Vermont's Best-Kept Secret

Yo-Yo Ma could not teach music to a high school classroom in Vermont.                          

Michael Jordan could not teach phys ed.   A Nobel laureate in science could not teach high school science.  Not that these things are likely to happen, but people with valuable knowledge and lifetime experience do sometimes decide that they'd like to teach.  And Vermont is rated low for its alternative licensure opportunities.

Last year, Education Week's "Quality Counts" State Report Card for Vermont said that our state lost points for teacher quality for "its lack of alternative-route programs for teachers."  Well, actually we had, and still have, an alternative licensure program.  It's called the "Peer Review" program.  But it's such a well-kept secret that Education Week couldn't find it.  Our colleges certainly don't want people to know about it. 

For those who become aware of it and want to take advantage of it, Peer Review has gotten more difficult to navigate in the last few years.  I had a friend go through it a few years ago.  And I have a friend going through it now.  In the interim, the fee charged by the Vermont Department of Education has doubled.  It was $600 for the first license endorsement.  Now it's $1200.  It's still cheaper than a semester of student-teaching through our state university or colleges, but it's a barrier.  And now it's immensely more complicated and involves a whole lot more paperwork.  More barriers.  The biggest barrier, though, is that people don't know about it.

Comments

[GreggB]

At least VT has a way around. Policies like this are widespread. Knew a really smart kid that wanted to teach HS Latin, problem was his Harvard degree was in linguistics so according to most states he wasn't qualified. He ended teaching at a private school. Of course the teachers unions create these policies for the children...

[Karen Kerin]

It is tragic that we are stuck with teachers that are highly skilled in teaching, but under-skilled in the subject matter while people who are skilled in the subject matter are not allowed to teach because they don't conform to the teaching ideology. It is little wonder that students get bored and do not perform as well as they might with stimulating subject matter.

[G. Cross]

Curt is correct, peer review is a good program and does work. It is generally supported by the Vermont education community. Perhaps Education Week did not find it because their research skills have deteriorated over the last few years?

[Retta Dunlap]

Using one of Education's Week's own words - the word "alternative" - I found the information at the VT Department of Education's web site within 15 seconds...

The DOE dedicates an entire web page to the Peer Review process.

[Curtis Hier]

Well, perhaps Education Week should have been able to find it. I'm familiar with the website, because I've helped people through the process. But I appreciate the info, Retta.

The fact remains, however, that pre-service teachers on Vermont's campuses largely do not know about the peer review process, and it's more expensive and harder to navigate now.