Licensure Reciprocity: Michigan

Expanding the Pool of Teachers Policy

Goal

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

Does not meet goal
Suggested Citation:
National Council on Teacher Quality. (2011). Licensure Reciprocity: Michigan results. State Teacher Policy Database. [Data set].
Retrieved from: https://www.nctq.org/yearbook/state/MI-Licensure-Reciprocity-7

Analysis of Michigan's policies

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

Regrettably, Michigan grants a waiver for its licensing tests to any out-of-state teacher with three years of experience who also satisfies the reading and higher education coursework requirements.

Teachers with valid out-of-state certificates are eligible for Michigan's professional certificate. In addition to three years of teaching experience, applicants who completed a teacher preparation program outside the state of Michigan must meet the state's reading requirement with six semester credit hours of reading methods for an elementary level certificate, or three such hours for a secondary level certificate. They must also have completed 18 semester credit hours in an approved master's program after issuance of the initial license or hold an approved out-of-state master's or higher degree.

Also, transcripts are required for all out-of-state teachers. It is not clear whether the state analyzes transcripts to determine whether a teacher was prepared through a traditional or alternate route, or whether additional coursework will be required.

Michigan is also a participant in the NASDTEC Interstate Agreement; however, the latest iteration of this agreement no longer purports to be a reciprocity agreement among states and thus is no longer included in this analysis.

Citation

Recommendations for Michigan

To uphold standards, require that teachers coming from other states meet testing requirements.
Michigan takes considerable risk by granting a waiver for its licensing tests to any out-of-state teacher who has three years of teaching experience and satisfies the reading and higher education coursework requirements. The state should not provide any waivers of its teacher tests unless an applicant can provide evidence of a passing score under its own standards.

Offer a standard license to certified out-of-state teachers, absent unnecessary requirements.
While Michigan's reading requirement is reasonable, it should take steps to ensure that the coursework focuses on the science of reading instruction (see Goal 1-C) and that it inserts flexibility into its policy by allowing a test-out option. Michigan should reconsider its higher education coursework requirement, as it is unlikely to positively affect a teacher's effectiveness, and such a requirement may deter 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.
Michigan 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 begin anew, repeating some, most or all of a teacher preparation program in Michigan. 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

MIchigan was helpful in providing NCTQ with facts that enhanced this analysis.

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).