Educators criticize proposed licensing changes

A proposed revamping of Indiana’s teacher licensing standards that would reduce the amount of required courses on how to
teach drew sharp criticism from educators Monday, with one teacher at the last of three public hearings on the plan calling
it a "slap in the face."

More than 250 people filled a hearing room at the Indiana State Library to comment
on Indiana schools chief Tony Bennett’s proposal, which would require elementary education majors to take no more than 30
college credit hours in pedagogy, or how to teach.

Education schools say the Department of Education moved away
from dictating the number of classes taken in recent years and should not get back in the business of regulating a college
curriculum. The department says education schools have piled on too many pedagogy classes and that limits are needed.

Bennett’s proposal also would have prospective educators major in a subject area, such as math or English, and earn a minor
in education.

Most of the speakers criticized the proposal, telling Indiana Department of Education staff members
who oversaw the hearing that it had been inadequately researched and would not improve the quality of the state’s teachers.

Department
of Education spokesman Cam Savage said the Indiana Professional Standards Board, which must approve the new standards, next
meets Nov. 18, but he said the board will not be voting at that time on Bennett’s proposals.

"The board
members have indicated that they would like a couple of meetings to discuss possible changes to the proposals," he said.

Opponents delivered a foot-high stack of petitions signed by nearly 2,500 teachers, principals and other educators
from around the state. They urged the state to hold more public hearings and allow public school stakeholders a chance to
help shape the initiative.

Elise Matthews, an Anderson teacher who has taught for 31 years at Anderson Community
School Corp., said the proposal, if approved, would leave people without the necessary expertise to teach.

"I
think it’s another slap in the face. We need to stop slapping teachers in the face," Matthews said.

Matt Moll,
a 10th-grade English teacher at Franklin Community High School, said the state was moving too quickly and without consulting
stakeholders in the education community.

"I’m going to tell you the same thing I tell my students who run
down the hall: Slow down. Someone might get hurt," he said.

More than 120 people signed up to speak at Monday’s
public hearing, which followed two hearings that drew hundreds of critics last month in the northern Indiana city of Rochester
and Scottsburg in southeastern Indiana.

Bennett has said that elementary education majors need to take more classes
in the subjects they’ll teach.

John Ellis, the executive director of the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents,
said the proposal was wrongly targeting pedagogy instruction, which he said is crucial.

"You have to know
how to teach," Ellis said. "There are people who are extraordinarily bright, extraordinarily gifted in their areas
of specialty but just simply didn’t know how to relate to kids."

Several college educators testified against
the proposals, including staff members from Indiana University, Purdue University, Ball State University and Butler University.

Deb Lecklider, associate dean of Butler’s College of Education, said many students who are failing classes in Indiana’s
private, parochial and public schools are low-income, blacks, Hispanics or those with special needs.

"What
we don’t need are unprepared teachers in our classrooms with that very group of students that need us the most," she
said.

Bennett has said his proposal could save college students money on tuition-based courses.