Comment Rescue: Dana Garrett on SB51
A synopsis of Senate Bill 51, sponsored by Senator David Sokola, reads as follows:
This bill strengthens teacher preparation by raising the standards for entry into the teaching profession. More specifically, the bill requires all Delaware teacher preparation programs to set high admission and completion requirements, to provide high-quality student teaching experiences and ongoing evaluation of program participants, and to prepare prospective elementary school teachers in age-appropriate literacy and mathematics instruction. Further, the bill requires preparation programs to track and report data on the effectiveness of their programs. Finally, the bill requires new educators to pass both an approved content-readiness exam and performance assessment before receiving an initial license, and requires special education teachers to demonstrate content knowledge if they plan to teach in a secondary subject.
Sounds good. But the devil is in the details. Take it away Dana:
Recently a student approached very upset SB 51 pending in Dover. My student is an Education major and is, without a doubt, one of the best students I’ve had in 20 years of teaching. But now he is thinking about changing his major and giving up on his life’s ambition of teaching middle school students. Here’s why. He read that SB 51 would prohibit anyone from becoming a teacher in DE who received a GPA below a 2.7 in high school. Now mind you, it doesn’t matter how high your GPA is once you graduate from college, although there is also a standard for that. You can have a college GPA of 4.0 but still not become a teacher in DE if your high school GPA is below 2.7. Now, I have had dozens of students who performed poorly in high school when they were immature but waited a few years before they attended college. In college they were mature, intelligent, and dedicated students who performed well. There is simply no reason why these students should be excluded from consideration for teacher positions. If the state of DE wants to have a GPA standard for college and/or graduate school, then that is understandable. And if the state wants would-be teachers to pass a competency test as part of the application process for being a teacher, then that also is sensible. But why a GPA far away from the application process (high school) should matter is absurd. Moreover, it is bad for the children because it could deprive them of excellent teachers, teachers who excelled in college but who performed poorly in high school. I understand that the Markell administration supports this bill and, now get this, so does the DSEA. I don’t know yet what other measures are proposed in the bill. Some might be worthwhile. But the measure that exercises my student is draconian, punitive, snobbish, and absurd. Please contact your representative and ask them to reject this provision.
I read the bill and see no such clause in the text of the bill.
Section 4 of the Bill regarding Educator Preparation Programs sets a minimum GPA for entry at 3.0. I think this is the provision being referred to.
The text:
Section 4. Amend Chapter 12, Title 14 of the Delaware Code by adding a new subchapter and by making insertions as shown by underlining as follows:
Subchapter VIII. Education Preparation Programs
§ 1280. Educator Preparation Program Approval.
(a) Consistent with § 122 of this title, no individual, public or private educational association, corporation, or institution, including any institution of post-secondary education, shall offer an educator preparation program for the training of educators to be licensed in this State without first having procured the assent of the Department for the offering of such programs. A program approval process based on standards adopted pursuant to this section must be established for educator preparation approval programs, phased in according to timelines determined by the Department, and fully implemented for such programs in the State. Each program shall be approved by the Department based upon significant, objective, and quantifiable performance measures.
(b) Each teacher preparation program approved by the Department shall establish rigorous entry requirements as prerequisites for admission into the program. At a minimum, each program shall require applicants to:
(1) Have a grade point average of at least a 3.0 on a 4.0 scale or a grade point average in the top 50th percentile for coursework completed during the most recent two years of the applicant’s general education, whether secondary or post-secondary; or
(2) Demonstrate mastery of general knowledge, including the ability to read, write, and compute, by achieving a minimum score on a standardized test normed to the general college-bound population, as approved by the Department.
Each educator preparation program may waive these admissions requirements for up to 10% of the students admitted. Programs shall implement strategies to ensure that students admitted under such a waiver receive assistance to demonstrate competencies to successfully meet requirements for certification.
(c) Each teacher preparation program approved by the Department shall incorporate the following:
(1) A clinical residency component, supervised by high quality educators, as defined by the Department. The clinical residency shall consist of at least ten weeks of full-time student teaching. Clinical experiences shall also be interwoven throughout and aligned with program curriculum.
(2) Instruction for prospective elementary school teachers on research-based strategies for childhood literacy and age-appropriate mathematics content;
(3) Ongoing evaluation of students, consisting of no less than an annual evaluation, aligned to the statewide educator evaluation system;
(d) Each teacher preparation program approved by the Department shall establish rigorous exit requirements, which shall include but not be limited to achievement of passing scores on both a content-readiness exam and a performance assessment.
(e) Education preparation programs administered by institutions of higher education shall collaborate with the Department to collect and report data on the performance and effectiveness of program graduates. At a minimum, such data shall measure performance and effectiveness of program graduates by student achievement. The effectiveness of each graduate shall be reported for a period of 5 years following graduation for each graduate who is employed as an educator in the State. Data shall be reported on an annual basis. The Department shall make such data available to the public.
Thanks, DD, for posting my comment. That was kind of you. I also appreciate you posting the section of the bill that pertains to my student’s concern. My student learned that an exception was being contemplated such that under some circumstances a high school GPA of 2.7 would be acceptable and not a 3.0 GPA. It appears that the proposal is that colleges and universities in DE will be mandated to not allow students to become education majors if their high school GPA is below 3.0 (2.7?). That’s crazy for the reasons I stated in my comment. Many students don’t do well in high school because of immaturity and not because of a lack of intellectual ability. That is just a fact. Colleges and universities know this. The test that matters is how well a student performs in the major and overall in college. And, as I said above, if the state wants to add a competency test to those applying to be teachers, fine. But the high school criterion is unnecessary. But now I see another problem. Suppose a Delawarean aspires to be a teacher in Delaware but, for whatever reason, attends an out of state college. Suppose this college admits the student into its education major program and the student does well even though s/he had a high school GPA below 3.0. Will this student not even get in the front door to apply to be a teacher? Imagine basing your hopes, time, hard work, and money on the assumption that if you do well in college (in this case an out of state one) only to discover that you are disqualified to be hired as a teacher in your home state of Delaware. What a bitter disappointing experience that would be. Imagine how one would feel betrayed by their own state. This provision gets worse the more one considers it.
This is a gift for your student Dana ……..
I didn’t realize this post was up and I was wondering where I would put it , but VOILA! Synchronicity!
I only hope it makes folks think
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=y_ZmM7zPLyI
There is a flow up I will post below….
Here is the follow up……hope I got the flow correct
Good luck to your student Dana……..I was one of those gifted , talented kids, played the game, passed the exams, aced them actually, because my ability to regurgitate was stellar…..
Have not used my degree or anything related to it since before the day I got it……
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D-eVF_G_p-Y
Can you please correct the first sentence in Danas post.
“Recently a student approached (me?) very upset (about?) SB 51 pending in Dover.”
“Recently a student approached very upset SB 51 (is?) pending in Dover.”
Seriously, this is an education thread. Lets strive for perfection.
Also, I will have to read the bill to determine if this exempts the Teach for America people who get a huge financial bonus and a two year contract coming right out of a college but with no teaching experience and presumably none of the other criteria laid out here.
SussexAnon, I corrected the original comment during the editing time allotted. Apparently, DD posted my comment as a separate thread before I corrected it. DD can correct it or not. It doesn’t matter to me.
Aoine, I watched the first video. Sorry, but I won’t be telling students that they don’t need a college education because Bill Gates didn’t earn a college degree. For reasons that should be perfectly obvious, basing advice about overall trends on rare occurrences would be misleading and irresponsible.
Dana- I don’t think that was his point
What I took away is that society pounds square pegs into round holes
And if society keeps trying to teach fish to fly, the fish will spends it’s whole life believing its a failure.
I happen to believe EDUCATION is very very important- but I also know that a good plumber , a great mechanic and / a great electrician can earn the same or more as an attorney or teacher.
Not to disparage teachers, but when is the last time you called one up and had to wait a considerable time to be seen
You teach, that’s what you do. Teachers believe everyone should have an academic education / college/ etc
EDUCATION is not all about academics. And yes, there are those that are outliers in our society and native intelligence will get one so far. Academics should get one farther- the disciplines teach one how to think and how to learn, but, in today’s world the standards are to teach to the test. Maybe because I was educated abroad I have a different view:
EXAMPLE- we studied Shakespeare- our group had Hamlet- we studied it for 2 YEARS, just Hamlet.
The state exam was administered-
One question on Hamlet- ” do you think Hamlet was insane” explain, support your theory using quotations from the text, cite Act and Scene”
It was a closed book exam.……
How to take the knowledge and apply it is education. Being able to rattle off facts and figures etc is not how to educate- critical thinking abilities and applied knowledge are trade-marks of a good education .
Wouldn’t it be better if our society looked at everyone as an individual and helped them find out who they are and where they can excel and allow them to do that? We are very quick to judge a person with dirty fingernails and muddy overalls- maybe if we, as a society, respected our tradespeople , those that labor with their hands, not just their minds, we would all be better off.
Not all square pegs are happy in their round holes……..
The GPA requirement for acceptance into a Delaware Educator Preparation Program is for the most recent two years of the applicant’s education.
In other words, if they don’t have a 3.0 coming out of high school, they could earn it in general college studies, then apply.
They simply want a standard of academic excellence to be present in those considering academic careers. Show that standard for two years and you’re the kind of person they want.
Low GPA is a not a scarlet letter to be worn forever.
The real devil is from the clause above:
As written, higher education institutions, inside AND outside of Delaware, are not permitted to train teachers “to be licensed in THIS state” without the ASSENT of the the Delaware DOE. Imagine the response of Teachers College at Columbia!
In addition, this bill seeks to further embed the idea that we will track the graduates of higher education institions using their evaluations, which are performed using the state system called DPASS-II. This system has 5 components, but it has a controlling “supercomponent”: student test scores. This tracking will yield a ranking of teacher training schools and may lead to possible program revocation (reversal of assent) at a University (again, can’t wait to see how non-Delaware universities react).
So who here thinks that Universities will actively push their graduates, knowing they will have their program evaluated by test scores, into high needs schools?
Moreover, why can’t our policy makers ask simple questions when bullshit like SB51 land on their table?
This bill is classic bad policy being attached to benign items to sneak it through. I sure hope the Education committees in both chambers take the time to see its flaws,I also hope the DSEA’a supported is conditional on significant modification, and I really hope the 4 higher education institution presidents stand together and the the Governor and DOE to shove it you know where on the issue of their right to offer whatever majors they wish!
For what it’s worth I have also dissected it here: https://transparentchristina.wordpress.com/2013/04/24/delaware-senate-bill-51-a-trojan-horse-designed-to-confuse-sponsors-and-screw-delaware-kids-netde-edude/
Del Dem,
The synopsis actually does not not good as it clearly reveals the intent:
Further, the bill requires preparation programs to track and report data on the effectiveness of their programs.
This will likely cause serious behavioral modifications at the universities affected. They will be counter intuitive to the Governor’s goals. Much like the rest of his carrots and sticks methods. He gets the opposite of his goals because he has demonstrated a virtual absent sense of understanding how human beings are motivated, specifically in schools.
Here is an excellent quote from a blog about what SB51 is trying to do:
link to full post: http://schoolfinance101.wordpress.com/2011/10/03/rating-ed-schools-by-student-outcome-data/
“Moreover, why can’t our policy makers ask simple questions when bullshit like SB51 land on their table?”
Have you seen these policy makers? Most of them are rejects from their chosen career.
This teacher says “SB 51 is bad for education.” Dana’s points, and John Young’s points, and Steve Newton’s points should all be required reading by the Governor (a rather unfriendly governor in terms of public education) and the General Assembly.
Both the General Assembly and the Governor have been extremely incompetent/negligent when it comes to public education. The arrogance of Jack actually thinking he had a prayer of ever being named US Secretary of Education. What world does he live in?
JACK….you don’t have it what it takes, and you never will. How’s that for an application requirement?
And as far as I can tell, this would be unique to teachers. Engineers, laywers, doctors don’t seem to have this requirement in Delaware.
So if I read John correctly, having two doctorates makes you far less a good teacher than getting a 3.0 in high school. Ummm. ok.
2nd question. What is wrong with the editorial staff of the News Journal, that they can no longer read data? Are they really that incompetent? There is a preponderance of raw facts, (yes it is math), that points to the exact opposite of what they are preaching.
Is the News Journal staff nothing more than a parrot? Where are their good researchers and writers and why aren’t THEY on this story?
Is the News Journal staff nothing more than a parrot?
Please stop insulting parrots.
Cassandra,
Imagine ranking medical schools based on patient outcomes of grads? Anyone think the best doctors would end up in the healthiest parts of America and that poverty would be relatively absent?
I do.
Medical schools wouldn’t have any of that kind of assessment — mainly because there is a good deal about patient outcomes that is out of the physician’s hands.
The other thing that is different for physicians (and lawyers and engineers) is that they can be held liable for professional malpractice, typically in the form of negligence. So what would teacher professional malpractice look like — while bypassing issues that the teacher has little to no control over?
Will the higher standards mean higher pay? Maybe enough to make us competitive with NJ or PA so the stop taking the best candidates in the region because the pay more? Or how about some student accountability? Teachers cannot MAKE students do anything.
The bill does not deal with HS GPA’s at all. At all the schools in the state (expect Wilmington) – all accepting students in education are “Pre-Education” majors. After completion of the Sophomore year – and usually a minimum GPA of 3.0 – they can then apply to be Education majors. The vast majority of teachers in your classroom if they came from UD, Wesley or DSU have 3.0 GPAs. What this bill does is pump the breaks on the Wilmington University degree-mill from saturating our schools with unqualified teachers.
Concerned Citizen, the bill explicitly states that a HS GPA can be a determining factor: “(1) Have a grade point average of at least a 3.0 on a 4.0 scale or a grade point average in the top 50th percentile for coursework completed during the most recent two years of the applicant’s general education, whether secondary or postsecondary…. “
Dana. That is to enroll in the program once you get to college. I encourage you to call UD, Wesley and DSU Education Depts and ask about the qualifications currently to because an Education Major (not Pre-Education) – they will tell you. Students must have a 3.0 after Sophomore year in school to enroll as an Education major. This is already happening. Wilmington University is the only school that doesnt have a “Pre-Education” hurdle currently. You will now have to have a 3.0 in high school to enroll at Wilmington as Education major. At Wilmington you walk in as a Freshman Education major – only school in the state where that happens.
A 4.0 high school valedictorian can apply to UD for Education today – they will be accepted as a “Pre-Education” major. After 2 years of proving themselves at the University they then reapply for the education program. This covers the:
“(1) Have a grade point average of at least a 3.0 on a 4.0 scale or a grade point average in the top 50th percentile for coursework completed during the most recent two years of the applicant’s general education, whether secondary or postsecondary.
The Secondary part only applies to Wilmington because they have no post secondary requirement for Education majors. They have open enrollment. So a barely graduated from high school screw up can walk into Wilmington U and be an Education major if they arent regulated. Slip thru with online classes, etc. and teach to the test for Praxis.
Dana-
You can tell your student dont worry about a high school requirement unless she is going to Wilmington. She can still go to Del Tech and enroll in Pre Education – then transfer to UD, DSU or Wesley. Or go straight to DSU or Wesley as Pre-Education Major. 2.7 probably too low for UD but ok for DSU or Wesley.
Concerned Citizen, the student I mentioned is a student at one of the institutions you mentioned and he is a freshman and it’s not Wilmington University. He is ALREADY an education major. Now he is thinking about changing his major.
Concerned citizen
Unfortunately your take here is inaccurate. Students generally apply for the teacher preparation program at UD and DSU during their Sophomore year. This will almost always mean that they have completed less than two years of post-secondary education. Therefore, as the law is written, if they have not completed sixty hours at the time that they apply, the university will be obliged to consider their grades from high school as well.
It is an idiotic and poorly written law.