Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton has signed legislation that creates a new path into the teaching profession for nontraditional teachers and midcareer professionals.
The measure requires the prospective teachers to attend a training program, which must be approved by the Minnesota board of teaching, and participate in at least 200 hours of student-teaching. It is aimed at helping to close Minnesota’s racial achievement gap and fill projected teacher shortages.
The law is expected to bring in mostly young teachers who didn’t attend traditional teacher colleges and ease the way for programs such as Teach For America. It was opposed by the Education Minnesota teachers’ union, whose president said the change would weaken standards for becoming a teacher.
