Licensure Loopholes: Virginia

Exiting Ineffective Teachers Policy

Goal

The state should close loopholes that allow teachers who have not met licensure requirements to continue teaching.

Meets goal
Suggested Citation:
National Council on Teacher Quality. (2011). Licensure Loopholes: Virginia results. State Teacher Policy Database. [Data set].
Retrieved from: https://www.nctq.org/yearbook/state/VA-Licensure-Loopholes-10

Analysis of Virginia's policies

Virginia allows teachers who have not met licensure requirements to teach under the three-year local eligibility license. The state explicitly prohibits these licenses from being provided to those teaching core academic areas as defined by the No Child Left Behind Act. 

Citation

Recommendations for Virginia

State response to our analysis

Virginia recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis.

Research rationale

Research has shown that "the difference in student performance in a single academic year from having a good as opposed to a bad teacher can be more than one full year of standardized achievement." See E. Hanushek, "The Trade-Off between Child Quantity and Quality," The Journal of Political Economy 100 No. 1 (1992): 84-117. Hanushek has also found that highly effective teachers can improve future student earnings by more than $400,000, assuming a class of 20.  "The Economic Value of Higher Teacher Quality." National Bureau of Economic Research. Working Paper 16606 (2010).