The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education announced Tuesday the state board of education had unanimously approved proposed changes to secondary school teacher GPA requirements to move forward. The next step for the proposal is a public comment period.
The proposed amendment is part of the department's ongoing efforts to tackle the state's teacher shortage — as Missouri also ranks 50th in average teacher starting salary. Efforts from the legislative side such as increased scholarship availability and "Grow Your Own" development programs also seek to improve the number of available and qualified teachers.
2017, the state began requiring a 3.0 GPA in certain content areas for secondary education, which covers various categories in grades 5-12 (excluding special education). Teacher candidates are required to earn a 3.0 GPA in their desired area of specialization, which includes subjects such as chemistry and math and specialty classes like art. This amendment would drop the required GPA in most content area courses to 2.5.
Although current coordinator of educator quality Daryl Fridley was not working for DESE at the time, he said the move from seven years ago to institute a 3.0 GPA was likely due to a general sense that "it must be good to raise the standards."
"There was not, at the time, a particular teacher shortage. We hadn't had a pandemic yet, there was lots of other things," said Fridley. "The numbers were going down at the time, but they were still fairly robust."
Fridley said the department had tried a variety of methods around 2017 to try to ensure teacher candidates were "the strongest possible," including additional assessments and changing from assessing overall GPA to different types of GPAs.
However, following studies from Washington University and Missouri State University along with the urgency created by the teacher shortage, the department has determined the GPA requirements are in fact decreasing the number of prepared incoming teachers.
The Washington University study found "no more than a weak relationship" between GPA and supervisor rating on content area knowledge. Similarly, in a Missouri State University study examining 1,174 STEM teacher candidates, researchers determined no statistical difference in exam pass rates between those with GPAs from 2.75-3.0 and those whose GPAs were more than 3.0.
"If people have this notion that we are just dropping... changing the standard for all the teachers, that's not the case," Fridley said. "We're trying to figure out how to use scalpels more than hammers."
Only 43.55% of first-year teachers in Missouri were considered "comprehensively prepared" in the 2023-2024 school year, according to a DESE report.
Fridley said a third of last school year's newcomers were either on substitute certifications or none at all. In towns further from universities, schools have a larger share of under-qualified teachers.
"It's usually not a question of 'Would I rather have somebody with a 3.0 or a 2.8?'" Fridley said. "It's more often a question of 'Would I rather have somebody with a 2.8 or no preparation at all. And that is the case for many of our administrators throughout the state, particularly in some of our city districts and especially out in our rural districts."
Only about a third of teacher candidates will be affected by this change, as the majority of Missouri education students are seeking elementary level certifications. Early childhood and special education also do not have specific content-area GPA requirements.
Although the DESE does not have exact projections on how new rule could increase the number of more prepare and certified teachers, Fridley said in the last three years, around 100 candidates did not meet the content GPA requirements.
Around 25% of those 100 were in STEM, a large area of need for the state. Additionally, according to Fridley, some students drop out of the program early because they realize they cannot meet the content area GPA requirement.
The department also proposed to reinstate the general science certification for grades 9-12. Currently, those seeking to become secondary school science teachers must specialize in biology, chemistry, earth science or physics. The general science emphasis went away "about the same time" as the instatement of the 3.0 GPA requirement.
However, these specialized emphasis areas do not fit the needs of the majority of Missouri secondary science class offerings.
"We found that around 80% of the secondary science courses taught last year across the state of Missouri were intro-level courses," said Fridley. The department saw a strong need for a "generalist option," particularly in rural areas.
"We believe [this reintroduction] will open teaching science to more people," Fridley said.
Also included in the proposed amendment is a stronger requirement for the elementary reading test.
With the proposed amendment to the GPA, secondary level teacher candidates will still need to pass standard teacher examinations and meet other qualifications.
"We just want to continue to try to find ways to get well-prepared teachers in front of Missouri's children," Fridley said.
The proposed changes are required to be up for public comment for 30 days. Fridley said that the department is projecting to return to the state board of education for final voting in March 2025.
Those with feedback on the proposed change can email educatorquality@dese.mo.gov or mail comments to this address:
DESE, Attn: Paul Katnik, Assistant Commissioner, Office of Educator Quality, P.O. Box 480, Jefferson City, MO 65102-048
