Since 2017, Missouri has required public school teachers to have a 3.0 grade point average if they want to be certified in certain subject areas like music, biology, and chemistry. To attract more teachers, Missouri is debating whether to reduce the GPA requirement from 3.0 to 2.5.
The state Board of Education voted unanimously this week to seek public comment about the proposed change.
Daryl Fridley, educator preparation coordinator with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, told Missourinet the change would be strictly for certain subject areas.
“They still have to make a 3.0 in their professional education, their teaching courses,” said Fridley. “So, their ability to teach, we’re maintaining that. But as we’ve looked at the data, that specific knowledge, there are people who get chemistry degrees, who don’t have all A’s, but who are very strong in their chemistry knowledge.”
Teachers seeking certification in elementary, early childhood, and/or special education would still be required to have a 3.0 grade point average.
The United States has been dealing with a teacher shortage and Missouri is not unique. Since the 2017 GPA requirement was put into place, the department said Missouri has had a substantial drop in the number of people completing the program for certain certifications. The change has disproportionately affected teacher candidates in science, technology, engineering, and math subjects.
Nearly 44% of first-year Missouri teachers are currently certified. Over one-quarter are serving as a substitute teacher, 6% are not certified and the remaining ones have been certified through an alternate pathway.
From 2022-2024, 101 people failed to meet the content GPA requirement.
“None of our surrounding states have anything like this,” said Fridley. “So, we think that this puts the power back in the hands of administrators who can decide who they want to hire, even of teacher prep programs that can have higher standards. But this is just what the state is setting.”
He said the state wants to give districts other options.
“These issues do not affect all schools equally,” said Fridley. “There are schools in different parts of our state, particularly the far rural schools, that have much more difficulty in getting well-prepared teachers.”
If the proposed change becomes a reality, he believes that more candidates will choose the traditional certification route.
“We have principals who are telling us, ‘Just give me the choice. Right now, I only have an option to choose somebody as a teacher of record who has a substitute certification. I’d much rather have someone who has been through the entire comprehensive program and has a little bit lower GPA than somebody who doesn’t have any preparation at all,” he said. “We are raising the overall preparation for first-year teachers in Missouri.”
How would this change impact teacher quality? According to Fridley, department research does not suggest a strong correlation between a higher GPA in a certain subject area and the quality of teaching.
“We would not do anything that we thought there was research to suggest would undermine the quality of teaching. We want every child to have an excellent teacher,” he said. “It’s not a magic bullet. It’s not going solve everything. We are looking at multiple ways that we can address some of those specific areas.
The department is also reviewing special education certification requirements. Fridley also points to the use of scholarship programs and state grants to recruit high school students to the teaching profession.
Public comments can be emailed to [email protected].
The Missouri Board of Education is expected to take a final vote on the proposal during its March 2025 meeting. If adopted, the rule would begin July 1, 2025.
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