A call for national online teacher credential
(Colo.) The principal of one of the nation’s largest and oldest online learning academies recently visited a Pennsylvania district that needed advanced placement instruction for about 100 students. The online program seemed a perfect fit, having full accreditation and NCAA-approved courses with highly qualified teachers ready to go.
The only problem was that instructors from the Florida Virtual School couldn’t meet specifics of the Pennsylvania certification requirements.
The patchwork of teacher licensing requirements nationwide has never been much of a problem given that so few educators need to be certified in multiple states simultaneously. But now, argues a new report from the Evergreen Education Group, the varied landscape of state-centered teacher licensing requirements is slowing the advance of online learning.
“Streamlining the teaching licensing process to allow teachers to more easily work across multiple states would increase high-quality online educational opportunities for students, and extend the reach of high-quality teachers,” argue researchers John Watson, Amy Murin and Larry Page.
“States should create an online teaching specialization that would allow a teacher licensed in any state to teach online students in any state without having to go through a separate licensure process in each state,” the Evergreen team suggested.
Currently no state has a separate licensing option for online teaching and very few have a defined professional development pathway to support digital instruction, according to the EvergreenA call for national online teacher credential :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet: