So on December 27th, twenty-one days after they’d received the form, the state declared me certified on level two. I think this means that my teaching certificate will no longer expire. I’m not sure what else it entails. Onto the English praxis.

I like reading Matt Taibbi. I actually signed up for a subscription to Rolling Stone based on his reporting. I haven’t read his new book but in reading a review (here) I came across the following excerpt:

Political power is simply taken from most of us by a grubby kind of fiat, in little fractions of a percent here and there each and every day, through a thousand separate transactions that take place in fine print and in the margins of a vast social mechanism that most of us are simply not conscious of.

I’d love to read this quote at the beginning of a class to see what students would make of it. I’d want students to argue whether it’s true or false, to gather what evidence they could on either side. I’d like to ask them how the meaning of this quote shifts if the author is an editor at a left-leaning popular magazine or a right-wing radio host: why could either persona have made this statement? I’d like the students to try and contextualize this quote — is it only true or relevant in today’s world or has it always been true?

The first thing I did this morning was to call the state certification office to make sure that taking the praxis (0041) would be all I needed to do in order to add a Secondary English certification. I waited twelve minutes for a thirty second call to confirm that a passing score (160) and the state paperwork were all that was necessary.

Then I created an ETS account and registered for the exam. Seventeen minutes from start to finish, although I think this might have been a browser issue on my end (fussy chrome extensions). And my credit card is $130 lighter. It is kind of amazing that every teacher in Pennsylvania has to pony up money directly to ETS if they want a certification. Why haven’t individual states gotten into this business? There’s overhead to start but it’d be a license to print money and you’d have total control over the process.

Generally I avoid the Inqy/DN comments as they’re usually full of insults and invective. However, this comment struck me as funny, scary, and ultimately sad:

The Generic Philly Problem: Politicians espouse great concern about problem. Not-for-profit organizations hold events to shed light on problem. Administrators of questionable competence and motives feign interest in solving problem. Lawyers get involved. Boatloads of public & private funds are dispensed with reckless abandon to all of the above. Problem solved. Philly Style!

I can see in the state database that my application for level two certification has been received as it’s now labeled “Assigned/On Hand” in the database. Once this clears, I’m hoping to take the Praxis II exam — 0041 — so that I can apply for Secondary English certification.

I think or at least I hope that it’s still true that anyone who holds level one certification in any area can take the praxis test and apply for certification in another area. I took the practice test and got 22 out of 24 correct, so I’m not worried about the test as much as finding the $130.00 necessary to pay for the exam. And it’s only written so I can’t take it via computer.

Talking with old connections, I found the right person at Penn who could convert graduate courses to Act 48 hours. A few key strokes, twelve hours, and my teacher certification is ACTIVE.

It made me think about how so much of school reform ends up falling into the lap of administrative assistants. A group of legislators, probably on the advice of some education professors, possibly on the word of a lobbyist or two, comes up with new regulations for teachers. The goal is to make sure that teachers keep studying, learning, and growing; to do so, they must enroll in classes of various kinds, either workshops offered by the district or college courses. Fine.

But then the implementation of this falls to the administrative assistants who must figure out ways to make their computer system talk to other folks computer systems. Many of these individuals become the gate-keepers but more importantly, the only people who know how to make things work, how to keep people certified, how to ensure that the bureaucracy keeps up with the vision put forth by the “reformers.” What never ceases to amaze me is how vast the gap between the idea and the reality becomes.

Beginning the process of renewing my teacher certification and I’m reacquainting myself with the horrid feeling of being a cog in a massive bureaucracy. I had a “Level One” social studies certification that I had let lapse. Do I apply for “Level Two”, having taught for five years, completed an induction program, and ensured that the school district will certify me as not having been rated unsatisfactory? Or do I first figure out how to get the necessary Act 48 credits to “activate” my old certification?

Looking at the state website, I see that I’d done 58 hours of in-service training. I was short 62 hours. I think maybe my Ph.D. would count.

I called an awesome employee at the school district (HR is a very, very different kind of place than it was fifteen years ago; someone (I think it’s Paul Vallas) deserves credit for this turnaround). She told me that I would receive my Level Two certification in the mail. Then, I’d receive a letter saying my certification was inactive. She recommended I call the registrar at Penn who would have a way of turning my Ph.D. course hours into Act 48 hours, that they’d be able to do this directly. I’m dubious but I’m going to the registrar’s office to find out.

I’m at the beginning of this process but I already remember that sinking feeling that whatever experiences I’ve had that would make me a good teacher are essentially irrelevant. This teacher world — one I want come back to — is far from the academic world. I think about academic conferences and the daily life in a university as a tenure track professor; no one questions your right to be there. There’s a hiring process but once annointed, that’s it, you’re good, you have your occasional issues with students and peers, but there’s no barrage of paperwork, no figuring out what you need to do to keep your job.