State considers change to distance learning

Education panel will vote Friday on plan to amend accreditation standards

Students taking online, video or correspondence courses from out-of-state instructors soon may have limited distance-learning options, pending the outcome of a Montana Board of Public Education vote Friday.

At its next meeting, held in Great Falls today and Friday, the board will vote on several amendments to distance-learning accreditation standards in elementary and secondary schools. Whatever the outcome, the vote will have the force of law, because the Board of Public Education controls accreditation standards.

One of the most significant proposed changes would require those who teach online, distance or technology-delivered classes to be licensed and endorsed by the state in their areas of instruction.

Most distance-learning classes require on-site facilitators for students. Under the new rule, if the teacher doesn't have a Montana license, the facilitator must be licensed and endorsed in the area of instruction.

It's a proposal that many in the state oppose, for fear of its implications for small schools without many resources and for such dual-credit programs as Running Start.

Running Start allows high-school students to earn high-school credits and credits toward college degrees by taking classes at universities or community colleges. Most post-secondary institutions require professors to have master's degrees in their subject areas; qualifications for teaching are determined on a campus-by-campus basis.

If online instructors must have Montana licenses, opponents say, requiring licensure for college professors teaching high-school students is a logical next step.

Considering distance learning apart from dual-programs is shortsighted, said Dan Zorn, School District 5 assistant superintendent.

"Invariably a discussion on distance learning always ends up in a dual-credit discussion," he said. "It's a mistake to consider one without the other."

A Board of Education task force is considering the dual-credit issue, Zorn said, just as there was for distance learning. The dual-credit task force has been unable to reach a consensus, he said.

But it took nearly a decade and three task forces to reach a consensus about distance-learning licensure, said Eric Feaver, president of the Montana Education Association/Montana Federation of Teachers and a member of the distance-learning task force.

"This is probably the third rendition of a distance-learning rule in the last 10 years," he said. "It took us a long time to convince people that if we require licensure for people who teach on-site, why don't we for teaching off-site?"

The goal, he said, is ensuring students have quality teachers.

"We know they are [qualified] in K-12," he said. "We have always maintained, and so has the Board of Public Education, that in the school environment … teachers must by law and by rule be licensed to do so and endorsed in the subject they teach."

The proposed changes to the distance-learning rule ensures all instructors are held to the same level of quality, said Steve Meloy, executive secretary of the Board of Public Education.

"The board has consistently thwarted attempts to reduce teacher qualifications and teacher credentials," he wrote in an e-mail to the Inter Lake. "I believe that the Board of Public Education concurs with the concept that those who provide instruction to our children, whether in person or electronically, must never be waived from a high standard of quality."

Most of the bill's opponents don't question the need for quality teachers. They do, however, question requiring a Montana license.

Claudette Morton, executive director of the Montana Small Schools Alliance, was one of three task-force members who opposed the licensure proposal.

"We have concern that we're putting up a big fence around Montana," she said. "We worked hard to have a quality teacher-education program and have high standards and high teacher-certification standards.

"But also, we're not sure that we do, in fact, have the corner on the market in terms of quality, licensed educators."

The rule change could particularly affect small and rural schools, which don't have as many resources as their larger counterparts.

Foreign language is one example, Morton said. Some high schools might not have certified or endorsed foreign-language teachers.

"There is only one [online] program in Montana that offers one language - and that's Spanish - with a certified and endorsed teacher," she said. "If students wanted to take German or Chinese or Farsi, they wouldn't be able to take it in Montana. I think it's limiting the options."

Zorn agreed.

"We need to be expanding the ways in which we provide high school and the ways in which we provide educational opportunities for our children," he said, "not confining high school to the walls of our schools."

A number of states, including Michigan, have made distance-learning courses a high-school graduation requirement, he added.

"We're trying to, as a system, expand those options," he said, "to allow kids to have more opportunities outside of our four walls."

The proposed changes aren't intended to restrict opportunities, said John Fuller, a government and economics teacher at Flathead High School and member of the Board of Public Education.

"We don't want to inhibit alternatives and flexibility and modern technology. We're not trying to be mugwumps here," he said. "At the same time, we need to guarantee that the quality of Montana's standards is protected."

Out-of-state teachers who want to teach Montana students will have ample opportunities to do so, Feaver said.

"If you are licensed and endorsed in another state, it is not that hard to become licensed and endorsed in Montana," he said.

Furthermore, the state automatically recognizes teachers certified by some national organizations, such as the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

"It's not like there's no access or opportunity for teachers for distance education or off-site education," Feaver said.

Students also may take classes from teachers with out-of-state licenses if the facilitators are licensed and endorsed by Montana in the areas of instruction. Some have, however, wondered why a student would need to take an off-site course if a qualified facilitator was on site.

"That's a dadgum good question," Feaver said. "Let the provider come up with a licensed or endorsed teacher. Otherwise, the provider is going to be out of business."

"I believe smart vendors will figure it out," he added. "If you have to be licensed in Montana, you will get licensed in Montana. The market will make the adjustment."

Even if the market adjusts, the rule change could impact students who are home-schooled or who transfer in from out of state, Zorn said.

"I think it's important that there be standards," he said. "There's value in it, but I also think we have to be careful of defining it too narrowly."

On the 'Net:

Montana Board of Public Education: www.bpe.state.mt.us

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.