Licensure Reciprocity: Michigan
Expanding the Pool of Teachers Policy
Analysis of Michigan's policies
Teachers with valid out-of-state certificates and three years of "successful" teaching experience are eligible for Michigan's professional certificate. The state does not specifically require evidence of effective teaching during previous employment in its reciprocity policy.
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.
In addition to experience, applicants who completed a teacher preparation program outside the state of Michigan must also 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.
Michigan is a participant in the NASDTEC Interstate Agreement, which outlines which other states' certificates will be accepted by the receiving state. This agreement is not a collection of two-way reciprocal acceptances, nor is it a guarantee that all certificates will be accepted by the receiving state, and it is therefore not included in this analysis.
Recommendations for Michigan
Require evidence of effective teaching when determining eligibility for full certification.
To facilitate the movement of effective teachers between states, Michigan should require that evidence of teacher effectiveness, as determined by an evaluation that includes objective measures of student growth, be considered for all out-of-state candidates. Such evidence should indeed be a factor for candidates who come from states that make student growth an important factor of a teacher evaluation, especially in a state such as Michigan, which requires evidence of student growth to be a significant criterion of its teacher evaluations (see "Evaluation of Effectiveness" analysis and recommendations).
To uphold standards, require that teachers coming from other states meet testing requirements.
Michigan should insist that out-of-state teachers meet its own testing requirements, and it should not provide any waivers of its teacher tests unless an applicant can provide evidence of a passing score under its own standards. By continuing to allow testing waivers, Michigan cannot be assured that teachers who have passed assessments in other states have met comparable content knowledge expectations.
Offer a standard license to certified out-of-state teachers, absent unnecessary requirements.
While Michigan's reading requirement is reasonable the state should take steps to ensure that the coursework focuses on the science of reading instruction (see "Elementary Teacher Preparation in Reading Instruction" analysis and recommendations) 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.
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
Evidence of effectiveness is far more important than transcript review.
In an attempt to ensure that teachers have the appropriate
professional and subject-matter knowledge base when granting certification,
states often review a teacher's college transcript, no matter how many years
earlier a bachelor's degree was earned. A state certification specialist
reviews the college transcript, looking for course titles that appear to match
state requirements. If the right matches are not found, a teacher may be
required to complete additional coursework before receiving standard licensure.
This practice holds true even for experienced teachers who are trying to
transfer from another state, regardless of experience or success level. The
application of these often complex state rules results in unnecessary obstacles
to hiring talented and experienced teachers. Little evidence indicates that
reviewing a person's undergraduate coursework improves the quality of the
teaching force or ensures that teachers have adequate knowledge.
New evaluation systems coming on line across the country
which prioritize effectiveness and evidence of student learning offer an opportunity to bypass counterproductive efforts like transcript review
and get to the heart of the matter: is
the out of state teacher seeking licensure in a new state an effective
teacher?
Testing requirements
should be upheld, not waived.
While many states impose burdensome coursework requirements,
they often fail to impose minimum standards on licensure tests. Instead, they
offer waivers to veteran teachers transferring from other states, thereby
failing to impose minimal standards of professional and subject-matter
knowledge. In upholding licensure standards for out-of-state teachers, the
state should be flexible in its processes but vigilant in its verification of
adequate knowledge. Too many states have policies and practices that reverse
these priorities, focusing diligently on comparison of transcripts to state
documents while demonstrating little oversight of teachers' knowledge. If a
state can verify that a teacher has taught successfully and has the required
subject-matter and professional knowledge, its only concern should be ensuring
that the teacher is familiar with the state's student learning standards.
States licensing
out-of-state teachers should not differentiate between experienced teachers
prepared in alternate routes and those prepared in traditional programs.
It is understandable that states are wary of accepting
alternate route teachers from other states, since programs vary widely in
quality. However, the same wide variety in quality can be found in traditional
programs. If a teacher comes from another state with a standard license and can
pass the state's licensure tests, whether the preparation was traditional or
alternative should be irrelevant.
Licensure Reciprocity: Supporting Research
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 2014, published by the National Conference of Bar Examiners
and the American Bar Association, available at https://www.ncbex.org/assets/media_files/Comp-Guide/CompGuide.pdf.
On
the similarity in effectiveness between graduates of traditional and
alternative programs, see J.
Constantine, D. Player, T. Silva, K. Hallgren, M. Grider, J. Deke, and E. Warner, An Evaluation of Teachers Trained Through Different Routes to Certification, Final Report. February 2009, U.S.
Department of Education, NCEE 2009-4043. D. Boyd, P. Grossman, H. Lankford, S. Loeb, and J. Wyckoff, "How Changes in Entry Requirements Alter the Teacher Workforce and Affect Student Achievement." NBER Working Paper No. 11844, December 2005. T. Kane, J. Rockoff, and D.
Staiger. "What Does Certification Tell Us About Teacher Effectiveness? Evidence from New York City." NBER Working Paper No.12155, April 2006. G. Henry, C. Thompson, K. Bastian, C. Fortner, D. Kershaw, K. Purtell, R. Zulli, A. Mabe, and A. Chapman, "Impacts of Teacher Preparation on Student Test Scores in North Carolina: Teacher Portals". The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Carolina Institute for Public Policy, 2010, 34p. Z. Xu, J.
Hannaway, and C. Taylor, "Making a Difference? The Effects of Teach for America in High School." The Urban Institute/Calder, Working Paper 17, April 2007.D. Boyd, P. Grossman, K. Hammerness. H. Lankford, S. Loeb, M. Ronfeldt, and J. Wyckoff, "Recruiting Effective Math Teachers: How Do Math Immersion Teachers Compare?: Evidence from New York City." NBER Working Paper No.16017, May 2010;
as well as "How Changes in Entry Requirements Alter the Teacher Workforce and Affect Student Achievement," by D. Boyd, P. Grossman, H. Lankford, S. Loeb, and J. Wyckoff, NBER Working Paper No.11844, December 2005; and "The Effects of Teach For America on Students: Findings from a National Evaluation," by P. Decker, D. Mayer, and S. Glazerman, Mathematica Policy
Research Inc., 2004.