Frederica Freyberg:
Now back to the state budget. The Governor’s cuts to the UW System get a lot of play, but buried in the Governor’s document under his reforming education mantle is a proposal raising eyebrows and hackles, a proposal to make it easier to get a teaching license in Wisconsin, an alternative pathway whereby a four-year degree and relevant experience gets you a three-year license to teach grades six through 12.
Teacher:
Talk to the person next to you about some of the kids you want to know about the kids you’re working with before you start planning their lessons.
Frederica Freyberg:
If you’re not a teacher, you probably don’t know what it takes to be one in Wisconsin.
Class Participant:
I don’t want to go outside.
Frederica Freyberg:
At the UW-Madison School of Education, it’s currently a four- or five-year degree with a major in content area and specialized coursework in teaching methods, along with student teaching in a classroom.
Teacher:
You know more about the kids you’re teaching than I do…
Frederica Freyberg:
Next month, Madison’s program changes to an undergrad degree, plus 15 months of teacher ed coursework for a Master’s.
Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell:
My institution pulls from the top students in the state.
Frederica Freyberg:
Then, getting a state license to teach requires rigorous testing.
Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell:
They have to pass a content test at a state-set cut score. You have to pass now starting this fall a performance test that has standardized rubrics to go with it.
Frederica Freyberg:
And so —
Scott Walker:
Overall, we want to provide the best education possible for every child in this state.
Frederica Freyberg:
When Governor Scott Walker proposed granting alternative middle and high school teaching licenses for anyone with a four-year degree who was able to pass a content proficiency test, it raised hackles on the part of people like Associate Dean Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell.
Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell:
I think it’s a mistake. In some ways, it reflects a lack of understanding of what teachers need to know and do.
Tony Evers:
Teaching is an extraordinarily complex thing to do. You need to know the developmental needs of the kids. You need to know where they’re coming from. You need to know their families. You need to know how to differentiate instruction. And to suggest that that’s not important, first of all it’s just flat out wrong. And second of all, it sends a message to teachers and prospective teachers around the state, you know, you’re not a profession anymore.
Frederica Freyberg:
Republican Paul Farrow, Chair of the Senate Committee on Education Reform, says the idea has merit.
Paul Farrow:
I think there’s a lot of people are excited about the opportunity of going back and helping and educating the kids in their fields and I think we should give them the opportunity.
Frederica Freyberg:
But he says he, too, believes teaching is about more than content knowledge.
Paul Farrow::
There’s voc-tech areas, career and technical education, that might be helpful. One of the things I caution about, with a wife who’s been in education for 23 years, it’s a little more than just teaching information. There is classroom organization. There is skills that you need, especially when you look at the 6th, 7th and 8th grade. There’s adolescent issues.
Teacher:
All right, we’re looking at the slope. This is kind of the formula. Nicki, does this look familiar?
Frederica Freyberg:
Farrow says he could see granting a probationary license until work was completed alongside a master teacher. Still, Farrow says he believes that for too many in the field the adage “Those who can do, those who can’t teach” holds true.
Paul Farrow:
The programs that we have in Wisconsin should be looking at the best and the brightest. You know, unfortunately it’s kind of gotten a track record where everybody looks at teaching as the secondary program to go into.
Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell:
It’s not an easy thing to get through, so to say, “It’s not the cream of the crop” is extremely offensive.
Frederica Freyberg:
Hanley-Maxwell says teachers are feeling increasingly disrespected and demoralized. It is pretty discouraging right now. While she acknowledges there are teacher shortages in areas like math and science, there are already alternative pathways to teaching in critical shortage areas. The difference is those teachers are granted a permit to teach, but only with required coursework in methods and not a long-term license.
Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell:
Where this is coming from seems way out of left field in terms of the need, not– I don’t see why we need it.
Search Episodes
News Stories from PBS Wisconsin
02/03/25
‘Here & Now’ Highlights: State Rep. Sylvia Ortiz-Velez, Jane Graham Jennings, Chairman Tehassi Hill

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