Missouri teachers will no longer need a 3.0 grade point average in their subject area to teach in public schools starting in July. the National Education Council voted unanimously on Tuesday.


The threshold for being qualified to teach in the state is now a 2.5 grade point average in teacher education. The only exception are special education teachers, who still have to meet the grade of 3.0.


Officials with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Educations say the change is intended to increase the number of certified teachers coming into public schools. Education Commissioner Karla Eslinger said in a statement that the change would remove “unnecessary barriers to the teaching profession.”


“There is no evidence that links a particular GPA in content areas to more effective teaching,” Daryl Fridley, the department’s educational preparation coordinator, told the board Tuesday. “Most non-teaching professional options in science, math and history do not require such a high GPA.”



Another symptom of Missouri’s teacher shortage: the growing number of four-day school weeks




A 3.0 GPA requirement will most impact teachers in STEM subjects, he said. When the department looked at teacher candidates who met other requirements but did not meet the GPA standard, nearly a quarter of the disqualified students were in STEM.


Teacher candidates must still pass a performance assessment, which includes a test of subject knowledge, to become certified. Of those who did not meet GPA requirements, 90% passed the performance assessment, Fridley said.


The department hopes the new requirements will bring more teachers into the profession. Currently, nearly 44% of first-year teachers in Missouri are certified. More than a quarter act as substitute teachers, 6% do not have a diploma and the rest have an alternative diploma.


“Discussions on this topic often center on the question, ‘Isn’t this a case of lowering standards?’” Fridley said. “We argue that since one-third of the state’s first-year teachers have no more than a substitute teacher certification and some have even less, any action that results in a greater proportion of first-year teachers completing the preparation program is actually a net gain for the overall quality of teachers.”


Amid low teacher retention and poor recruitment, the change is welcome, the department reiterated.


“Both the quantity and quality of teachers are very important to student learning,” Paul Katnik, assistant commissioner for education quality, said during Tuesday’s meeting.


The department reiterated that it does not believe the lower GPA threshold will impact teacher quality.





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A 2019 study from Texas showed that there was no improvement in performance outcomes between a 2.5 GPA and 2.75 GPA requirement. Increasing the threshold to 3.0 excluded 44% of education students and caused a small increase in teacher ratings. The study concludes that “higher GPA criteria would also have minimal impact on the quality of our nation’s teachers.”


Carol Hallquist, vice president of the State Board of Education, said she was initially hesitant about lowering the GPA standard but now “fully supports this position.”


“When I contacted principals and people who are in teacher preparation programs, they said there was no correlation and they were very supportive,” she said. “They also said you have to take licensing tests, and that’s really what we want to look at.”


Doug Hayter, executive director of the Missouri Association of School Administrators, told The Independent that he has spoken with the department about the GPA requirements and is optimistic.


“There is a balance where we need to have requirements that mean something, but the research they have seems to indicate that this change would not have a substantial impact on teacher effectiveness,” he said. “As long as that is the case, we want to give educators as many options as possible in a world where there are still many open positions related to public education.”


Further helping to open doors to new teachers is the restoration of general science certification for high school teachers. The department has required science teachers to specialize in an area such as chemistry or biology, but is now reintroducing a certification for generalists with a broader knowledge base.


“The reinstatement of this general science certificate will create opportunities for more students to choose to become science teachers, not by lowering standards, but instead by creating a pathway where standards better meet the needs of schools,” said Fridley.


Hayter expects the change to impact districts statewide, saying “every little bit helps” to recruit teachers.


“This is a small part of a bigger picture to ensure that we have highly effective teachers in our classrooms in the future,” he said.


The “bigger picture,” Hayter said, includes increasing teacher salaries and making schools welcoming to teachers.






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