Indiana lawmakers are on the verge of reshaping the teaching profession, to the benefit of teachers and students, and could set an example for the rest of the country.
State policymakers are considering a proposal that would exempt some teaching candidates from the Praxis test (a standardized test commonly used by educators to evaluate potential teachers). The provisions in the Indiana proposal would help to streamline the process used by working professionals outside of education as they use alternative routes to enter the classroom.
These provisions are backed by research. A study of freshly minted teachers in New York City found that student performance during a teacher’s first two years of employment is a better indicator of teaching effectiveness than a teacher’s certification status.
For decades, in fact, educators have said that the certification process spends too much time on “how-to courses” instead of classes reinforcing subject matter expertise. Research from North Carolina that used data including the results from 75 percent of all students in the state in grades 3-5 found that even having a graduate degree was not an indicator of a teacher’s abilities.
To state the obvious, teacher effectiveness matters. Research finds more effective teachers can help students learn the equivalent of a year and a half of instructional content, while less effective teachers only give students the equivalent of a half a year’s worth of learning.
Critics may claim that some instruction on how to impart knowledge must be necessary for adults who want to reach children. But research cannot determine the best way for aspiring teachers to be effective, whether it is through teacher colleges or direct experience.
So, while there is no fool-proof method for training teachers, the evidence indicating that teachers can be highly qualified without certification suggests lawmakers should be considering more alternative ways for professionals to access the teaching pipeline.
Lawmakers recently removed the provisions providing this flexibility but still have time reconsider.
The proposal has other crucial components that respond to pressing needs in Indiana schools. The version of the proposal considered in the state House of Representatives added the Classical Learning Test, or CLT, to the list of assessments for which Indiana standards should prepare students. This test is more rigorous than the SAT and includes longer reading selections from classical works of literature as part of the reading comprehension section. The math portion of the CLT deals with logic and reasoning in addition to algebraic methods of problem solving.
State lawmakers in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, and Florida, among others, allow students to use education savings accounts to pay for CLT tests, and Florida policymakers adopted the test as an approved admissions assessment for state universities in 2023. As of February 2026, applicants to U.S. military academies can submit CLT test scores as part of their application.
Furthermore, the Indiana proposal improves state academic standards by adding instruction on the “success sequence” to K-12 students. Coined by social scientists more than a decade ago, the phrase success sequence refers to the consistent research findings that demonstrate positive outcomes for individuals who finish high school, enter the workforce or pursue a terminal degree, and get married before having children.
Research finds that 97 percent of individuals from the Millennial generation who followed the success sequence were not poor when they reached adulthood. In fact, among black Millennials who followed the success sequence, 80 percent of the individuals in a report from 2022 were in middle- or higher-income brackets.
Teachers should inform students that following these basic steps may hold significant benefits in life for them. In my latest book, “The Polarization Myth: America’s Surprising Consensus on Race, Schools, and Sex,”my nationally representative survey of parents and the general public found that 50 percent of respondents from the general public were in favor of teaching the success sequence to students (compared to 30 percent who were opposed) and 53 percent of parents were in favor (28 percent opposed).
Indiana lawmakers could make pivotal improvements to K-12 learning in this proposal. Policymakers should consider the benefits to families, students, and teachers that would come from including all of the proposal’s original provisions.
