaching permit approved by Indiana State Board of Education

FORT WAYNE — The Indiana State Board of Education on Wednesday approved a controversial proposal to provide another way for people without a teaching degree to teach high school students, despite outrage from teachers who said it would devalue their profession and subject kids to unprepared educators.

Board members who voted for the career specialist permit said the license would let individual schools decide whether to hire a nontraditional teacher who could bring expertise into the classroom.

But educators who voiced their opposition at a meeting at the Ivy Tech Community College in Fort Wayne, called the permit proposal an experiment on children, saying teachers need to be fully trained in child behavior and other specialties before being allowed to run a classroom.

Terry Springer, a former Fort Wayne public school teacher, questioned how schools could convince a highly qualified scientist or person from other sought-after professions to leave a high-paying career to become a moderately paid teacher.

Springer also cast doubt on the value of such applicants' work experience compared with a lack of instructional know-how. "It doesn't mean they can hit the first day running," Springer said.

Board members Glenda Ritz, the state superintendent of public instruction, and Brad Oliver attempted to kill the career specialist permit, saying it lacked accountability and that there was no way to track these permit-holders and compare them to teachers with traditional licensees.

Ritz and Oliver also argued that other established teaching permits, such as the transition to teaching permit and emergency permit, already provide an alternative route to get educators into the classroom.

The transition to teaching permit requires a person to be enrolled in an approved teacher-preparation program before applying for the permit, while the emergency permit lets a superintendent hire someone with any college baccalaureate degree to teach a topic for one year if there is a need in the district.

"I do believe it is possible to have non-college and non-university programs that are quality if we lay the groundwork for it," Oliver said. "But my concern is that the language in the final (proposal) does not do that."

The Board of Education voted 7-3 to create the career specialist permit, which would allow college graduates with a B average in any subject to teach high school students after passing one exam.

In addition, these teacher hopefuls would need 6,000 hours of professional experience in the subject that they would teach. They also would have to begin a teacher training program within the first month of taking a teaching job.

The vote basically ends a battle educators and reformers have fought for three years over these nontraditional routes that would allow college graduates without a teaching degree to get a teaching license.

Teacher colleges in the state, including Ball State and Indiana universities, and the State Teachers Association, a union representing educators, have been on the forefront of opposing the career specialist permit as well as previous proposals that reduced the education and degrees required to become an Indiana teacher.

Such teacher-licensing changes were initiated by Tony Bennett, the former state superintendent of public instruction, but were not implemented after he lost the election to Ritz in 2012.

The permit is one of a number of proposed rules that still must be signed off by the attorney general and Gov. Mike Pence before Dec. 31. This new version of the rules is often referred to as REPA III, or rules for educator preparation and accountability.

Supporters, such as board member David Freitas, said the permit will allow decisions about such alternative educators to be made by those who know best what they need.

"We give a lot of lip-service to local control of public schools and I see this issue as an opportunity to reinforce and affirm our great school principals, great school board and great superintendents to make that decision for allowing people to have a pathway into the profession," Freitas said. "But the gatekeepers should not be at the state level. ... That is best done by the local school board."

Also during Wednesday's meeting, board voted to change the 2012-13 state accountability grade for Flanner House Charter Elementary School from "A" to "no grade." Last month the Department of Education reported that there was evidence of systemic cheating by school staff on the 2013 and 2014 ISTEP exams. The department already voided the school's ISTEP scores for both years. Flanner House is set to close Sept. 11.

Call Star reporter Eric Weddle at (317) 444-6222. Follow him on Twitter: @ericweddle