Hiring Policy
Substitute Teacher License(s):
Massachusetts offers a Temporary Substitute Teacher license. No license requirements appear to be outlined in state policy.
Length of Assignment:
Massachusetts allows temporary substitute teachers to teach for up to 90 consecutive days "in the same role." Any teacher employed for longer than 90 days in the same role "must either be licensed for the role or working under a hardship waiver."
Evaluation of Long-Term Substitutes:
Massachusetts has no requirements for the evaluation of any of its substitute teachers. Massachusetts state policy is unclear whether certified teachers acting as substitutes are subject to evaluation under the state's evaluation requirements.
Distinguish requirements for short-term and long-term substitutes.
Massachusetts should distinguish between requirements for short-term and long-term substitutes so that it can ensure that its requirements are appropriate for the needs of these teachers. The state's long-term substitute requirements should be rigorous (e.g., that all long-term substitutes have current or expired licenses) to help ensure that teachers who are spending extended periods of time with
students are prepared to do so.
Limit the number of consecutive days a short-term substitute can teach in the same classroom.
Massachusetts should limit the number of consecutive days a short-term substitute can teach in the same classroom without completing additional requirements or obtaining a long-term substitute license. The maximum number of days should be no more than 10 percent of the length of the school year Massachusetts's policy of allowing substitute teachers to teach 90 consecutive days in the same classroom may be detrimental to instructional quality and daily productivity.
Require long-term substitute teachers to be evaluated.
Massachusetts should maintain standards for substitute teacher quality and accountability for all substitutes, but especially for long-term substitutes who are expected to stand in for licensed teachers for extended periods of time. Massachusetts can help ensure that substitute teachers are held to high standards and have access to the supports necessary to improve their practice by requiring evaluations—
which it may find appropriate to modify from its standard, state-required
teacher evaluations— of long-term substitutes.
Massachusetts was helpful in providing NCTQ with facts necessary for this analysis.
Research finds that teacher absences negatively affect student achievement and growth.[1] While some of this is attributable to the disruption of regular classroom practices and instruction,[2] it may also be attributable to substitute teacher quality. The gap in instructional quality and daily productivity when a regular teacher is replaced by a substitute teacher is significant.[3] However, absences covered by substitutes licensed by the state are not as detrimental to student achievement as those covered by non-licensed substitutes.[4] Some research hypothesizes that the low-skill level and mobility of substitute teachers may contribute to the reduction in instructional focus and quality and that even when substitute teachers are good instructors, they may be unable to effectively implement a teacher of record's long-term instructional strategies.[5] Parents, teachers, principals, and students have concerns about substitute teachers' quality and qualifications.[6] States should maintain rigorous standards for substitute teacher quality and accountability for all substitutes, but especially for long-term substitutes who are expected to stand in for teachers for long stretches of time.