Part-Time Teaching Licenses: Louisiana
Expanding the Pool of Teachers Policy
Analysis of Louisiana's policies
Louisiana offers the Math for Professionals Certificate as a
part-time license. The Math for Professionals Certificate is valid for one year
and allows an individual to teach one or more mathematics courses on a
part-time basis. The certificate can be renewed on an annual basis.
Candidates for the certificate must have an undergraduate degree with at least
30 credit hours of mathematics coursework, a master's degree in mathematics or
a science content area or be able to pass the mathematics content area test.
Candidates are required to complete a district-developed classroom
readiness/training program prior to entering the classroom.
Recommendations for Louisiana
Allow other subject-matter experts to teach under a similar certificate.
While Louisiana is commended for offering a license that increases districts'
flexibility to staff mathematics courses, the state should consider extending
such a license to content experts in other subjects, including other STEM
areas, that are frequently hard to staff or may not have high enough enrollment
to necessitate a full-time position.
Require applicants to pass a subject-matter test.
Although Louisiana allows professionals the flexibility to
demonstrate their content knowledge on a test, the state should require a
subject-matter test of all applicants, including those with 30 credit hours or
a master's degree. While the state does require evidence of content knowledge,
only a subject-matter test ensures that teachers on the Math for Professionals
Certificate know the specific content they will need to teach.
State response to our analysis
Louisiana recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis.
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Louisiana
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Delivering Well Prepared Teachers
- Admission into Teacher Preparation
- Elementary Teacher Preparation
- Elementary Teacher Preparation in Reading Instruction
- Elementary Teacher Preparation in Mathematics
- Early Childhood
- Middle School Teacher Preparation
- Secondary Teacher Preparation
- Secondary Teacher Preparation in Science and Social Studies
- Special Education Teacher Preparation
- Special Education Preparation in Reading
- Assessing Professional Knowledge
- Student Teaching
- Teacher Preparation Program Accountability
Expanding the Pool of Teachers
Identifying Effective Teachers
- State Data Systems
- Evaluation of Effectiveness
- Frequency of Evaluations
- Tenure
- Licensure Advancement
- Equitable Distribution
Retaining Effective Teachers
Exiting Ineffective Teachers
Pensions
Research rationale
Part-time licenses
can help alleviate severe shortages, especially in STEM subjects.
Some of the subject areas in which states face the greatest
teacher shortages are also areas that require the deepest subject-matter
expertise. Staffing shortages are
further exacerbated because schools or districts may not have high enough
enrollments to necessitate full-time positions.
Part-time licenses can be a creative mechanism to get content experts to
teach a limited number of courses. Of
course, a fully licensed teacher is best, but when that isn't an option, a
part-time license allows students to benefit from content experts—individuals
who are not interested in a full-time teaching position and are thus unlikely to
pursue traditional or alternative certification. States should limit requirements for part-time licenses to
those that verify subject-matter knowledge and address public safety, such as
background checks.
Part-Time Teaching Licenses: Supporting Research
The origin of this goal is the effort to find
creative solutions to the STEM crisis. While teaching waivers are not typically
used this way, teaching waivers could be used to allow competent
professionals from outside of education to be hired as part-time instructors to
teach courses such as Advanced Placement chemistry or calculus as long as the
instructor demonstrates content knowledge on a rigorous test. See NCTQ, "Tackling the STEM Crisis: Five steps your state can take to improve the quality and quantity of its K-12 math and science teachers", at: http://www.nctq.org/p/docs/nctq_nmsi_stem_initiative.pdf.
For
the importance of teachers' general academic ability, see R. Ferguson,
"Paying for Public Education: New Evidence on How and Why Money
Matters," Harvard Journal on Legislation,Volume 28, Summer 1991, pp. 465-498.
For
more on math and science content knowledge, see D. Monk, "Subject Area Preparation of Secondary Mathematics and Science Teachers and Student Achievement," Economics of Education Review, Volume 13, No. 2, June 1994, pp. 125-145; R. Murnane, "Understanding the Sources of Teaching Competence: Choices, Skills, and the Limits of Training," Teachers
College Record, Volume 84, No. 3, 1983, pp. 564-569.