By D. Thompson
Conditional license teachers and individuals seeking licenses to teach in Maryland’s public schools came together with education stakeholders for a symposium at Bowie State University to learn about the processes and procedures that must be satisfied to attain a standard teaching license.
Maryland, like most states, has a teacher shortage with over 30,000 full-time teaching positions open in the state.
“We’re not in a teacher shortage, we are in a teacher crisis,” said Dr. Akeda Pearson, assistant professor and director of advanced studies in teaching and learning in the College of Education. “That’s why it was essential to establish the symposium and programs such as the Summer Institute to support conditionally licensed teachers as we address the teacher crisis.”
Anne Arundel County, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, Community College of Baltimore County, Prince George’s Community College and the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services were some of the school systems and higher education institutions represented to support individuals interested in learning more about the requirements to become a conditionally licensed teacher.
“Because of the symposium, I found out that I am already a conditional licensed teacher and have been for almost 6 years,” said Robert Henderson with Baltimore City Schools. “Now I want to pursue my Master’s degree in education at Bowie State.”
Beth Ramey with the Maryland State Education Association (MSEA), an organization comprised of teachers, administrators, certified specialists and higher education faculty and students, spoke at the symposium and agreed with many pundits who say that the profession is fraught with challenges.
“Teaching is hard now,” said Ramey. ”MSEA is all about bringing people together and helping those changing careers or the long term substitutes get their conditional licenses. First year teachers have a lot to learn in terms of just teaching and taking courses to prepare for the Praxis Exams.”
Bowie State also has a Summer Institute designed to support conditional licensed teachers with courses pertinent to evaluation certification forms. The graduate courses are intensive weeklong sessions taught by BSU’s College of Education faculty members and adjunct faculty practitioners and help individuals meet requirement for standard teaching license.
“We collaborate with the local school systems in Maryland on an ongoing basis to address PRAXIS workshops, cohort models and funding for conditional license teachers,” said Dr. Pearson. “Our Summer Institute enables conditional license teachers to transfer up to 12 earned graduate credits directly into our College of Education graduate programs with a strong possibility of students completing a Master’s Degree within 14 months or less.”
