Counterpoint: Minnesota shouldn't settle for second-best teachers

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At the end of the 2017 legislative session, a tiered teacher licensure system was adopted in Minnesota. Great deliberation went into the creation of temporary "Tier 1" and "Tier 2" teaching licenses, which allow vacant teaching positions to be filled when a fully qualified teacher can't be found.

However, at the very end of that legislative session, long after public testimony had been heard and the opportunity for parents and educators to give input had ended, a drastic change was added to the bill through an amendment in conference committee.

This change allowed a teacher who had taught for three years on a temporary Tier 2 license to be granted a full, transferable Tier 3 teaching license as long as the teacher hadn't been placed on an improvement plan.

This shortcut to full licensure created a pathway that allows people who have never demonstrated many of the competencies that our state requires for teacher licensure to be given a full Minnesota teaching license.

This year, the Minnesota Legislature is poised to remove this shortcut provision that was slipped into the original tiered licensure bill.

Highly trained teachers are vital to the integrity of our public school system, and we are dismayed by the public pressure campaign that has played out in the media, including in this newspaper, trying to prevent this correction from being made ("Listen to English learners on education bill," April 20; "DFLers put support of union ahead of equity, need for teachers," Evan Ramstad column, April 8; "Don't block the path of would-be teachers," March 24). We are especially concerned about the large amount of misinformation that has been spread on this topic.

The last minute nature of this change to the tiered license legislation has been erased from the narrative being circulated. Instead, this shortcut has been described as "a program" that needs to be given time to work. In fact, this is the opposite of a program.

Inaccurate testimony has been offered in committee meetings. This has even included testimony by children who have been told, erroneously, that their teachers will lose their jobs if this provision is passed. In fact, the legislation includes a legacy clause, and teachers currently on a Tier 2 license will not be impacted by this change.

We are also alarmed by the dismissive attitudes of many in the state about the warning from the federal Office of Special Education Programs regarding noncompliance with federal law. Minnesota's shortcut pathway to a teaching license violates federal disability law addressing the preparation and credentialing of special education teachers. Continuing this licensure pathway opens our state to consequences, including the loss of special education funding.

Most problematic, however, is the narrative that suggests this route to teacher licensure is somehow necessary because teachers of color need this shortcut. The majority of teachers of color with whom we have discussed this issue do not want to be held to a lower set of standards, nor do they want a public narrative that insinuates that only by lowering teacher standards can we recruit teachers of color.

They don't want and they don't need a shortcut to licensure. They want the barriers to licensure removed. They want reasonable, affordable pathways into the profession. They want biased teacher licensure exams removed. They want working conditions in schools that support and welcome them. They want schools to be adequately funded and teachers to be fairly compensated.

The K-12 and higher education bills currently making their way through the legislative process go a long way toward making these things happen.

Minnesota does, indeed, have a shamefully low percentage of teachers of color, and it is vitally important that we continue to work intensely to diversify our teacher workforce. But lowering the standards for teachers is not the way to do this.

Minnesota has always had high standards for its teachers. Indeed, until 2017 we had some of the highest standards in the nation. The tiered licensure bill changed that. This lowering of standards should be a concern to all parents with children in schools and for all Minnesotans who understand the importance of a high-quality public education system.

The simple fact, supported by a robust research base, is that how teachers are prepared matters. There are skills and knowledge that effective teachers have that increase their likelihood of success. Teachers who complete a preparation program are more likely to have these skills and demonstrate this knowledge. Teachers who complete preparation programs are more likely to stay in the profession. Schools with higher numbers of fully trained teachers produce better student results.

We urge our lawmakers to stay the course and remove the Tier 2 licensure shortcut as a pathway to full teacher licensure.

Caroline Maguire is president, Minnesota Association of Colleges of Teacher Education (MACTE) and continuous improvement coordinator, Office of Teacher Education, University of Minnesota. Laura Mogelson is legislative liaison for MACTE and director, multiple pathways to teaching, College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota. Darrell Stolle is president-elect, MACTE, and professor and chair, Department of Education, Concordia College, Moorhead.