Assistant Professor Kimberly Lopez involved in national effort to streamline teacher licensure portability

Members of the military and their family members who pursue a career in education are often eager to serve the communities they are based in. However, challenges with state recertification requirements mean doing so is not always easy, according to Kimberly Lopez, clinical assistant professor at Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College.

Lopez brings personal insight as a certified teacher who found herself facing recertification hurdles as her spouse went through six deployments and the family navigated 13 moves with two children across state lines. Now, thanks to her advocacy in conjunction with an array of individuals and organizations, efforts are underway to create a national compact among states that makes it easier for these teachers — as well as others who aren’t connected with the military — to enter the classroom. 

“With recertification, each state had a new set of requirements, retesting and additional coursework that was part of the process, and while these processes were created with the best of intentions they were preventing qualified teachers from entering classrooms in a timely way,” she says. “What I saw was a need and opportunity to better streamline processes between states so that schools in need of qualified teachers could have access to this valuable workforce.”

Lopez recently spoke about the topic while serving on a panel at the Association of Defense Communities National Summit: “Heroes to Educators: An Innovative Solution to the Public Education Crisis.” She provided insight into the growing interest among states to make it easier to tap into the military and veteran workforce for educator roles.

Each year, approximately 200,000 men and women leave U.S. military service to become civilians, oftentimes seeking a new purpose or second career. In addition to those serving directly in the military, spouses also have access to education benefits during or after service.

Lopez was involved in laying the groundwork for this effort in the summer of 2017 as she faced yet another deployment—this time, to Utah — and yet another round of state recertification requirements. Lopez began reaching out to policy members and educator groups to explain these challenges, even participating in a White House discussion about military spouses. She joined other advocates in recommending a more streamlined process to get certified and qualified teachers like her into classrooms that led to legislation changes in 2018.

Currently, a movement is underway to build on that momentum by encouraging states to create reciprocity among participant states, and reduce the barriers to license portability and employment for teachers. It is guided by the National Center for Interstate Compacts through the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact.

“With the Utah legislation as a model, we started to get more inquiries from other states and that led to an effort to create a national compact among states that we hope will get all states on board with efforts to eliminate these barriers to recertification across state lines,” she says. “What’s even more exciting is that even though this came from a need identified by military families, it has the potential to benefit teachers in general who move to other states.”

Lopez is also involved in efforts to improve learning experiences for children of military families, as well as in encouraging a pathway to joining the educator workforce among retired and veteran members of the military. At ASU, Lopez teaches mostly methods-focused courses to junior- and senior-year students in reading and social studies. While she is not involved on campus as part of military student outreach, she has been a resource for administrators, staff and students who may be entering the military or joining the military community as family members.