Change is inevitable. And a big change is on the horizon. In the next few years, hundreds of thousands of the current 3,000 000 American teachers will retire. As the middle grades reading teachers of the baby boomer generation retire, similar highly skilled reading teachers will need to replace them.  This is an important but difficult task as teachers from this era were provided with encouragement and opportunities to obtain Indiana reading endorsement and reading specialist licenses.

     Events of the 1960s and 1970s provided strong support for reading.  The Federal Government, the state of Indiana, local school corporations, and higher education all worked together to build effective reading programs, and teachers of the baby boomer generation naturally became highly skilled in reading.

     In 1969 James Allen, Jr., U. S. Commissioner of Education, began a Right to Read Program that called for better reading achievement, tutoring, family reading services, strong college reading programs, and public library support.  The Indiana Department of Education’s Division of Reading Effectiveness employed 18 people to promote reading throughout the state.  Many school corporations hired reading specialists to foster professional development and other areas focusing on reading achievement.

     From 1965 to 1999, 11,276 teachers received an Indiana reading endorsement, and 373 received an Indiana reading specialist license.  The greatest number of these was granted in the 1960s and 1970s during a period of high interest in reading.  For the most part, middle grades reading teachers came from an elementary school background as the majority of schools were organized K-8 prior to the movement to create middle grades schools.

     Many of the teachers who received these reading endorsements and reading specialist licenses have retired, and many more will retire soon.  Looking forward, the Indiana Professional Standards Board approved new reading licenses for Early Childhood (Preschool and Primary), Middle Childhood (Intermediate), Early Adolescence (Middle/Junior High), Adolescence/Young Adulthood (High School), and reading specialists.

      The result in the past six years has been an immensely productive enterprise.  After several years of relative passivity, Indiana colleges and universities have recently provided programs leading to 1,192 reading licenses and reading specialist licenses.

     It won’t be easy for middle grades schools to replace retiring baby boom reading teachers with their reading endorsements and many years of professional development provided by schools and professional organizations.  The challenge will be to hire new teachers with reading licenses and then to provide them with the leadership and professional development opportunities needed to help them become highly skilled reading teachers.    

     For those schools located in areas where student teachers are available, it would be beneficial to match the student teachers seeking reading licenses with experienced reading teachers.  When vacancies occur, the schools will have had experience with many student teachers.  Some may fit into their plans to maintain the excellent programs provided by reading teachers from the baby boomer generation.