Opponents criticize open enrollment charter schools for employing “underqualified” teachers. The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) defines a highly qualified teacher as one who is licensed, demonstrates subject-matter competence by passing a content knowledge test, and holds at least a bachelor’s degree in the subject that he or she will teach.
In contrast to traditional public schools, it’s true that some charter schools, such KIPP Delta, mostly employ nontraditionally licensed teachers, but that doesn’t make those teachers underqualified. Data from the ADE show that some core academic subjects (English, reading and language arts, mathematics, science, foreign language, social studies, and visual and performing arts) in open enrollment charter schools are not taught by highly qualified teachers. The same is true for traditional public schools. A total of 215 schools in Arkansas have core academic classes not taught by highly qualified teachers Ninety one percent of these schools are traditional public schools while six percent are open enrollment charter schools. The other three percent are conversion charter schools. Table 1 depicts the top ten schools with the highest percentage of courses not taught bay highly qualified teachers.
| Table 1. Percentage of core academic classes not taught by highly qualified teachers (2015-16 school year) | ||
| School Name | School Type | % |
| Arkansas Virtual Academy Middle School | Open enrollment charter school | 38% |
| Harrisburg High School | Traditional public school | 32% |
| Nemo Vista Middle School | Traditional public school | 32% |
| Anna Strong Learning Academy | Traditional public school | 29% |
| Weiner Elementary | Traditional public school | 28% |
| Umpire High School | Traditional public school | 27% |
| Wilmot Elementary School | Traditional public school | 25% |
| Arkansas Virtual Academy Elementary | Open enrollment charter school | 24% |
| Waldron Middle School | Traditional public school | 24% |
| Portland Elementary School | Traditional public school | 23% |
Source: Arkansas Department of Education
Eight of the top ten schools that have core classes not taught by highly qualified teachers are traditional public schools while two of them are open enrollment charter schools. One can conclude that by the ADE’s definition of highly qualified teachers the worst affected schools in Arkansas are traditional public schools.
The real difference between traditional public school districts and open enrollment charter schools may lie in the routes that their teachers take to be licensed. Open enrollment charter schools may mainly hire nontraditionally licensed teachers. A traditionally licensed teacher has completed a formal teacher preparation program offered by a four-year college or university and has majored in education. In contrast, a nontraditionally licensed teacher has completed a degree in some other subject and has not majored in education. Arkansas offers a variety of nontraditional pathways to obtain a teaching license, including the Teach for America program, the Arkansas Teacher Corps program, and the Provisional Professional Teaching License, all of which require professional experience in teaching or in the subject being taught.
One major concern is that nontraditionally licensed teachers lack classroom management skills and are therefore less effective at teaching students than traditionally licensed ones are. Research by Brian Uriegas, Lori Kupczynski, and Marie-Anne Mundy (2014), however, shows that there is no significant difference in the ability to manage a classroom between traditionally and nontraditionally licensed teachers. Therefore, nontraditional routes to teacher licensing help schools to meet Arkansas’s teacher shortage without compromising on students’ education.
What’s more, open enrollment charter schools continuously evaluate their teachers’ effectiveness using various methods, such as classroom observation, teacher self-assessment, student growth, and parent and student surveys, some of which are very similar to the methods used by traditional public schools. If an open enrollment charter school does not meet the performance goals deemed appropriate by the ADE, it must close. Thus, charter schools actually have to prove their excellence in an even more rigorous environment.