JEFFERSON CITY, MO (KMOX) - Standards for teachers in Missouri are gradually being increased.

Teachers out of college already must have a higher grade point average, but now even the college they come from may be scrutinized.

“I have yet to talk with someone in our 520 districts who, when you talk about the different programs they come from, say ‘I don’t look at that, I don’t pay attention to that.’ I think they all do,” Missouri Director of Educator Development Paul Katnik said.

Hap Hairston is the Director for Educator Preparation in the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. He says the state is also working with assessment companies with the goal being to come up with standards for a teacher’s knowledge level and their ability to convey that to students.

“The challenge of teaching is someone can know their content in and out but the most important part is, can they relate and work with children or young men and women in those classrooms,” Hairston said.

Some have argued that prospective teachers be given a test to measure their effectiveness. It’s just one of several proposals that would overhaul the entire system through which teachers are hired in Missouri.