Alabama teacher certification: State pushes to again loosen rules

Alabama lawmakers say the state is missing opportunities to get more good teachers in the classroom – and are championing a bill to expand pathways for credentials.

Supporters say new legislation will make it easier to become a teacher in Alabama, and could help address teacher shortages. But some in the state worry that the legislation will prop up low-quality educators and encourage risky vendors to enter the state.

“I think that’s very clear that they’re trying to open the pathway to more folks who couldn’t meet the first set of rules,” State Superintendent Eric Mackey told AL.com Tuesday.

Several state laws in recent years have expanded ways that alternative teacher preparation programs can become licensed in the state – though none have yet been approved. Some for-profit teacher prep programs, like Teachers of Tomorrow, which is facing scrutiny in Texas, allow people with a bachelor’s degree outside of education to get certified without returning to college.

“We’re missing some opportunities in Alabama to have qualified teachers available in our school systems, and we need to get this moving,” Rep. Susan Dubose, R-Hoover, a cosponsor for HB308, told lawmakers last week.

Sponsors said the new bill will simply expand opportunities for other programs to be considered. But some are wary that, without proper safeguards, more options could lead to a less qualified teaching force.

“We’re all for certifying additional teachers and filling vacancies – we need that,” Allison King, government liaison for the Alabama Education Association, told AL.com. “We just want to make sure it’s quality programming and it’s producing a quality product.”

Mackey said that if credentialing is expanded to include more alternative programs, the state will fairly evaluate new candidates. But he said he doesn’t like changing the rules so often.

In Alabama, alternative programs can qualify for licensure if they have been established for at least 10 years, have operated successfully in at least five states, and have certified at least 10,000 teachers in the U.S. They also must ensure candidates are up-to-date on state math and literacy standards and provide additional support to candidates after they are placed in schools.

Under a 2023 state law, programs that do not meet those criteria can still qualify for licensure if they are accredited by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation. DuBose’s bill adds another accreditor, the Association for Advancing Quality Education Preparedness.

In the past five years, the number of candidates who completed traditional educator prep programs in Alabama has declined by 17%, according to state data. Enrollment in state teacher prep programs is just now beginning to improve after a long decline.

It’s unclear just how many schools currently have teacher vacancies, but recent surveys have shown major shortages in various subjects and grade levels. In the fall of 2022, Alabama schools reported more than 1,500 teacher positions had gone unfilled at the start of the school year.

Are more alternative programs coming to Alabama?

Alabama had 25 traditional programs and 16 alternative programs based at higher education institutions in the 2021-2022 academic year. It had no alternative programs based outside of local colleges.

Non-college-based teacher prep programs typically take less time to complete and are less expensive than college-based programs. Many offer online preparation and some move teachers straight to the head of the class with no classroom teaching experience. Specifics of programs differ depending on each state’s certification requirements.

Since the law was updated last year, four alternative teacher programs submitted applications to the Alabama State Department of Education. The board failed to approve one at their March meeting and will consider two more on Thursday. Just one of those programs was CAEP accredited, officials said at a work session last month.

In a candid discussion with board members last month, Mackey called last year’s legislation a “war between vendors and lobbyists,” and anticipated some difficult conversations with legislators in the weeks ahead.

Sponsors have since made some tweaks, but Mackey said he still disagrees that any changes should be made this year.

“We’ve got really good people in certification that are looking at these programs, but if they reject one then it’s rejected,” he said. “And I don’t like the process of coming back and saying, ‘Well you know, somebody got rejected, so let’s change the rules.’”

Teachers of Tomorrow

Standing before lawmakers last week, DuBose mentioned a Texas program that she said had certified over half of the state’s teachers.

“We need to get some of these really good quality vendors available in the state of Alabama,” she told the committee.

DuBose confirmed to AL.com that the program she cited was Teachers of Tomorrow, a for-profit company accredited under AAQEP that, under the new bill, could potentially qualify for licensure in Alabama.

In 2021, Texas Teachers of Tomorrow was placed on probation after an audit found the program was out of compliance with state standards in several key areas, including admissions, governance and curriculum. The program now is at risk of losing its ability to certify teachers in Texas.

DuBose told AL.com that she learned about the organization from Mackey, who mentioned it at a summer board meeting. Alabama started a three-year pilot program in 2020 with the group, but discontinued it in 2022.

“It did not go as well as we had hoped, I’m just going to be honest with you,” Mackey told board members last month.

Several candidates had complained about the vendor not being responsive, he said. Mackey told AL.com that he brought his concerns to the company, and neither party requested to continue on with the partnership. Once last year’s bill was passed, they no longer met those requirements because of their probationary status.

Teachers of Tomorrow did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AL.com. Mackey said the company has told him that they want to eventually come back to work in Alabama, and have assured him that they’re working to straighten out problems in Texas.

“There are just a lot of steps between here and there,” he said. “We’re going to follow the law fairly, and we’re going to treat everybody fairly, and we’ll just see where we go.”

DuBose said she had later become aware of concerns about the group, but stressed that she was not upholding any particular program or vendor.

“I would like several to qualify so that individuals have more options,” she told AL.com.

She added that the process to fill more schools with qualified teachers doesn’t stop at the state board. Local schools should be trusted to make smart choices about who they hire, she said.

“Just because they go through this program doesn’t mean they’re automatically a teacher,” she said. “And we’ve got principals that are experienced enough to be able to make those decisions.”

The state board of education will vote to approve or deny two alternative programs – iteach, which is CAEP accredited, and the nonprofit American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence – at its board meeting on April 11.

“I don’t know if either one of them will pass, but we’re going to see how that works out,” Mackey said.