Secondary Teacher Preparation Policy
Content Test Requirements:
All middle-level teacher candidates in Colorado must earn a secondary (7-12) certification in a specific subject area. The state also offers a middle school mathematics license to teach grades 6-8. Middle school teachers in Colorado may demonstrate content knowledge using one of the following methods.
Require content
testing in all core areas.
Colorado 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.
The state's policy allows teacher candidates to demonstrate content knowledge in ways that do not include the passage of a single-subject
test. Relevant upper-level coursework lays the foundation for requisite
content knowledge, but to ensure that teacher candidates possess
sufficient subject-matter knowledge for the elementary classroom, Colorado should require all teacher candidates to pass a single-subject
test.
Colorado recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis.
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.