Certified Success.

• Author: Taylor, Jeff A.
• Position: Teachers with "emergency" credentials seem to teach kids just fine - Brief Article

Despite the ongoing frenzy over how to improve public education, an important new study on teaching slipped out with little notice. Perhaps that's because the findings do not mesh with the prescriptions of the professional teaching lobby.

The study found that teachers with "emergency" credentials seem to teach kids just fine. To fill personnel shortages, especially in math and science instruction, most states allow some teachers to enter the classroom without conventional certification. The Department of Education estimates there are about 50,000 teachers nationwide with emergency certification.

"Contrary to conventional wisdom, mathematics and science students who have teachers with emergency credentials do no worse than students whose teachers have standard teaching credentials, all else being equal," conclude Dan D. Goldhaber and Dominic J. Brewer in their contribution to "Better Teachers, Better Schools," a report released by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a private research group advocating education reform.

After looking at the performance of 24,000 eighth-graders...