Licensure Advancement: West Virginia
Retaining Effective Teachers Policy
Analysis of West Virginia's policies
Evidence of effectiveness: West Virginia's requirements for licensure advancement and renewal are not based on evidence of teacher effectiveness.
Advancing to a professional license: West Virginia allows teachers, after they have received the three-year Initial Professional Teaching certificate, to convert it to a five-year license by completing six semester hours of college coursework. Teachers may advance to a Permanent Teaching Certificate by completing two five-year renewal processes, or one five-year renewal process and obtain a master's degree.
Renewing a professional license: West Virginia requires teachers to renew their licenses every
five years by one of the following means: six semester hours of coursework, or
verification of a salary classification of a master's degree plus 30 additional
hours (MA+30), or documentation that the teacher has reached age 60, along with
a superintendent's recommendation. In addition to coursework requirements,
teachers must meet the minimum five years of teaching experience in the areas
listed on their certificates.
Recommendations for West Virginia
Require evidence of effectiveness as a part
of teacher licensing policy.
West Virginia should require evidence of teacher effectiveness to be a factor in determining whether teachers may renew or advance to a higher-level license.
Discontinue license requirements with no
direct connection to classroom effectiveness.
Although targeted requirements may potentially expand teacher knowledge and
improve teacher practice, West Virginia's general, nonspecific coursework
requirements for license advancement and renewal merely call for teachers to
complete a certain amount of seat time. These requirements do not correlate
with teacher effectiveness.
End requirement tying teacher advancement to master's degrees.
West Virginia should remove its mandate that teachers obtain a master's degree for optional license advancement. Research is clear that a master's degree generally does not have any significant correlation with classroom performance. Rather, advancement should be based on evidence of teacher effectiveness.
State response to our analysis
West Virginia recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis.
Updated: March 2021
-
West Virginia
Select another topic
Teacher Preparation
- Program Entry
- Teacher Shortages and Surpluses
- Program Performance Measures
- Program Reporting Requirements
- Student Teaching/Clinical Practice
Elementary Teacher Preparation
Secondary Teacher Preparation
- Middle School Content Knowledge
- Middle School Licensure Requirements
- Secondary Content Knowledge
- Secondary Licensure Requirements
Special Education Teacher Preparation
Alternate Routes
Teacher Diversity
Hiring
Teacher and Principal Evaluation
Teacher Compensation
Early Childhood Preparation
Retaining Effective Teachers
How we graded
9A: Licensure Advancement
- Evidence of Effectiveness for Advancement:
- The state should require evidence of effectiveness to be considered as a factor for advancement from an initial to a professional license.
- Evidence of Effectiveness for Renewal:
- The state should require evidence of effectiveness to be considered as a factor for licensure renewal.
One-half credit: The state will earn one-half of a point for any of the following scenarios: (1) It requires evidence of effectiveness to be considered as a factor for required advancement from an initial to a professional license, or for renewal of that license. For states with one standard license, one-half credit will be awarded if renewal of that license requires evidence of effectiveness to be considered. (2) It requires evidence of effectiveness to be considered as a factor to earn or renew an optional advanced teacher license. (3) It explicitly allows the consideration of evidence of effectiveness for required advancement from an initial to a professional license, and for renewal of that license.
One-quarter credit: The state will earn one-quarter of a point if it considers teacher performance in advancement and/or renewal, but this consideration does not rise to the level of evidence of effectiveness.
Research rationale
The reason for probationary licensure should be to determine teacher effectiveness. Most states grant new teachers a probationary license that must later be converted to an advanced or professional license. A probationary period is sound policy as it provides an opportunity to determine whether individuals merit professional licensure. However, very few states require any determination of teacher performance or effectiveness in deciding whether a teacher will advance from the probationary license. Instead, states generally require probationary teachers to fulfill a set of requirements to receive advanced certification. Therefore, ending the probationary period is based on whether a checklist has been completed rather than on teacher performance and effectiveness.
Most state requirements for achieving professional certification have not been shown to affect teacher effectiveness.[1] Unfortunately, not only do most states fail to connect advanced certification to actual evidence of teacher effectiveness, but also the requirements teachers must most often meet are not even related to teacher effectiveness. The most common requirement for professional licensure is completion of additional coursework, often resulting in a master's degree. Requiring teachers to obtain additional training in their teaching area would be meaningful; however, the requirements are usually vague, allowing the teacher to fulfill coursework requirements from long menus that include areas having no connection or use to the teacher in the classroom.[2] The research evidence on requiring a master's degree is quite conclusive: with rare exceptions, these degrees have not been shown to make teachers more effective.[3] This is likely due in no small part to the fact that teachers may not attain master's degrees in their subject areas.
In addition to their dubious value, these requirements may also serve as a disincentive to teacher retention. Talented probationary teachers may be unwilling to invest time and resources in more education coursework. Further, they may well pursue advanced degrees that facilitate leaving teaching.
[1] For studies observing various trends in student achievement and licensure requirements, see: Clotfelter, C. T., Ladd, H. F., & Vigdor, J. L. (2004). Teacher sorting, teacher shopping, and the assessment of teacher effectiveness. Duke University manuscript., which is the previous draft of the current paper entitled: Clotfelter, C. T., Ladd, H. F., & Vigdor, J. L. (2006). Teacher-student matching and the assessment of teacher effectiveness. Journal of human Resources, 41(4), 778-820. Retrieved from http://www.nber.org/papers/w11936; Ladd, H. F., Clotfelter, C. T., & Vigdor, J. L. (2007). How and why do teacher credentials matter for student achievement? (NBER Working Paper 142786). Retrieved from http://www.nber.org/papers/w12828; Ehrenberg, R. G., & Brewer, D. J. (1994). Do school and teacher characteristics matter? Evidence from high school and beyond. Economics of Education Review, 13(1), 1-17.; Goldhaber, D., & Anthony, E. (2007). Can teacher quality be effectively assessed? National Board Certification as a signal of effective teaching. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 89(1), 134-150.; Goldhaber, D. D., & Brewer, D. J. (1997). Why don't schools and teachers seem to matter? Assessing the impact of unobservables on educational productivity. Journal of Human Resources, 505-523. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED400237.pdf; Goldhaber, D. D., & Brewer, D. J. (2000). Does teacher certification matter? High school teacher certification status and student achievement. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 22(2), 129-145.; Hanushek, E. A., & Rivkin, S. G. (2006). Teacher quality. Handbook of the Economics of Education, 2, 1051-1078. Retrieved from http://www.nber.org/papers/w11154.pdf; Rivkin, S. G., Hanushek, E. A., & Kain, J. F. (2005). Teachers, schools, and academic achievement. Econometrica, 73(2), 417-458. Retrieved from http://www.nber.org/papers/w6691.pdf; Harris, D., & Sass, T. R. (2006). Value-added models and the measurement of teacher quality (Unpublished manuscript). Retrieved from http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/1001431-what-makes-for-a-good-teacher.pdf; Harris, D. N., & Sass, T. R. (2011). Teacher training, teacher quality and student achievement. Journal of Public Economics, 95(7), 798-812. Retrieved from
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED509656.pdf; Harris, D. N., & Sass, T. R. (2009). The effects of NBPTS‐certified teachers on student achievement. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 28(1), 55-80. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED509659.pdf; Jepsen, C. (2005). Teacher characteristics and student achievement: Evidence from teacher surveys. Journal of Urban Economics, 57(2), 302-319.; Monk, D. H. (1994). Subject area preparation of secondary mathematics and science teachers and student achievement. Economics of Education Review, 13(2), 125-145.; Riordan, J. (2006, April). Is there a relationship between No Child Left Behind indicators of teacher quality and the cognitive and social development of early elementary students? In annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA. Retrieved from http://www.cpre.org/sites/default/files/meetingpaper/1001_aera2006nclbandstudentsdevelopment.pdf; Schneider,B. (1985). Further evidence of school effects. Journal of Educational Research, 78(6), p. 351-356.
[2] For evidence on the lack of correlation between education coursework and teacher effectiveness, see: Allen, M. B. (2003). Eight questions on teacher preparation: What does the research say? Education Commission of the States. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED479051
[3] For a meta-analysis of the research on the relationship between advanced degrees and teacher effectiveness, see: Doherty, K., Walsh, K., Jacobs, S., & Neuman-Sheldon, B. (2010). Arizona's race to the top: What will it take to compete? Washington, DC: National Council on Teacher Quality. Retrieved from http://www.nctq.org/dmsView/Arizona_Race_to_the_Top_NCTQ_Report; For secondary math teachers however, a relevant master's degree is associated with greater teacher effectiveness, see: Walsh, K., Lubell, S., & Ross, E. (2017, August). Backing the wrong horse: The story of one state's ambitious but disheartening foray into performance pay. Washington, DC: National Council on Teacher Quality. Retrieved from https://www.nctq.org/dmsView/NCTQ_Backing_the_Wrong_Horse_2017