Earlier this month, an Indiana state panel that supervises teacher licensing in the state successfully swept aside many of the more arcane rules governing teacher certification-remnants of the "Sue-Ellen" era that her replacement, new schools superintendent Tony Bennett, is determined to change.

The new policies mirror NCTQ's recommendations for states seeking to modernize their rules.

From now on, teacher candidates in Indiana will only be allowed to major in education if the education school's content requirements meet or exceed the content requirements of a subject major that non-teachers on that same campus must pursue.

The new regulations signal a dramatic end to the state's long held distaste for alternate routes. Now, teacher candidates with a baccalaureate degree in any subject can receive a license by taking an education minor (roughly 15 credit hours) and passing a content-knowledge test. This new provision will make it much easier for districts to hire so called "profession changers."