Since its beginning, Ball State University has been a beacon for teachers in Indiana.
Founded in 1918 as Indiana State Normal School Eastern Division, a teachers college, it remained teacher focused until an increase in additional programs led to the current name in 1965.
With Ball State's reputation as a teachers school, it's no surprise that students and professors within the Teachers College are alarmed and worried about the Indiana state teacher licensing changes approved Thursday by the Division of Professional Standards Advisory Board.
Instead of emphasizing teaching methods, the new rules allow secondary education majors to have a content-based major, such as math, with a minor in education. In 2013, this will be the only option for secondary education students.
Schools are already laying off teachers and increasing class sizes due to increasingly lower property tax revenues, brought on by state property tax caps. Alarmingly, Gov. Mitch Daniels also announced plans at the end of December to cut K-12 spending by $297 million in 2010 in order to avoid a fiscal crisis.
With money quickly draining from schools, do they really need teachers who have little to no background in how to actually teach information to students? This is no way to fix the education system in our state. This is simply a diversion of the problem.
Previously, secondary education majors followed a curriculum in college that would emphasize teaching methods, with additional classes in the specific area of teaching interest. These new rules are a complete reversal for students now working toward teaching grades 5-12. Many universities have said this will even destroy the secondary education major option.
While the rules won't go into effect until July 2010, and students will be grandfathered in until 2013, universities are rightfully wondering how this is going to affect their curriculum in the next few years.
Additionally, it's important for teachers to reach out to students who fall through the cracks. Some students need to be more motivated to do well and more teaching methods experience helps in this area. But it's unlikely teachers can help specific students if they continue to be stretched thin.
We need strong teachers, who know how to teach, more than ever before. We need to come up with a better solution.
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