Middle School Teacher Preparation: Alaska

Analysis of Alaska's policies

Regrettably, Alaska allows middle school teachers to teach on a generalist K-8 license.

Alaska offers, but does not require, middle school endorsements (grades 5-8). In addition, the state does not explicitly require a major or minor in the subject areas that candidates plan to teach. 

Middle school teachers in Alaska are not required to pass a subject-matter test to attain licensure. Subject-matter tests are only required for professional certification, which occurs after three years of teaching.

Citation

Praxis Test Requirement www.ets.org Application for Initial Licensure http://education.alaska.gov/TeacherCertification/forms/initial.pdf 4 AAC 12.305

Recommendations for Alaska

Require content testing in all core areas.
Alaska should require subject-matter testing for all middle school teacher candidates in every core academic area they intend to teach as a condition of initial licensure. To ensure meaningful middle school content tests, the state should set its passing scores to reflect high levels of performance.

Eliminate the generalist license.
Alaska should not allow middle school teachers to teach on a generalist license that does not differentiate between the preparation of middle school teachers and that of elementary teachers. These teachers are less likely to be adequately prepared to teach core academic areas at the middle school level because their preparation requirements are not specific to the middle or secondary levels, and they need not pass a subject-matter test in each subject they teach. Adopting middle school teacher preparation policies for all such teachers will help ensure that students in grades 7 and 8 have teachers who are appropriately prepared to teach grade-level content, which is different and more advanced than what elementary teachers teach.   

Encourage middle school teachers licensed to teach multiple subjects to earn two subject-matter minors. 
This would allow candidates to gain sufficient knowledge to pass state licensing tests, and it would increase schools' staffing flexibility. However, middle school candidates in Alaska who intend to teach a single subject should earn a major in that area.

Close the loophole that allows teachers to add middle grade levels to an existing license without demonstrating content knowledge.

Alaska allows teachers to add new grade levels to certificates with only institutional recommendation. The state is urged to require that all teachers who add the middle grade levels to their certificates pass a rigorous subject-matter test to ensure content knowledge of all subject areas before they are allowed in the classroom. 

State response to our analysis

Alaska asserted that while it does not prohibit a teacher endorsed in elementary K-8 from teaching in a middle school setting, the state's highly qualified regulations ensure that middle school teachers must demonstrate subject-area knowledge. Each district must ensure that its teachers are highly qualified, and highly qualified status is tied directly to the subject being taught. Middle school teachers must earn a highly qualified designation in each subject area using the following options: 

• Passing the appropriate middle or high school subject-area Praxis II exam 
• Having a bachelor's or graduate degree in the subject area, or
• Completing 30 semester hours or 45 quarter hours in the subject area from a regionally accredited college.

Districts are required to track the "highly qualified" status of their teachers and report to the state each October.

Alaska also included a statement from the University of Alaska pointing out that all teachers in its secondary licensure programs are required to pass Praxis II exams in their content area. Further, all interns/student teachers are required to teach/facilitate content lessons and observe teachers at the middle school level regardless of whether they are placed in middle schools or high schools.

Last word

Alaska takes a significant risk by relying on federal HQT provisions rather than articulating in its own certification requirements that teachers must demonstrate subject-matter knowledge. The state is putting the burden on districts to ensure that their teachers are HQT instead of making this part of licensure. In addition, while a degree in a subject area is certainly indicative of knowledge of that, it offers no assurance that an individual has studied  the specific content he or she will be required to teach.