Content Knowledge: District of Columbia
Special Education Teacher Preparation Policy
Analysis of District of Columbia's policies
Content Test Requirements: The District of Columbia does not require content testing for any of its special education teacher candidates. The District of Columbia requires enrollment in but not completion of, a teacher preparation program in order to obtain an initial license. While this initial license is non-renewable, it is valid for three years. Teachers must complete a teacher preparation program and complete other requirements, including passage of a basic skills test and a pedagogy test.
Recommendations for District of Columbia
Require that elementary special education candidates pass a rigorous content test as a condition of initial licensure.
To ensure that special education
teacher candidates who will teach elementary grades possess sufficient
knowledge of the necessary subject matter, the District of Columbia should require a rigorous
content test that reports separate passing scores for each content area. The District of Columbia should also set these passing scores to reflect high levels of performance.
Failure to ensure that teachers possess requisite content knowledge may deprive
special education students of the opportunity to reach their academic
potential.
Ensure that secondary special education teachers possess adequate content knowledge.
Secondary special education
teachers are frequently generalists who teach many core subject areas. The District of Columbia's
current policy of requiring no subject-matter testing is problematic because it
fails to ensure that all secondary special education teachers are
adequately prepared to help their students meet rigorous learning
standards. The District should consider a distinct route for secondary special
education teacher certification that allows candidates to demonstrate
requisite content knowledge in the classroom through a combination of
testing and coursework.
State response to our analysis
The District of Columbia was helpful in providing NCTQ with facts that enhanced this analysis. The District of Columbia indicated that it requires content testing for its special education categories of hearing impairments, visual impairments, learning disabilities, emotional disturbance, intellectual disabilities, and, at the other end of the spectrum, in gifted education. The District's non-categorical special education credential holders take the general Praxis II special education exam and are limited to roles as case managers and resource teachers who provide push in and pull out services in the general education classes.
The District of Columbia also indicated that special education teachers who serve as the teacher of record in a classroom are required to hold dual licensure in special education as well as the appropriate subject content area taught in the class. This applies for all levels; ECE, Elementary, Middle and High Schools. This policy began under NCLB highly qualified teacher status and operationally continues as a recommended state policy for all LEAs. Additionally, ESSA has no requirement that mandates LEAs to comply with this state recommended staffing policy since they have full autonomy and flexibility over teacher staffing.
Updated: December 2017
Last word
By tying requirements to highly qualified status, it appears that the state is putting the burden on districts to ensure that teachers have passed tests for the grades and subjects they teach. A license should mean that a teacher is prepared to teach any subjects or grades covered under that certificate. Additionally, references to content testing in the analysis refer to core academic content areas (English/language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science).
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District of Columbia
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General Teacher Preparation
- Program Entry
- Teacher Shortages and Surpluses
- Program Performance Measures
- Program Reporting Requirements
- Student Teaching/Clinical Practice
- Teaching Methods
Elementary Teacher Preparation
Secondary Teacher Preparation
- Middle School Content Knowledge
- Middle School Licensure Deficiencies
- Adolescent Literacy
- Secondary Content Knowledge
- Secondary Licensure Deficiencies
Special Education Teacher Preparation
Alternate Routes
Hiring
- Requirements for Out-of-State Teachers
- Provisional and Emergency Licensure
- Licensure for Substitute Teachers
- Supporting New Teachers
Teacher and Principal Evaluation
Teacher Compensation
Retaining Effective Teachers
Early Childhood Preparation
How we graded
4A: Special Education Content Knowledge
- Elementary Content Knowledge: The state should require that all new elementary special education candidates pass a licensure test across all elementary subject areas that is no less rigorous than the test required of general education candidates.
- Secondary Content Knowledge: The state should require that all new secondary special education candidates possess adequate content knowledge.
One-half of the total goal score is earned based on the following:
- One-half credit: The state will earn one-half of a point if it requires all new elementary special education candidates to pass an elementary content knowledge test that is no less rigorous than the test required of general education candidates.
- One-quarter credit: The state will earn one-quarter of a point if it requires elementary licenses in conjunction with special education licenses but does not offer special education elementary licenses.
One-half of the total goal score is earned based on the following:
- One-half credit: The state will earn one-half of a point if it requires all new secondary special education candidates to pass a special education licensure test across all secondary subject areas that is no less rigorous than the test required of general education candidates.
- One-quarter credit: The state will earn one-quarter of a point if it requires secondary licenses in conjunction with special education licenses but does not offer special education secondary licenses.
Research rationale
Generic K-12 special education licenses are inappropriate for teachers of high-incidence special education students. Too many states do not distinguish between elementary and secondary special education teachers, certifying all such teachers under a generic K-12 special education license. While this broad umbrella may be appropriate for teachers of low-incidence special education students, such as those with severe cognitive disabilities, it is deeply problematic for high-incidence special education students, who are expected to learn grade-level content.[1] And because the overwhelming majority of special education students are in the high-incidence category, the result is a fundamentally broken system.
Special education teachers teach content and therefore must know content.[2] While special educators should be valued for their critical role in working with students with disabilities and special needs, each state identifies them not as "special education assistants" but as "special education teachers," presumably because it expects them to provide instruction. Inclusion models, where special education students receive instruction from a general education teacher paired with a special education teacher to provide instructional support, do not mitigate the need for special education teachers to know content.[3] Providing instruction to children who have special needs requires knowledge of both effective learning strategies and the subject matter at hand.[4] Failure to ensure that teachers are well trained in content areas—presumably through subject matter licensing tests—deprives special education students of the opportunity to reach their academic potential.
[1] Levenson, N. (2011). Something has got to change: Rethinking special education (Working Paper 2011-01). American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED521782
[2] For an analysis of the importance of special educator content knowledge, see: Levenson, N. (2011). Something has got to change: Rethinking special education. American Enterprise Institute (Working paper 2011-01, 1-20).; For information on teacher licensing tests, see: Gitomer, D. H., & Latham, A. S. (1999). The academic quality of prospective teachers: The impact of admissions and licensure testing. Educational Testing Service. Retrieved from http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/RR-03-35.pdf; For a study on teacher testing scores and student achievement, see: Ladd, H. F., Clotfelter, C. T., & Vigdor, J. L. (2007). How and why do teacher credentials matter for student achievement (NBER Working Paper, 142786). Retrieved from http://www.caldercenter.org/sites/default/files/1001058_Teacher_Credentials.pdf
[3] Feng, L., & Sass, T. R. (2010). What makes special education teachers special? Teacher training and achievement of students with disabilities (Working Paper 49). National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research. Retrieved from http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/1001435-what-makes-special.pdf; Monk, D. H. (1994). Subject area preparation of secondary mathematics and science teachers and student achievement. Economics of Education Review, 13(2), 125-145.
[4] For research on the importance of teachers' content knowledge, see: Boyd, D. J., Grossman, P. L., Lankford, H., Loeb, S., & Wyckoff, J. (2009). Teacher preparation and student achievement. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 31(4), 416-440; Willingham, D. T. (2006). How knowledge helps: It speeds and strengthens comprehension, learning—and thinking. American Educator, 30(1), 30-37.