Licensure Loopholes: Connecticut

Exiting Ineffective Teachers Policy

Goal

The state should close loopholes that allow teachers who have not met licensure requirements to continue teaching.

Nearly meets goal
Suggested Citation:
National Council on Teacher Quality. (2011). Licensure Loopholes: Connecticut results. State Teacher Policy Database. [Data set].
Retrieved from: https://www.nctq.org/yearbook/state/CT-Licensure-Loopholes-10

Analysis of Connecticut's policies

Connecticut offers a nonrenewable interim certificate, valid for 12 months, to teachers who have not passed required state licensing tests. Applicants are eligible for an interim certificate only once and must complete required tests prior to the certificate's expiration date.

The interim certificate is issued to: teachers new to Connecticut who have taught for at least three school years and are certified in their home state, graduates of approved teacher preparation programs outside Connecticut and charter school teachers hired after July 1st in any school year who meet the requirements for entry into Connecticut's alternative certification program.

Citation

Recommendations for Connecticut

Ensure that all teachers pass required subject-matter licensing tests before they enter the classroom.
While Connecticut's policy minimizes the risks brought about by having teachers in classrooms who lack sufficient or appropriate subject-matter knowledge by offering its interim certificate for one year only, the state could take its policy a step further and require all teachers to meet subject-matter licensure requirements prior to entering the classroom.

State response to our analysis

Connecticut recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis.

Research rationale

Research has shown that "the difference in student performance in a single academic year from having a good as opposed to a bad teacher can be more than one full year of standardized achievement." See E. Hanushek, "The Trade-Off between Child Quantity and Quality," The Journal of Political Economy 100 No. 1 (1992): 84-117. Hanushek has also found that highly effective teachers can improve future student earnings by more than $400,000, assuming a class of 20.  "The Economic Value of Higher Teacher Quality." National Bureau of Economic Research. Working Paper 16606 (2010).