WASHINGTON -- Utah managed only a "C" on a report card Monday rating its efforts to boost teacher quality. But at least that was better than the national average grade: a lowly D-plus.
In fact, 13 states received "F's" and only one (Texas) received an "A" on the report card by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation.The foundation, a private institution, advocates improving teaching not by making stricter regulations but by holding schools accountable for results and giving them greater freedom to design programs and hire people they feel will help.
"In almost every state, teacher policy has been held captive by bad ideas and special interests," said foundation President Chester E. Finn Jr.
The foundation graded states on 29 criteria in four major areas to measure reforms it says would enhance teacher quality and attract more people to teach.
Utah received an A in efforts to ensure that teachers know the subjects they teach, a C in holding schools accountable for their results, a D in giving local principals and schools authority to hire and fire teachers and an F in allowing "multiple pathways" to a teaching career to attract more people.
"Utah demonstrates a willingness to boost the quality of its teaching force but is missing some crucial components," the report card said.
But Ron Stansfield, coordinator of Educator Licensing for the Utah State Office of Education, said the state gets caught up in this kind of criticism when it tries to raise the quality of teacher performance.
"Those states that require high standards normally rate low on the alternative paths to teaching," he said. Utah does make exceptions in small school districts, for example, where it is more difficult to hire fully certified teachers.
The report makes the following recommendations for Utah:
Expand alternative certifications.
Streamline entry into professional development schools.
Relax licensure requirements for teachers employed in charter schools.
Give schools meeting standards for student achieving the freedom to hire unlicensed instructors if they desire.
Complement subject-matter tests with policies to enhance local accountability and expand the applicant pool.
"Bright spots include its public-school choice program, which puts pressure on schools to improve, and strong subject-mastery requirements," the report said. However, it lamented that the state has no subject-matter exam to measure teachers' skills.
Under Utah's new Educator Licensing Act, there is a provision that the Board of Education can require that, Stansfield said. "We're looking at what other states are doing," he said.
The report also said Utah may require potential teachers to jump through so many hoops that it discourages many qualified people from choosing that career or from choosing to switch from other careers.
"Utah is at the high end of the quantity of education coursework required within approved programs, adding to the hoops and hurdles facing prospective teachers," the report said.
"That's the dichotomy," Stansfield said. There must be a balance between the amount of courses completed as well as demonstrated competency, he said.