Secondary Teacher Preparation Policy
Content Test Requirements:
Arkansas offers initial middle-grade certification (grades 4-8) in the four content areas: math, science, English, and social studies. All new middle school teachers in Arkansas are required to pass a single-subject Praxis content test to attain licensure; a general content-knowledge test is not an option.
Provisional and Emergency Licensure: Because provisional and emergency licensure requirements are scored in Provisional
and Emergency Licensure
, only the test requirements for the state's initial
license are considered as part of this goal.
Ensure that content tests adequately measure sufficient knowledge in all subjects.
Arkansas should ensure that its subject-matter tests for
middle school teacher candidates is sufficiently rigorous. The state
should ensure that the required passing scores on each test reflect high
levels of performance. Doing so will help to ensure that every student
is taught by a teacher with adequate subject-matter knowledge.
Arkansas provided edits to the analysis to clarify that www.ets.org/praxis/ar/requirements is the location of Arkansas specific information on the Praxis website. state issues certifications instead of licenses.
3A: Middle School Content Knowledge
Middle school grades are critical years of schooling. It is in these years that far too many students fall through the cracks. However, requirements for the preparation and licensure of middle school teachers can be especially problematic. States need to distinguish the knowledge and skills needed by middle school teachers from those needed by an elementary teacher. Whether teaching a single subject in a departmentalized setting or teaching multiple subjects in a self-contained setting, middle school teachers must be able to teach significantly more advanced content than elementary teachers. In order to do so, middle school teachers must be deeply knowledgeable about every subject they will be licensed to teach, and able to pass a licensing test in every core subject to demonstrate this knowledge.[1] The notion that someone should be identically prepared to teach first grade or eighth grade mathematics seems ridiculous, but states that license teachers on a K-8 generalist certificate essentially endorse this idea.