The qualified teacher.

Michael Podogursky ("In Search of the Qualified Teacher," features, Spring 2006) points out that 10 percent of teachers nationwide (unevenly distributed by field and location) don't have regular state credentials. But he also maintains that the dearth of qualified teachers is largely a myth and the product of an inefficient, rigid compensation structure and meaningless certification system.

While he is correct that the certification systems in many, if not most, states have too many licensure fields and (although he doesn't say it) often lack meaningful standards, his solution is not to streamline the system and add rigor. Rather, Podgursky calls for a single license.

I for one find it difficult to imagine an individual "qualified" to teach chemistry to teenagers and reading to 2nd graders, or vice versa. His analysis ignores the extensive research base that documents the many under qualified individuals in classrooms, particularly in neighborhoods serving poor youngsters, or in fields such as math, science, and special education. But he argues that since data are mixed as to the value of the current credentialing system, we shouldn't worry about more demanding credentials. I disagree: we need to fix the system, not abandon it. We need rigorous standards and training, not just on the job, "sink-or-swim" induction. Children in poverty have the most to lose with his recommendations.

Podgursky also asserts that teachers are adequately paid and the overall salary of teachers is competitive. Not so says a recent study by Allegretto, Corcoran, and Mishel, who find that "teachers earn significantly less than comparable workers, and this wage disadvantage has grown considerably over the last 10 years." The American Federation of Teachers believes that if we are to attract and retain a qualified workforce, the base salary must be competitive and, where that is the case, there is room for differentiated compensation alternatives that recognize teacher shortages in particular fields and new roles and responsibilities and performance.

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JOAN BARATZ-SNOWDEN

Director, Teachers Union Reform

Network of AFT & NEA Locals

Michael Podgursky replies:

I did not mean to imply that K-12 teaching should have a single license. I simply pointed out that when a state issues 200 or more separate certificates and endorsements, as is commonly the case, most school districts will be out of full compliance most of the time. A more rational system would surely involve substantial pruning, yet the trend seems to be in the opposite direction.

On the question of teacher relative pay, the earnings data reported in my study are collected by the U.S. Department of Labor directly from employer payroll offices, as opposed to the household survey data used in the Economic Policy Institute study by Allegretto, Corcoran, and Mishel. In a forthcoming article in Education Finance and Policy, a peer-reviewed scholarly journal, Ruttaya Tongrut and I show that teacher pay estimates based on the household survey data used by these authors are unreliable and seriously under-report true teacher pay. That paper is available on my web site.