Becoming a public school teacher in Illinois, which for years required little more than passing a high school-level basic skills exam and a fairly easy test in one field of study, will become more arduous under a sweeping package of reforms being considered by state education officials.
Under the proposal, aspiring teachers would have to pass a rigorous, college-level basic test of math, reading and writing skills before entering an accredited teaching program in Illinois. After graduation, they would receive a temporary teaching certificate after passing more strenuous tests in the subject areas they hope to teach, and another test to prove they know how to teach.
Finally, they would obtain a five-year license after undergoing an assessment of their classroom teaching skills.
The proposal also could require every school district to create a mentoring program for novice teachers.
The Illinois State Board of Education, which accredits teaching colleges, took the first step toward implementing those reforms Thursday when it approved stringent “content-area standards,” the body of knowledge a prospective teacher must master before receiving a diploma.
The state’s teacher education programs are based mainly on the number of credit hours students must pass, not on the specific knowledge they must learn. For instance, French teachers need never prove they can speak French, only that they completed the required number of French classes.
The plan to drastically alter the state’s teacher training programs is the latest move by the State Board of Education to ratchet up the demands on current and potential teachers, which educators acknowledge are embarrassingly low. For instance, on the current Test of Basic Skills, teachers need only post a three out of six on the writing exam. And those who fail the test can retake it unlimited times. Moreover, a middle school teacher who has a certificate to teach art, legally can teach math after completing 18 college credit hours in math.
“Right now, I would say Illinois is on the second tier when it comes to how we train and prepare teachers,” said Mike Long, who oversees teacher preparation for the State Board of Education. “It’s no secret that students’ performance in the classroom can be directly attributed to the quality of teaching they receive. If we are going to toughen our standards for students, then we have to toughen our standards for teachers.”
Illinois colleges and universities have until 2003 to align their curricula with the newly adopted content-area standards. The remainder of the teacher education reform proposals, such as tests and assessments, are under discussion and promise to be the most cantankerous aspects.
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The state’s teacher education reform efforts mirror a national move to rid classrooms of inept teachers and keep the good ones, who often leave for better paying and less stressful jobs.
But it also comes at a time when a massive teacher shortage looms. Federal education officials estimate that shortage will reach 2 million during the next decade, with the recruitment of math and science teachers reaching crisis proportions.
That stark reality weighed heavily in the state’s reform efforts.
The new proposal would have created a certification in the broad field of “science,” where potential teachers would receive training in all the science fields. Then, a high school teacher with a science certificate could teach chemistry, physics or biology.
Currently, a high school physics teacher is supposed to have an endorsement to teach physics, and one who teaches chemistry needs a chemistry endorsement. But a critical shortage of science teachers has forced Illinois school districts to hire teachers who have no training to teach science classes, Long said.
The new designation would increase the pool of trained science teachers and mitigate Illinois’ out-of-field teaching problem.
But the science standards were tabled after Board Chairman Ron Gidwitz complained about the broad nature.
“My concern is if we don’t have a level of specificity [on the science certificates], children in this state will not benefit from a science curriculum that is second to none and is universally available,” he said.
There are other critics. Some business leaders complain the reform efforts do not go far enough. And teachers union officials, while offering support for higher standards, express concern over the final assessment of classroom skills and the possibility of making teachers pass a test in every subject they plan to teach.
Susan Shea, spokeswoman for the Illinois Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, said, “So far, we agree with most of what the state board has done, but I guarantee their will be some cussing and discussing when it comes down to assessments.”
Carolyn Nordstrom, president of the Chicago United, a non-profit coalition of 75 business leaders, alleges that state officials are not being aggressive enough.
“Things are better than they used to be, but they are not where they need to be,” Nordstrom said of the teacher education reform. “We feel they [state board officials] need to take a leadership role and not be afraid to ask teachers to reach higher standards. They almost have an apologetic attitude about it.”