Let’s take a look at another one of the ideas pitched by Gov. Mike Pence in his State of the State address to members of the Indiana General Assembly.

“I am so enthusiastic about Speaker (Brian) Bosma’s Next Generation Scholarship that would cover up to $7,500 per year in tuition for students who are in the top 20 percent of their class and commit to teaching in Indiana for at least five years.”

It’s hard to find any downside to this idea.

Attracting high-performing students to teaching careers is a positive. We need all the good teachers we can get, and it seems that if they are committed to teaching for a minimum of five years they are likely to stay in the classroom.

A measure that seeks to make college more affordable to students is also a major positive. Student debt is out of control in this country, and making a dent in it for future teachers will help them be able to pay their bills when they get out of school and enter the workforce.

In addition to this effort, though, the legislature must recognize the mess than has been made when it comes to teaching standards and ISTEP testing.

Constantly-changing goals and an ineffective testing process have certainly played a role in the fact that fewer and fewer college students are majoring in education.

Our leaders need to set the standards, select a reasonable test and get out of the way.
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