Urban School Leadership by Tom Payzant

Author:Tom Payzant [Payzant, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2010-11-05T00:00:00+00:00

Certification for Teachers and Leaders

Certification requirements are established by the states and play a major role in shaping the courses and content of teacher and leader preparation programs. Most states require teachers, principals, superintendents, and other central office staff to obtain certification, which presumably is tailored to reflect the skills required for the positions. Traditionally the required trajectory of experience begins in the classroom, which becomes a prerequisite for leaders qualifying to become administrators in schools and is a requirement to serve in central office administrative positions or become a superintendent. This trajectory has shaped certification requirements that primarily are course focused. Although there is reciprocity and acceptance of certificates among some states, educators who want the opportunity to work in several different states during their careers are confronted with additional course-based certification requirements in states where reciprocity does not exist.

My experience serving as a superintendent in five states in different regions of the country required me to complete at least one additional course to meet superintendent certification requirements each time. I was surprised by the variety in courses required, unclear about how they related to the role of the superintendent of schools, and bemused by the reluctance to accept evidence of experience doing the things the courses presumably taught to grant a waiver for the courses. For example, in one state, a course for teaching elementary school reading was required. I had never taken a course in teaching elementary reading. My teaching experience was in junior and senior high school. I had served as a superintendent in several other states and been responsible for leading staff in the decision-making process to adopt reading programs for schools, but that experience did not count. In another state, I was required to take a course in special education policy. I had previously served as superintendent in two other states, worked extensively with special education programs in those districts, and was quite familiar with federal and state policy for students with disabilities. The irony was that I knew more about special education policy than the teacher who taught the course I was required to take at a local university; further, the course used a single dated textbook and true-false or multiple-choice tests to determine what we were learning. Only a year earlier, the first significant federal legislation had been passed setting policy for what states and school districts were required to do to meet the needs of students with disabilities. I was leading an urban district with forty-five thousand students and a substantial special education population. We were already implementing the new federal requirements.

In some states, the quality of the certification requirements has improved. For example, there is recognition of the importance of having those who seek certification demonstrate their knowledge and application of it on required state exams, generally in English language arts and mathematics and, in some states, on tests in the subjects teachers will teach. However, certification tests do not generate data that provide qualitative evidence about the candidates’ teaching

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