Hundreds of teachers in the Baltimore metropolitan area lack basic state certification, and they're employed disproportionately in the worst-performing schools.
An analysis by The Sun found 239 teachers the state terms "conditional" in the 25 elementary schools with the area's lowest test scores. That's 35 percent of the 684 instructors in those schools, all of them in Baltimore.
By contrast, 10 conditional teachers were scattered among the area's 25 top-performing schools. That is less than 2 percent of the teachers in those schools, which are in Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Howard counties.
FOR THE RECORD - Because of an editing error, an article in Sunday's editions incorrectly reported the number of elementary school teachers in Maryland. There were more than 42,000 teachers when the state collected data in March, of whom about 5,000 were conditionally certified. The Sun regrets the error.
The analysis also found veteran teachers with advanced certificates - those with master's degrees and at least three years' experience - clustered in many of the area's top schools and in all of the suburban districts.
A little more than 36 percent of the city's elementary teachers held advanced certificates, compared with nearly 55 percent of Anne Arundel's teachers.
There is some disagreement about the value of certification, or licensing, as a measure of teacher quality. Even supporters would not suggest that the presence or absence of a certified teacher is the chief reason a child does well or poorly in school.
But the concentration in under-performing schools of teachers who have not met state requirements - often because they have failed national teaching tests - disturbs many.
"You wouldn't want to hire a lawyer who hasn't passed the bar," says state schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick, arguing that a teacher's background and credentials are important.
Maryland has three main categories of certification for teachers. To get a standard teaching certificate, one must have a college degree, have taken required education courses and passed two national tests.
Conditionally certified teachers - often referred to as uncertified - have college degrees but are missing the education courses, the national tests or both.
Teachers with advanced certification have master's degrees, usually in education, and three or more years of experience.
More than 11 percent of the 5,000 elementary teachers in Maryland's classrooms in March, when the state collected data, were conditionally certified. The state average is influenced by the large numbers of conditional teachers in Baltimore and in Prince George's County.
