You Want to Teach? Wait in Line.
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20 responses to “You Want to Teach? Wait in Line.”
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Maybe the teacher licensure folks have been interning at the VEC.
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The idea of offering licenses to folks who have not enjoyed the “benefit” of official teacher training in a university is not universally praised, and the slow roll not unknown among bureaucrats of all stripes. At its heart licensing is about controlling supply and thus price, at least as much as it is about “quality.” The move to unionization is not going to help this.
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“The department cites several reasons for the backlog. The primary reason is personnel turnover and vacancies caused by that turnover. Other reasons cited were disruptions in the workflow due to COVID and additional workload created by legislation granting license extensions.”
1. Personnel vacancies and turnover. Solution – hire more people. Are all the positions “work from office” or, worse yet, “only available in Richmond”? If they have not tried virtual hiring, I suggest they do so. Alternately, outsource the work to one of many, many domestic business process outsourcing (BPOs) operating in Virginia.
2. Disruptions in the workflow due to COVID. Really? COVID is endemic. Has been for quite some time. It’s high time that the COVID excuse is banned.
3. Additional workload created by legislation granting license extensions. Bureaucratic gobbledygook. One would assume that extending a license would result in fewer licenses being renewed. Fewer renewals, less work. No?
This sounds like a job for the Chief Transformation Officer. Document the existing process and then … simplify, integrate and automate.
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Fair criticism. This may have been a factor in Jillian Balow’s recent resignation as Superintendent of Public Instruction. It appears that she never mastered the complex administrative processes of the Virginia system. Hopefully, the new Superintendent will make teacher licensing a priority.
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“But education is one of this administration’s top priorities!” Entirely true. But to Youngkin, education is a means for culture warfare. Not something to be undertaken seriously.
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I wonder what Terry and Uncle Ralph are doing today?
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Ralph is practicing medicine to help children. No clue what Terry is doing. Youngkin’s trying to run for president.
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Helping children? Oh my.
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He’s a pediatric neurologist.
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Who makes sure the baby is comfortable before killing it.
Hippocrates weeps…
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“No clue what Terry is doing.”
Self promoting, same as always.
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The author urges the governor to become more involved in the teacher licensing process and the work of the Education Department. That command is likely to come into conflict with demands from the anti-DEI campaigners to eliminate such jobs from higher education.
This is education bureaucratic nonsense. There is no reason for delay. To obtain initial licensure you have to fulfill a checklist. All the bean counter has to do is verify the checklist and hit the print button for a license to be dispensed from the copier. The heavy lifting is done by the applicant.
https://education.wm.edu/academics/oteps/documents/licensure/checklist-initial-licensure.pdf
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That is what I would have thought. However, DOE claims that one reason for the backlog is the constant need to train new employees. Also, they say that most applications are initially incomplete.
What would have infuriated me was the story of the ex-serviceman. He sent his application in. Sometime later, he received a reply that some additional information was needed. He sent that in. Then, in December, DOE informed him that he had submitted the wrong type of application. Instead of a regular license, he needed to submit an application for a provisional license. Question: Why did they not tell him that the first time they contacted him?
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It is pretty clear what the VDOE licensure specialist wants. If you can’t follow directions the blame falls on you. If you can’t figure it out, you have to seek out somebody in the school district that knows the ropes. I always did that. Like I said, the heavy lifting is really done by the applicant. You have to send a perfect package to expect expedited results.
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The request for additional information was probably to determine that he had indeed submitted the wrong kind of application, so the first delay is on him and an obvious failure on his part to know he was unqualified for a regular license.
Additionally, his submission of the wrong type of application contributes to the backlog overall.
However, the question is “Did the regular license application, plus the additional information, provide enough of the required detail to have simply issued the provisional?”
OTOH, if a bureaucracy issued the appropriate license based on receiving the wrong kind of application then it wouldn’t be a bureaucracy.
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The idea of offering licenses to folks who have not enjoyed the “benefit” of official teacher training in a university is not universally praised, and the slow roll not unknown among bureaucrats of all stripes. At its heart licensing is about controlling supply and thus price, at least as much as it is about “quality.” The move to unionization is not going to help this.
End state control of public schools.
At least part of the problem (not sure how much) is likely due to antiquated processes. One cannot submit documentation electronically to the licensure folks at VDOE. Everything must be snail mailed. Once the documentation is received in the VDOE mail room via USPS, it is scanned and emailed to the appropriate personnel upstairs. How’s that for efficiency?
Perhaps DPOR should be tasked with the administrative end of teacher licensing. In my experience, they are very efficient.
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