Panel to Call for Major Changes in Teacher Certification, Training

A private blue-ribbon panel that includes the heads of the two major teachers’ unions will call for drastic changes in the education, certification and pay of schoolteachers, a draft copy of the panel’s final report showed Thursday.

The report of the Carnegie Forum on Education and the Economy calls for abolishing the bachelor’s degree in education and conducting all professional teacher education at the graduate level.

It endorses creation of a National Board of Professional Teaching Standards to grant teaching certificates to those who pass stiff tests, regardless of whether they have taken any education courses.

Extra Earning Power

Teachers would still have to obtain licenses from states, but a board-certified teacher would have prestige and extra earning power, akin to the board certification process for physicians.

The report recommends that top teachers with advanced certificates be paid up to $65,000 a year for 12 months of work--almost triple the current average salary for teachers of $23,564.

Teachers’ pay should be based on their level of responsibility, competence, seniority and productivity, not by how many graduate credits they pile up after becoming a teacher, it said. “Compensation should be based on proven competence, not time in the seat.”