Administrators and Supervisors - licensing of school administrators and supervisors

Legislative: A 6480 Galef - M. of A., et al.
Reference: S 1087

Title: AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to the practice and licensure of school administrators and supervisors.

This legislation concerns the establishment of school administration as a licensed profession. It would result in the creation of new minimum qualifications for school administrators, new continuing education, examination, and assessment requirements, and new disciplinary procedures. Licenses issued to school administrators would be restricted to the licenses area of practice. School administrators who fail to comply with the new requirements could be subject to license revocation. In addition, a 24-member state board for school administration and supervision would be created to oversee matters of school administrator licensure. Although collective bargaining units representing licensees would have the right to make nominations to the board, the Board of Regents would be under no obligation to appoint those nominees.

The Council of Administrators and Supervisors opposes this bill as it will not serve the goal of improving educational outcomes for children. While CAS agrees that the quality of school administration is a key element of achieving higher student performance, this bill will do nothing to ensure the hiring or retention of quality administrators.

Rather than setting up yet another unwieldy bureaucracy, with one-size-fits-all standards and procedures, the legislature should be examining nontraditional ways to attract and retain high-quality administrators. Successful efforts such as the New York City Teaching Fellows (“NYCTF) program focus on encouraging energetic and creative individuals from diverse educational and noneducational backgrounds to become educators. NYCTF Fellows, despite their lack of traditional teacher education, bring enthusiasm and unique talents to high-need schools. In its first year, there were 2,500 applications for 350 available positions. Because of its success, the program has been expanded to 2,000 Fellows a year. There are currently over 6,000 Fellows teaching in New York City's public schools.

Whereas the NYCTF program waives traditional teacher certification requirements and inspires thousands of applicants with the prospect of drawing on their unique backgrounds to make a difference in the lives of New York City children, this bill takes the opposite approach: it sets up significant barriers to entry into the field and presents candidates with the prospect of an educational environment characterized not by innovation and individual contributions, but one constrained by politics and bureaucracy. CAS opposed such a cookie cutter solution to a complex problem.