Secondary Teacher Preparation: Colorado

Analysis of Colorado's policies

Colorado offers single-subject secondary licenses to teach grades 7-12. The state allows secondary teacher candidates to demonstrate content proficiency by either completing 24 semester hours of credit, as demonstrated through transcript evaluation, or by passing a content assessment, either the Praxis II or the PLACE, in the endorsement area.

To add an endorsement area to a license, secondary teachers in Colorado may fulfill subject-matter requirements by holding a degree in the endorsement area,  24 semester hours of credit in the endorsement area or the applicable content test.

Colorado addresses some of the instructional shifts associated with college- and career-readiness standards toward building content knowledge and vocabulary through careful reading of informational and literary texts associated with these new standards and through its literacy standards for preparation programs.  According to these standards, teachers must be able to teach students how to "summarize, make inferences, draw conclusions and interpret complex information in literary, informational and technical texts." Teachers must also be able to teach students how to analyze and evaluate complex informational and technical texts for "literary elements and text features related to meaning."

These standards also require teachers to develop reading comprehension that incorporates content-area literacy.  For example, teachers must be able to  "teach the conventions, elements and text structures associated with informational texts drawn from history, mathematics, science and other content areas, including the author's purpose or stance, organizational plan, etc."

Regarding struggling readers, Colorado's literacy standards require teachers to "select, use and interpret formal and informal assessments of reading comprehension and use them to make instructional decisions and to plan instructional interventions targeted for improved student outcomes." A similar competency exists for reading fluency.

Citation

Testing Requirements www.ets.org www.place.nesinc.com Colorado Initial Teaching License-Approved Programs www.cde.state.co.us/cdeprof/Licensure_tch_approved.asp Adding an Additional Endorsement to a Valid License http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdeprof/endorsementrequirements Literacy Standards http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdeprof/epp_review_resources/license_review.htm

Recommendations for Colorado

Require subject-matter testing for secondary teacher candidates. 
As a condition of licensure, Colorado 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.
Colorado 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.

Ensure that secondary teachers are prepared to meet the instructional requirements of college- and career-readiness standards for students. 
Incorporate informational text of increasing complexity into classroom instruction.
Although Colorado's literacy standards address complex texts, they do not ensure teachers' ability to incorporate these texts into instruction. The state is therefore encouraged to strengthen its teacher preparation requirements and ensure that all candidates who teach the secondary grades have the ability to address the use of informational texts as well as incorporate complex informational texts into classroom instruction.

Incorporate literacy skills as an integral part of every subject. 
To ensure that secondary students are capable of accessing varied information about the world around them, Colorado should also more specifically include literacy skills and using text to build content knowledge in history/social studies, science, technical subjects and the arts.

State response to our analysis

Colorado indicated that the state's Educator Licensing Act is being updated and aligned with current state standards and initiatives.
The alignment work will include adoption of assessments for teachers that match the standards adopted in rule.

The state added that while Colorado statue states three options for professional competence, the Institutions of Higher Education in Colorado that engage in teacher preparation adhere to a common business practice of requiring secondary teaching candidates to pass an approved content assessment before entering into student teaching.