Group gives Missouri, Kansas bad grades in teacher policies w/ link to State Teacher Policy Yearbook

By Joe Hadsall

jhadsall@joplinglobe.com

A nationwide organization says Missouri gets “dismal” marks for its statewide teacher policies.

Kansas gets the same ranking from the study, and Oklahoma is marginally better, earning a ranking of “weak but progressing.”

The grades come from the National Council on Teacher Quality, a group that conducted a three-year research project on each state’s policies for educating and certifying teachers.

The council’s study, the “State Teacher Policy Yearbook,” was released Wednesday at a Washington, D.C., event. The study says states must revamp regulations to improve teacher quality.

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education had no response to the study when contacted by the Globe. Officials with the Missouri National Education Association, a teachers group, did not return calls requesting comment.

Glenn Coltharp, dean of teacher education at Missouri Southern State University, said the study identifies areas that need improvement, but that the conclusions may be unfair.

“There is a lot of information in that study,” he said. “But much more goes into teacher-education programs than what can be measured in black and white.”

Missouri and Kansas take hits in the study for having standards for elementary teachers that do not clearly refer to the knowledge and skills the teachers need before entering the classroom. That increases the likelihood that teachers will enter classrooms with significant gaps in their knowledge of essential core subjects, the report said.

Sandi Jacobs, vice president for policy with the national group, said that criterion was developed using the No Child Left Behind Act as a rough guideline. The act calls for teachers to be labeled as highly qualified to teach subjects they are asked to teach.

Dennis Burke, superintendent of the Baxter Springs (Kan.) School District, said getting that qualification can be difficult.

“Our problem is with those labels,” he said. “An American history teacher would likely be a successful world history teacher, as long as they have passed their other pedagogy levels.”

Webb City Superintendent Ron Lankford said specificity is important, but so is knowing how to be a good teacher. He compared teaching to a doctor’s bedside manner.

“There is a high degree of correlation between a physician’s empathy and a patient’s recovery from illness,” Lankford said. “That has nothing to do with content or knowledge, and everything to do with bedside manner.”