96Master Degree / Senority Devalued
Ohio Teachers No Longer Required to Earn Master’s Degree. See below by Becca Swanson, Yahoo! Contributor Network Dec 10, 2010″
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The idea that a higher degree makes a teacher more effective has been mostly debunked. The rationale for paying for seniority is equally deficient.
“The evidence shows that although a fourth-year teacher is on average more effective than a novice teacher, there are no benefits, as a statistical matter, from additional experience.”
By Steven G. Rivkin, Eric A. Hanushek, and John F. Kain, “Teachers, Schools, and Academic Achievement,” Econometrica 73, no. 2 (2005): 449-450. Membership required. ======================================================
U.S. Education Secretary Arne “Duncan told the American Enterprise Institute on Wednesday that master’s degree bonuses are an example of spending money on something that doesn’t work.” http://www.aei.org/event/100324#doc video
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“Unfortunately, billions of dollars today are wasted on things such as paying for advanced degrees for teachers that have no measurable impact on student achievement.”
“In Budget Crisis, an Opening for School Reform,” by Michelle Rhee, Wall Street Journal, January 11, 2011. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704739504576068142896954626.html ======================================================
“There is little to no evidence that teachers with master’s degrees perform better than those without…” By Frederick M. Hess and Eric Osberg. Harvard Education Press Book, Stretching the School Dollar, p144.
http://www.hepg.org/hep/book/123/StretchingTheSchoolDollar
Source:
“Ohio Teachers No Longer Required to Earn Master’s Degree
Ohio Department of Education Changes Requirements for Some License-holders by
Becca Swanson, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Dec 10, 2010″
“Ohio teachers are in for a surprise. A major policy change has taken place at the Ohio Department of Education, one that will affect thousands: Ohio teachers will no longer be required to earn a Master’s degree to renew their state teaching license.
For many teachers, this news could drastically change their academic and professional goals. Prior to discovering this change in policy, I was logged onto the website of an online graduate school, seconds away from filling out an application to finish my Master’s degree.
As a safe-guard, I visited the Ohio Department of Education website to review the requirements for renewing my professional state teaching license. It was then that I discovered this policy change, and within minutes, sent out a Facebook message to my friends in education, asking if they’d heard this news. Minutes later, I called the county educational service center, and was told: “Yes, it’s true. You don’t have to get a Master’s degree anymore.”
How the Ohio teaching license process used to be
Ohio licensure originally began with a 2-year provisional license (after passing the Praxis I and II tests, and graduating). To upgrade, a teacher needed to pass the Praxis III exam and finish an Entry-Year mentor program.
With both completed, a teacher earned their first 5-year professional license. When this expired, in order to renew, teachers needed to earn 6 college semester credit hours (or an enormous amount of equivalent professional workshop hours).
After this license expired, Ohio law required teachers to earn their Master’s degree (or equivalent 30 credit hours) in order to renew their 5-year professional teaching license the second time.
How the degree requirements have changed
The Ohio Department of Education website now states (in How to Renew a Currently Valid Five-Year Professional or Associate License):
“In accordance with the approved plan, the educator must complete six semester hours of coursework related to classroom teaching and/or the area of licensure; or 18 continuing education units (CEUs) (180 contact hours) or other equivalent activities related to classroom teaching ad/or the area of licensure.”
According to Licensure FAQs on the ODE website:
“House Bill 1 required a master’s degree for the senior and lead professional educator licenses, but not for the professional educator license. Under the new career ladder licensure system the master’s degree requirement moves to the new, upper levels of professional licensure (the senior and lead licenses). Teachers will have the option of remaining at the professional license level by completing the required 6 semester hours/18 CEUs every five years and will not need to meet a master’s degree requirement that is tied to renewal of a professional teaching license.”
What does this mean?
The state of Ohio has changed the requirement for all teachers renewing their five-year professional licenses. Whereas, before, teachers were required to earn their Master’s degree to renew their license, now they are exempt from this rule. Teachers must now simply complete six college credits (essentially two graduate level courses) or the equivalent professional development hours. This change makes the requirements to renew a 5-year license the same as initially applying for that license.
Who does this change in policy affect?
All licensed Ohio teachers.
Why did this policy change take place?
The Ohio Department of Education has been working to change the licensure system, creating a proposed four-tier career ladder of licensure that is planned to begin in January, 2011. New teachers initially start with a Resident license (replacing the Provisional), then move up to a Professional license, which requires a Bachelor’s degree, but no Master’s.
The ODE website states that teachers may stay in the Professional bracket for their entire teaching career, eliminating the need to earn the Master’s degree. However, if a teacher does decide to earn their Master’s degree (and complete other requirements), they can move up to higher tiers including Lead or Senior status.
Why does this matter? What does this mean for the affected teachers?
No longer having to earn a Master’s degree has irritated some Ohio teachers that already took the initiative to complete their Master’s. Although some schools help with tuition reimbursement, others do not, and many teachers will still be paying (for many years) for a degree that is no longer needed.
Fortunately, for those teachers employed at public Ohio schools, they will earn a higher salary at their school of employment. However, for teachers with a Master’s degree that are not currently employed, not only are they less likely to be hired (because they cost more, salary-wise), but they must continue paying thousands of dollars and taking classes, to keep a license for a field that they can’t get a job in.
For Ohio teachers that haven’t earned their Master’s degree yet, this change in policy may be a blessing in disguise, as it has the potential to save teachers thousands of dollars, as well as time and undue stress. This is especially welcome, again, for the unemployed.
What does this mean for education?
Does this mean Ohio students will suffer at the hands of unqualified teachers? Of course not. All licensed teachers still need to earn 6 additional semester hours in education in order to renew each license. Undoubtedly, many teachers will go ahead and complete their Master’s anyway.
Some graduate schools, however, may see a decline in enrollment from some of the affected Ohio teachers.
What do you think? Are you a licensed Ohio teacher, grad student or college education major? Does this policy change affect you or someone you know? Comment below and add to the discussion.
Sources:
Ohio Department of Education
How to Renew a Currently Valid Five-Year Professional or Associate License
Licensure FAQs”
Advanced Degrees and Teacher Compensation
Posted on September 15, 2011 by Greg R. Lawson, Buckeye Institute
Is it time to rethink some our laws on mandating teachers get Masters’ degrees to stay in the profession? Is it time to rethink the assumption that an advanced degree bestows upon its recipient some extra aura of competence that others without cannot attain? Most importantly, do these mandates feed into a narrative of “teachers are underpaid” that allows compensation costs to rise to unsustainable levels?
Without doubt, there is a consistent theme among defenders of the education status quo that teachers are vastly underpaid given the statutory requirements that they eventually obtain advanced degrees such as a Masters’.
The defenders would have an excellent point if there were demonstrable evidence that Master’s degrees led to positive outcomes in the classroom. However, numerous academic studies have shown that this link between teacher performance and degree obtained either does not actually exist, or is very limited.
A new item from the Manhattan Institute reinforces this point,
“Not a single one of the 34 studies that used a “high-quality” methodology (i.e., methodology that accounted for previous student test scores) evaluated in a recent review of the research by Eric Hanushek and Steven Rivkin found a relationship between a teacher’s earning a master’s degree and student achievement.”
Obviously, different studies will have different methodologies and, no doubt, those that assert the primary of advanced degrees in making good teachers will find flaws in studies not to their liking. But 34 studies did not find a link? And that is just the tip of the iceberg.
As they say where there is smoke, there is usually a fire and that type of finding certainly puts off some smoke.
None of this is to say that teachers should never seek advanced degrees.
Yet, given that supposedly low compensation for teachers for a necessary and high level of education forms a core piece of teacher union propaganda, research questioning the real value of that added education puts the onus back on the teachers unions to show that it really does matter. They should especially have to explain why simply getting a Masters, irrespective of the quality of the institution attended and grades received, entitles teachers to automatic pay increases.
Finally, why do we, as a matter of policy, force perfectly effective teachers to have to get a degree that won’t really make them any better in the classroom and, in some cases, make the taxpayer pony up the cost?
These issues should all be kept mind in the education reform debate