Social and Cultural Foundations of American Education/Staffing Practices/Credentialism

What is credentialism? According to a dictionary, credentialism is “excessive reliance on credentials, esp. academic degrees, in determining hiring or promotion policies. American Heritage Dictionary states that credentialism is “overemphasis on diplomas or degrees in giving jobs or conferring social status”. Because of NCLB requirement, the administrators of school systems have to follow the guideline and rely on applicant’s credentials when they hire him or her as a teacher. Teachers who do not meet this requirement have to work on this requirement. Did this impact the education? If it is so, how did this impact the education?

Advantages
To reform the school system and improve students performance in the nationwide, the federal government enacted the No Child Left Behiend Act of 2001(NCLB). This includes accountability for students performance, teacher quality, and information for parents.

Under the law, states have to ensure that all children are taught by effective teachers. The No Child Left Behind act of 2001 (NCLB) requires that (by the end of the 2006-7 school year) all teachers must be "highly qualified" as defined in the law. A highly qualified teacher is one who has (1) fulfilled the state's certification and licensing requirements, (2) obtained at least a bachelor’s degree, and (3) demonstrated subject matter expertise. The procedure for demonstrating subject matter knowledge depends on a teacher's tenure and level of instruction (Desimone, Laura M.; Smith, Thomas M.; Ueno, Koji, 2005).

This means that teachers who do not have enough credentials or degrees cannot have teaching jobs. Teachers who have not fulfilled the licensing requirements have to take classes for licensure and attend workshops. Teachers who have completed the requirements for this process express the differences. In the article of Michael N. Riley, teachers express these comments below.

performance of the students. (Riley, 2007)
 * A focus on making learning objectives much clearer and more specific.
 * A commitment to the learning of all kids and an accompanying and complementary willingness to measure effectiveness of instruction and the instructor by the success of each and every student.
 * A deeper understanding and more frequent use for formative assessment.
 * A practice of modifying instruction any time, even in the heart of a lesson, driven by the understanding and

Teachers who have content knowledge in the subject but do not know what to do in the classroom can learn so many strategies of how to deliver the lesson, assess student’s work and modify instructional strategies in the program of licensure. Teachers who meet requirements as being “highly qualified “ are more likely to use effective instruction than those who do not meet these requirements.

No Child Left Behind includes funds for the teacher and principal quality training and recruitment. The money is designed to help states and school districts improve teacher and principal quality and recruit quality staff. To make sure that more teachers get qualified, the Department of Education allocated $2.85 billion in 2002 and $2.93 billion in 2003 through Improving Teacher Quality state grants to help teachers become highly qualified if they are not already (Desimone, Smith, Ueno, 2005). According to Safier, teacher certification increase and greater increases in instructional expenditures are correlated with the increase of highly qualified teachers (Safier, 2007).

Disadvantages
Administrators of school systems are dealing with how to meet the staffing needs of schools with qualified teachers. Patricia C. Pratt-Cook, the human – resources director, in Memphis, Tenn., said she has sometimes had to rehire teachers who had not attained highly qualified status because she found no better candidates for their jobs (Keller, 2007).

Since the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) requires the highly qualified teachers for all students, this created the shortage of teachers in certain areas, such as special education, foreign languages, math and sciences. According to the article “Reducing the Special Education Teacher Shortage,” colleges and universities produce only half the number required to fill vacant positions (Medina, Peltier, Thornton, 2007). Because of insufficient  candidates, highly qualified special education teachers are not available for all classrooms.

In addition, NCLB requires that all children, including those with disabilities, are at proficient levels as measured by state academic assessments by the 2013-14 school year. This pressures many educators, and more special education teachers will request to transfer to regular education positions or leave the profession (Medina, Peltier, Thornton, 2007).

The problem of relying so much on credentialism is if the society emphasizes only credentials and degrees to hire somebody there is a chance to miss the certain value of characteristics for jobs such as experiences, devotion, and adaptability.

Many state-financed preschool programs require teachers to have four year degrees. Yet some researchers are skeptical about the link between teacher credentials in preschool and outcomes for children ( Jacobson, 2007). Some community colleges have good early childhood programs to become effective teachers for preschools. If some females who raised their children want to be preschool teachers but have to obtain four year degrees, this credentialism makes it hard for those people to teach preschools.

Conclusion
Credentialism really impacted the education in good and bad ways. The requirement of certain credentials for teaching ensure the teacher’s quality. Teachers who are highly qualified know about what effective ways to teach the subjects, which affects student’s achievement. In contrast, there are teacher shortages in some areas. Without sufficient amount of teachers, students cannot receive quality education. Policy makers and advocates have to consider what should be done to solve these problems.

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