In her State of the State speech on Jan. 11, Gov. Jan Brewer called for the removal of barriers that keep talented people from teaching in Arizona’s public schools.

Brewer said it was astonishing how even Bill Gates and Craig Barrett, former CEO of the Intel Corp., are unqualified to teach computer science in Arizona.

“We must never give up attracting top talent to teach our children,” Brewer said. “And as we search for that talent – let’s not limit ourselves to the traditional colleges of education.”

Lisa Flesher, an undergraduate adviser for the College of Teacher Education and Leadership, said someone like Gates would not have taken the classes on teacher instruction required by the Arizona Department of Education.

The teacher education school works alongside the Arizona Department of Education to ensure its students complete the certification process and develop the skills necessary to teach elementary, secondary and special education, Flesher said.

“You can take some of the most intelligent people and throw them in a classroom, and they would struggle,” she said.

It takes more than knowing a subject to teach lower-level education, Flesher said. As a recent recipient of a bachelor’s degree in education from ASU, Flesher spent last year teaching math to seventh graders.

“I can’t imagine how I would’ve done it without the background I had from ASU,” she said.

At ASU, undergraduates are required to complete three semesters of field experience in their area of specialization, for example early childhood or secondary education. In their final semester, students work full time as student teachers.

“We are constantly looking at the programs to meet the needs of the community,” said Kathleen Puckett, interim associate dean of the College of Teacher Education and Leadership. “We work very hard to meet those needs.”

In addition to receiving a bachelor’s degree, the Arizona Department of Education requires those pursuing teaching careers to take a proficiency assessment. The assessment is divided into two parts: professional knowledge, which questions applicants on teaching skills, like writing lesson plans and classroom management, and content knowledge, which questions applicants on their area of specialization.

“One of the options for Bill Gates, if he wants to become a certified teacher, would be to do ASU’s InMAC program,” Flesher said.

InMAC, or Master’s with Arizona Certification, is a master’s degree program offered by the teacher education college that allows graduate students to teach full time while completing coursework.

Secondary education sophomore Jessica Miller said she grew up in a charter school system — one that sometimes does not require teachers to be certified.

“[Teachers] are kind of just thrown in head first,” Miller said.

Some of Miller’s teachers reminded her of college professors, she said, and they didn’t know how to teach the subject material in a manner lower-education students would understand.

The teacher education and leadership courses teach students how to interact with young children and how to manage the classroom, she said.

Miller said she hopes to one day teach advanced classes in middle school biology.

“I wanted to go to college to become a teacher,” she said. “I wanted those classes that would show how to teach students.”

Reach the reporter at kjdaly@asu.edu