Transferring licenses in PA

I am a teacher from New Mexico. My wife received employment in PA and we decided to relocate. So far, we love Pittsburgh and we are happy to be residents here. The schools are wonderful, the city is interesting, the nature is beautiful, and the prices are reasonable. Most every aspect of Pittsburgh is wonderful, save one: the process that it takes to transfer my teaching license.

Most of the process can just be attributed to having high standards. I take no issue with this. I had to have my former principal sign a form that verifies that I have been a successful teacher for two years. No problem. I had to seek out obscure information about my professional career. I got this! FBI clearance? Well, I expected this cost. Background check? I’ve done it before, but I wish that I didn’t have to pay again. $260 application fee…whoa! The test to teach English is $150? That is a little steep isn’t it? The practice test is $20? Now you are just trying to squeeze blood from a stone. Wait…I also have to take a pedagogy test? Another $50? Hold on, I also have to take a general competency for English and social studies, and another one math and science, each at $50 a pop? That is outrageous! At least if I take them all at once, I can save $10. Oh for crying out loud! Those 3 more practice tests that I have to take! I have to flush another $60! I hope that the math test isn’t timed…crud! Of course it is timed. I hope that the math test isn’t last. Of course it is last. Oh no! I need to take the math test again? That is another $50! Have mercy! Please, have mercy!

My wife (half-jokingly, half-outraged) commented on the fact that transferring her medical license cost her $70, and it is costing me ten times that amount for a profession which is notorious for its low pay. As I discovered, I couldn’t even substitute teach in Pennsylvania without a teaching license, despite my previous years of experience teaching in a high-needs area. Over the past two months, my family was steadily drained every cent of our savings. I applied to substitute as a paraprofessional.

Why all of the fees? It does seem excessive, doesn’t it? The $260 fine was excessive, but I understand that the PDE does need to keep itself funded for purposes of oversight and providing services to the schools. The fees on my background are necessary for working with children. The endless fines for tests and practice tests, however, is inexcusable. Why would this happen? Also, it isn’t as if I don’t know my material. I have been a teacher in another state. I understand taking a test, but four of them (at great financial cost) is ridiculous, isn’t it? Well, the companies who provide these tests are Praxis and Pearson. This should bring everything into focus.

Praxis and Pearson are two companies who provide tests, resources, and testing materials. They once served as legitimate contractors in education. Now, in the age of high-stakes testing and “accountability,” they have morphed into parasites who grease the correct palms to make their products mandatory. I have seen an extreme case of this. Like I said, I was a teacher in New Mexico.

In New Mexico, there is a unique situation. After Pearson contributed to Governor Martinez’ campaign, New Mexico discarded the NMSBA (New Mexico Standards Based Assessment) and replaced it with the PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers); a Pearson product. Governor Martinez also violated the state constitution to make Hannah Skandera Secretary of Education.

The state constitution mandates that a person must teach for a minimum of three years to assume the position. She had no teaching experience. After months of pressure and brow-beating from the Governor, the state legislature confirmed Skandera. Although she had no qualifications as an educator, she was on the PARCC board. Later, after she assumed the position as Secretary of Education, she began trying tie PARCC scores to teacher pay (they were already part of teacher evaluations), as well as high school graduation. She also became PARCC chair, displaying the most overt conflict of interest in education to date.

I am not suggesting that these private companies be removed, but they need their power decreased. They need to return to their original position of providing services for schools instead of finding ways to vampirically draining the money out of teachers, schools, and communities. Pennsylvania should be proud of its top-notch education, as well as the high standard of its teachers, but it does not need to allow this bad behavior by companies that should be serving education, instead of milking money out of it. The testing requirements for receiving and maintaining a teaching license in Pennsylvania must be reexamined.