Today the Missouri State Board of Education voted to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking to change the requirements for some teacher certification areas. The current rule requires a grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher in the specific content (i.e. subject) area for which the teacher is seeking certification. This proposed amendment to the rule would change the required content GPA from 3.0 to 2.5. Teachers earn content certification to teach most school subjects at the secondary level, as well as some specialty courses, like the arts. Teachers seeking certification in elementary, early childhood, and/or special education will not be affected by this change.

A Missouri researcher evaluated 1,174 teacher candidates from science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields and found no statistical difference between the first-time certification exam pass rates of candidates with a content GPA between 2.75 and 3.0 and those with a content GPA of 3.0 and above. This suggests that the content knowledge of teacher candidates with a higher content GPA does not significantly differ from that of candidates earning a lower content GPA. There is also no data in this research to suggest a correlation between a teacher’s future success in the classroom and a 0.5 difference in GPA.

“As part of a comprehensive effort to address teacher recruitment and retention challenges in Missouri, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has been focused on removing unnecessary barriers to the teaching profession,” said Commissioner of Education Karla Eslinger. “This research demonstrates we have the potential to expand our pool of future teachers, without concern that student learning and teacher success will be negatively affected.” 

Proposed changes to administrative rules are open for public comment. That feedback can be emailed to educatorquality@dese.mo.gov or mailed to: DESE, Attn: Paul Katnik, Assistant Commissioner, Office of Educator Quality, P.O. Box 480, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0480. Comments must be received within 30 days after publication of the notice in the Missouri Register, which is expected on January 15. The order of rulemaking will likely be on the State Board of Education’s agenda for a final vote in March 2025.

The State Board of Education instituted the current GPA requirement for content teacher certifications in 2017. Since establishing the rule, the state has seen a substantial drop in the number of individuals completing the program for these certification types, disproportionately affecting teacher candidates in STEM subjects, where the need for teachers is particularly high. None of Missouri’s eight border states have any type of content GPA requirement for teachers.