Legislature passed bill to open new avenues for teacher certification

Rep. Terri Collins, R-Deactur, stands on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives on April 18, 2024 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)

The Alabama Legislature passed a bill that expanded options for alternative teacher certification.

HB308, sponsored by Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, would add organizations certified by the Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation, provided that they are also seeking accreditation from Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation by April 1, 2024.

Starting Oct. 1, 2026, certification by the Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation will no longer qualify.

The move comes after the Legislature already expanded avenues for teacher certification in the regular 2023 session.

“The goal is to have quality alternative certification programs so that if you got your undergraduate degree in basically anything, and you wanted to go back and teach, you would not need a four year degree to do that,” she said.

Last year’s changes had made it so that the State Board of Education could only consider whether the organization successfully operated in five states; successful operation for the last ten years; an examination aligned with Alabama standards; successfully certifying 10,000 teachers; or getting approved by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation.

Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, sponsor of last year’s bill and co-sponsor of this year’s bill, said that they wanted to add another way for programs to be approved. She said they still require State Board approval.

“The state board is the final, they’re the final authority,” Dubose said. “But we’re trying to make sure that good, good quality alternative teacher prep programs do have an option to come before the board and be voted on.”

Teachers can also go through the traditional pathways at higher education institutions in the state.

This year’s bill was among the bills that State Superintendent Eric Mackey had concerns over at the March State Board of Education work session . The discussion took place before the bill had finished moving through the legislative process and was amended.

Mackey had had concerns the bill could lower standards.

In a statement from Mackey provided Wednesday by Alabama State Department of Education spokesperson Michael Sibley, Mackey wrote that more information would be available after the Act’s effective date.

“ The brief amendment to the Alternate Teacher Certification appears to create a pathway for a very narrow set of vendors to apply for consideration in the 25-26 cycle,” he wrote. “We are still reviewing the matter internally and will discuss with the State Board members in the upcoming weeks. This window is very limited, and since it does not refer back to any intent to upend the provisions of the Literacy Act, it would likely be applicable only in secondary schools.”

Collins said they did sunset the bill with the CAEP accreditation to address concerns over the adhering to the Literacy Act.

The bill goes into effect Oct. 1, 2024.

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