Extended Emergency Licenses: Michigan
Exiting Ineffective Teachers Policy
Analysis of Michigan's policies
Michigan allows full-year permits to be issued when a certified teacher is unavailable for a particular assignment. When a permit is requested for a core academic subject, the candidate must either have an academic major in the subject or pass a subject-area test. Permits are renewable for a maximum of four years. Renewal requires six semester hours of additional credit toward certification if a certified teacher remains unavailable. Candidates with a major must also pass the subject-area test within three years.
In addition, out-of-state certified teachers can be issued Temporary Teacher Employment Authorizations, valid for one year and nonrenewable, allowing teachers one year to meet Michigan testing requirements.
Michigan also issues permits in emergency situations, allowing candidates to teach if they hold at least a bachelor's or higher degree in the area to be taught if an otherwise qualified candidate is unavailable. The permit is only issued when "the lack of a teacher will deprive children of an education." These permits are renewable, provided the emergency situation continues and the candidate is enrolled in a teacher preparation program, has completed at least six credit hours toward certification and is assigned a mentor.
Recommendations for Michigan
Ensure that all teachers pass required subject-matter licensing tests before they enter the classroom.
All students are entitled to teachers who know the subject matter they are teaching. Permitting individuals who have not yet passed state licensing tests to teach neglects the needs of students, instead extending personal consideration to adults who may not be able to meet minimal state standards. Even though Michigan requires at least some demonstration of subject-matter knowledge for its provisional permits, the state should ensure that all teachers pass all required licensure tests—an important minimum benchmark for entering the profession—before they enter the classroom.
Limit exceptions to one year.
There might be limited and exceptional circumstances under which conditional or emergency licenses need to be granted. In these instances, it is reasonable for a state to give teachers up to one year to pass required licensing tests. Michigan's current policy puts students at risk by allowing teachers to teach on special permits for at least three years without passing required licensing tests.
State response to our analysis
Michigan recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis.
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Michigan
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Delivering Well Prepared Teachers
- Admission into Teacher Preparation
- Elementary Teacher Preparation
- Elementary Teacher Preparation in Reading Instruction
- Elementary Teacher Preparation in Mathematics
- Early Childhood
- Middle School Teacher Preparation
- Secondary Teacher Preparation
- Secondary Teacher Preparation in Science and Social Studies
- Special Education Teacher Preparation
- Special Education Preparation in Reading
- Assessing Professional Knowledge
- Student Teaching
- Teacher Preparation Program Accountability
Expanding the Pool of Teachers
Identifying Effective Teachers
- State Data Systems
- Evaluation of Effectiveness
- Frequency of Evaluations
- Tenure
- Licensure Advancement
- Equitable Distribution
Retaining Effective Teachers
Exiting Ineffective Teachers
Pensions
Research rationale
Teachers who have not
passed licensing subject-matter tests place students at risk.
While states may need a regulatory basis for filling
classroom positions with a few people who do not hold full teaching
credentials, many of the regulations permitting this put the instructional
needs of children at risk, often year after year. For example, schools can make
liberal use of provisional certificates or waivers provided by the state if
they fill classroom positions with instructors who have completed a teacher
preparation program but have not passed their state licensing tests. These
allowances are permitted for up to three years in some states. The unfortunate
consequence is that students' needs are neglected in an effort to extend
personal consideration to adults who cannot meet minimal state standards.
While some flexibility may be necessary because licensing
tests are not always administered with the needed frequency, the availability
of provisional certificates and waivers year after year signals that even the
state does not put much value on its licensing standards or what they
represent. States accordingly need to ensure that all persons given full charge
of children's learning are required to pass the relevant licensing tests in
their first year of teaching, ideally before they enter the classroom.
Licensing tests are an important minimum benchmark in the profession, and
states that allow teachers to postpone passing these tests are abandoning one
of the basic responsibilities of licensure.
Extended Emergency Licenses: Supporting Research
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, Volume 100, No. 1, February 1992, pp. 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, December 2010.