New federal legislation passed by Congress and signed by President Obama in December allows teaching interns working toward certification to be classified as “highly qualified” teachers. This makes it easier for them to be assigned to classrooms in schools with low-income, minority students.
For many of the principals of Mission’s troubled schools — some of which do have interns in the classroom — the law has different implications, and they are torn when it comes to the new law’s viability.
“It’s complicated. It’s not yes or no, good or bad,” said Eric Guthertz, principal of Mission High School. “It depends, case by case, on each situation.”
The law reinstates a 2004 policy deemed illegal by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of appeals last September in its decision on a lawsuit filed by Public Advocates, a San Francisco-based nonprofit law firm.
Judges found the policy of defining interns as highly qualified violated the No Child Left Behind Act’s provision requiring all students be taught by fully certified teachers.
The court’s decision requiring full state certification was only in effect for three months, so no school had time to fully implement it.
For some principals, the new law taking schools away from a stricter definition of highly qualified is flawed.
“Globally, it’s wrong. There have been studies done that show that a majority of under-qualified interns end up in schools that are low-performing,” said Mark Sanchez, Horace Mann Middle School Principal.
California had approximately 10,000 intern teachers leading a classroom in 2007, according to Public Advocates. Nearly a quarter of them were concentrated in schools with a student population of at least 98 percent minority students; more than 60 percent of them taught in the poorest half of California schools.
“They shouldn’t be called qualified if the intern hasn’t passed the proper tests. That doesn’t make sense,” said Peter Avila, principal of Marshall Elementary School.
Sanchez also added that another issue lies in the terminology of the term “highly qualified.”
“Someone could have their national boards certification plus ten years experience and they are considered in the same category as someone who’s an intern. With this [new] law, there is no distinction. It’s not right.”
However, most of the Mission’s principals are sympathetic toward intern programs. Avila himself was a teaching intern. Sanchez has two interns contributing to his school.
In many cases, the principals said, the interns can be as qualified as experienced teachers.
Two of Horace Mann’s faculty come from Teach for America, a nonprofit organization that places its members in low-income communities to teach for two years. Many of its members are not traditionally certified teachers, but receive alternative certification, or a teaching license, through the program’s coursework that includes an intensive five-week summer institute.
“They [Teach for America] are highly selective. I’m impressed with the quality of their rigorous training,” said Sanchez, explaining that when he was on the board of education, he pressed for the presence of Teach for America teachers in the city’s schools.
The two perform better than some other seasoned teachers when it comes to test score results, he said. One teacher, who instructs math, is staying a third year at the request of Sanchez.
John O’Connell School of Technology also employs two Teach for America teachers, and Principal Richard Duber is glad they are at his school.
“They are both highly qualified. They have been exceptional,” said Duber.
He sees no difference between them and the other teachers at the school.
“They confirm the viability of the [new] law,” he said.
The temporary law will take place until spring 2013.
Despite any reservations they may have with the new law’s legitimacy, many of the Mission’s principals continue to hire interns because they fill a need, said Sanchez: they take over positions, in such areas as math or science, that teachers with credentials don’t want.
This is partially why, in several other Mission schools, interns from different programs have made their way into the classroom.
Two interns, both with teaching intern credentials from the University of San Francisco, have worked for the past two-and-a-half years at Mission High School, where they teach special education.
“They get the training and academic support they need through their education program,” said Principal Guthertz. “It’s not like the emergency credentials days. It’s very serious.”
“[Here] they lead a classroom. They’re teachers,” he said.
At Moscone Elementary School, interns take on less of a lead role. Principal Valerie Hoshino said someone else always supervises the interns, who put in 90 hours a semester.
“I am happy to have them. They help teachers, but they are not full time.”
Guthertz pointed out that the two interns are the anomaly of his staff. Mission High’s 70 teachers have an average of 12.5 years of teaching experience between them. Generally, he hires seasoned, veteran teachers, but ultimately those who fit in best with the vision of the school take precedence, regardless of the years of teaching they’ve acquired.
Sanchez agrees, and so does the new law.
“I look at applicants case by case. I could have someone that’s the best qualified, from the best background, but who’s not credentialed fully who could be the right fit. The law allows for that flexibility.”
Avila has the same logic.
“It’s better to have a full-time teacher fill in positions than temporary teachers or long-term [substitutes].” Plus, he said, some interns are probably more qualified than some teachers with more than 20 years of experience.
For now, Sanchez has his own suggestions when it comes to the legislation. “I think there should be a safeguard: a cap put on the percentage of interns that can be teaching. “
“It’s not fair,” said Avila, “that most are being placed in underserved schools.
“Go to Pacific Heights; are they placing people with intern credentials at those schools?”