Secondary Teacher Preparation: Alaska

Analysis of Alaska's policies

Alaska does not ensure that its secondary teachers are adequately prepared to teach grade-level content. 

Regrettably, the state does not require content tests for initial licensure; such tests are only mandated once candidates apply for the professional license, usually after three years. Further, Alaska also allows both general science and general social studies licenses and does not require subject-matter testing for each subject area within these disciplines (see Goals 1-G and 1-H).

Secondary teachers in Alaska may add content areas to the five-year professional certificate in one of three ways: an institutional recommendation, including transcripts showing pertinent coursework; a posted degree, major or minor; or a passing score on a Praxis II content test. 

Citation

4 AAC 12.305 Addition or Removal of Endorsements http://www.eed.state.ak.us/teachercertification/Endorsements.pdf

Recommendations for Alaska

Require subject-matter testing for secondary teacher candidates.
As a condition of licensure, Alaska should require its secondary teacher candidates to pass a content test in each subject area they plan to teach to ensure that they possess adequate subject-matter knowledge and are prepared to teach grade-level content. 

Require subject-matter testing when adding subject-area endorsements.
Alaska should require passing scores on subject-specific content tests, regardless of other coursework or degree requirements, for teachers who are licensed in core secondary subjects and wish to add another subject area, or endorsement, to their licenses. While coursework may be generally indicative of background in a particular subject area, only a subject-matter test ensures that teachers know the specific content they will need to teach.

State response to our analysis

Alaska recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis.