BOSTON — An alternative licensure pathway will be newly available to educators in Massachusetts, following a unanimous vote of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on Tuesday.
The regulatory changes were subject of much debate at the board’s last meeting in March, where members opted to delay a vote until their April meeting seeking more data and clarity.
The shift is intended to address educator shortages and diversify the workforce, but board members signaled last month that, while potentially useful, the changes fall short of the scale of the problem.
The proposed regulations stem from a 2024 economic development law that authorized the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to create alternative certification pathways. The changes would allow some candidates to waive one of the Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure, either by substituting prior experience, advanced degrees, out-of-state credentials or a portfolio demonstrating subject matter competency.
The department made several changes to the licensure regulations since the last meeting. Based on the March discussion, the department recommended a pathway allowing eligible candidates to waive the communications and literacy skills test, and to implement the changes for a three-year pilot period, after which they’ll be reevaluated.
There are 3,100 educators in Massachusetts public schools who currently have a waiver for their license, according to Claire Abbott, associate commissioner of the Office of Educator Effectiveness. Of those, 41% have not met the communications and literacy skills requirement. This pathway would open a door to licensure eligibility for them.
“We have 1,900 currently working in public schools on an emergency license. We don’t know how many of them fall into that similar category of having not completed their communications and literacy skills requirement, but we do know that over 30% of them are identify as people of color, and the majority of them are in high needs roles and high needs districts,” Abbott said. “So we believe this would have a pretty significant and relatively immediate impact on getting these folks that much closer to full licensure.”
