INDIANAPOLIS – Teachers from around Indiana spent hours before the State Board of Education on Wednesday, criticizing a new literacy licensure requirement adopted by the General Assembly earlier this year.
The training requirement requires all Pre-K to Grade 6 and special education teachers to complete 80 hours of professional development on the science of reading concepts and pass a written exam. Teachers won’t be able to renew their licenses without doing so.
Most of the four-hour meeting was spent on public comments from teachers and union representatives, who said the new training mandate is unfair and overwhelming. Complicating matters, many free training courses are already full, leaving only a few other options for which teachers must pay out of pocket.
“No other profession is going to be okay with being told, not only do you have to do this to keep your license, but you have to do it outside your contracted hours,” said Cory Freihaut, a special education teacher from the Vigo County School Corporation.
Freihaut said he’s a single father who, in addition to teaching, works two other jobs. He echoed numerous other educators who emphasized that fitting in training over the summer is inconvenient and a hardship for many.
“I understand we’re getting a stipend, but, it’s like $15 an hour. I make more at the pizza shop I do on the weekends,” Freihaut said. “I ask that you look at shortening professional development, because honestly, unless you can provide it in our contracted hours, we shouldn’t be doing it.”
At the meeting, Secretary of Education Katie Jenner noted Indiana’s reading scores have declined for over a decade. According to data from the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE), in 2023, one in five Hoosier third graders lacked foundational reading skills.
She acknowledged concerns, however, and maintained that the state board and education officials want to find solutions and create more “flexibility” for teachers to complete the training requirements.
The IDOE announced Wednesday that the state is adding cohorts. More sessions were added for spring and summer, increasing the total number of cohorts from 12 to 64 — each with approximately 200 educators. Additional cohorts are also open for Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 “in response to the early demand,” according to IDOE.
State lawmakers approved the literacy training requirement during the 2024 legislative session to reverse lagging literacy scores among Hoosier students. Under the law, teachers renewing their licenses must earn an “Early Literacy Endorsement” by 2027. Teachers are eligible for a $1,200 stipend for the 80-hour Keys to Literacy training, and the state is covering the cost of the PRAXIS exam.
Read the entire Casey Smith story for the Indiana Capital Chronicle, here.
