Colonization to the Mid-19th Century: A Local Prerogative
From the 17th to mid-19th century, teacher certification in the USA was a responsibility vested with local church ministers, and after independence, the elected local town committees. This was the same for Massachusetts – by the 1647 General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony, ministers of the local towns were entrusted with this responsibility. This authority later shifted to the local elected townspeople by the 1789 Massachusetts Law (Sharpe, 1984). In the tradition of federalism, local autonomy over teacher certification held sway till much of the 19th century. Education was seen as a purely local affair, the exclusive prerogative of the local community.
Teacher certification was base solely on an oral examination or personal interview. Although there were general criteria like: the “capacity to govern a school, moral character, and academic attainments” (Kinney, 1964, p. 40), standard practices varied across states, and rigors in selection was an exception. Certification provided a general authorization to teach all subject.
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