Middle School Teacher Preparation : Colorado

Analysis of Colorado's policies

Colorado only requires that middle school teachers who are allowed to teach on a generalist K-8 license complete a teacher preparation program. The state does not explicitly require a major or minor in the subject areas that the candidates plan to teach. Teachers with secondary licenses may also teach single subjects in middle school. The state's standards articulate that these teachers must be "experts" in their content endorsement areas.

All new middle school teachers in Colorado are also required to pass a subject-area test, either the state's own PLACE assessment or the Praxis II, to attain licensure. However, candidates are only required to pass the general content test for elementary education, in which subscores are not provided; therefore, there is no assurance that these middle school teachers will have sufficient knowledge in each subject they teach.

Citation

1 CCR 301-37, 2260.5-R-5.00, 5.04

Recommendations for Colorado

Eliminate K-8 generalist license.
Colorado 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.  

Strengthen middle school teachers' subject-matter preparation.
Colorado should encourage middle school teachers who plan to teach multiple subjects to earn two minors in two core academic areas. Middle school candidates who intend to teach a single subject should earn a major in that area.

Require subject-matter testing for middle school teacher candidates.
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.

State response to our analysis

Colorado recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis.