Licensure Reciprocity: Alaska

Expanding the Pool of Teachers Policy

Goal

The state should help to make licenses fully portable among states, with appropriate safeguards.

Meets goal in part
Suggested Citation:
National Council on Teacher Quality. (2011). Licensure Reciprocity: Alaska results. State Teacher Policy Database. [Data set].
Retrieved from: https://www.nctq.org/yearbook/state/AK-Licensure-Reciprocity-7

Analysis of Alaska's policies

Alaska does not support licensure reciprocity for certified teachers from other states.

Commendably, Alaska requires that all teachers meet its own passing scores on licensing tests, and out-of-state teachers are allowed one year to meet these testing requirements.

However, other aspects of the state's policy create obstacles for teachers from other states seeking licensure in Alaska. Teachers with valid out-of-state certificates are eligible for Alaska's preliminary teaching license, but Alaska requires three credit hours each in Alaska studies and multicultural communications, and teachers must submit a transcript showing that six additional semester hours of credit have been earned within the past five years. The state does not offer a test-out option for any of its coursework requirements.

Although transcripts are required for all applicants, it is not clear whether the state analyzes these transcripts to determine whether a teacher was prepared through a traditional or alternate route or whether additional coursework will be required.

Citation

Recommendations for Alaska

Offer a standard license to certified out-of-state teachers, absent unnecessary requirements.
The state should offer standard licenses to certified out-of-state teachers rather than restricting them to provisional ones until they meet Alaska's requirements. Although the state's Alaska studies and multicultural communications coursework requirements are reasonable, it should offer out-of-state teachers a test-out option. The state should also reconsider its recency requirement as a means to judge licensure eligibility. Recent coursework is unlikely to positively affect a teacher's effectiveness, and such a requirement may deter experienced, effective teachers from applying for licensure in the state.

Accord the same license to out-of-state alternate route teachers as would be accorded to traditionally prepared teachers.
Alaska should consider discontinuing its requirement for the submission of transcripts. Transcript analysis is likely to result in additional coursework requirements, even for traditionally prepared teachers; alternate route teachers, on the other hand, may have to virtually begin anew, repeating some, most or all of a teacher preparation program in Alaska. Regardless of whether a teacher was prepared through a traditional or alternate route, all certified out-of-state teachers should receive equal treatment.

State response to our analysis

Alaska asserted that it accepts out-of-state certificates as the basis for initial certification, and that it does not have preliminary licensure. Teachers with current, valid out-of-state certificates are issued initial certificates in Alaska, and depending on whether the teacher has passed an accepted basic competency test, that initial certificate is valid for either one or two years. 

Research rationale

Many professions have gone further than teaching in encouraging interstate mobility. The requirements for attorneys, for example, are complicated, but often offer certain kinds of flexibility, such as allowing them to answer a small set of additional questions. See the Comprehensive Guide to Bar Admissions Requirements 2007, published by the National Conference of Bar Examiners and the American Bar Association, available at:
http://www.ncbex.org/ .

On the similarity in effectiveness between graduates of traditional and alternative programs, see  J. Constantine, D. Player, T. Silva, K. Hallgren, M. Grider, and J. Deke, An Evaluation of Teachers Trained Through Different Routes to Certification, Final Report. National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Services, U.S. Department of Education (2009), D. Boyd, et al. "How Changes in Entry Requirements Alter the Teacher Workforce and Affect Student Achievement." Education Finance and Policy, (2006).  T. Kane, J. Rockoff, and D. Staiger. "What Does Certification Tell Us About Teacher Effectiveness? Evidence from New York City." National Bureau of Economic Research. (2006), G. Henry and C. Thompson, "Impacts of Teacher Preparation on Student Test Scores in North Carolina." Teacher Portals. University of North Carolina (2010). Z.Xu, J. Hannaway and C. Taylor, "Making a Difference? The Effects of Teach for America in High School." The Urban Institute/Calder. (2009), D. Boyd et al "Recruiting Effective Math Teachers, How Do Math Immersion Teachers Compare? Evidence from New York City." Calder Institute (2009); as well as "How Changes in Entry Requirements Alter the Teacher Workforce and Affect Student Achievement," by Donald Boyd, Pamela Grossman, Hamilton Lankford, Susanna Loeb, and James Wyckoff, National Bureau of Economic Research, December 2005; and "The Effects of Teach For America on Students: Findings from a National Evaluation," (Mathematica Policy Research Inc., 2004).