Secondary Teacher Preparation Policy
Although Maryland requires that its secondary teacher candidates pass a Praxis Content test to teach any core secondary subjects, the state permits a significant loophole to this important policy by allowing both physical science and general social studies licenses without requiring subject-matter testing for each subject area within these disciplines.
Science Endorsement Requirements: Maryland does not offer a general science certification for secondary teachers. However, the state does have a physical science certification. Candidates are only required to pass the Praxis Principles of Learning (7-12) test or the Praxis PPAT assessment.
Social Studies Endorsement Requirements: General social studies candidates must pass the Praxis Social Studies: Content and Interpretation test. Teachers with this license are
not limited to teaching general social studies but rather can teach any
of the topical areas.
Provisional and Emergency Licensure: Because provisional and emergency licensure requirements are scored in Provisional
and Emergency Licensure, only the test requirements for the state's initial
license are considered as part of this goal.
Require secondary teachers with umbrella certifications to pass a content test for each discipline they are licensed to teach.
By allowing general social studies and physical science certifications—and only
requiring general knowledge exams for each—Maryland is not ensuring that these
secondary teachers possess adequate subject-specific content knowledge. The
state's required general social studies assessment combines all topical areas
(e.g., history, geography, economics), and the assessment does not report separate scores for each area. Therefore,
candidates could answer many—perhaps all—economics questions, for example,
incorrectly, yet still be licensed to teach economics to high school students.
The state's policy regarding candidates seeking a physical science endorsement is especially worrisome given that there is no content test required. Candidates can fulfill the test requirement by passing the Principles of Learning test (7-12), which is a pedagogy test or the Praxis PPAT test which is a performance assessment.
Maryland recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis. The state also noted that although it does not require social studies teachers to
take separate tests for each content area, the Praxis 5086 covers the
following content categories: U.S. History, World History,
Government/Civics/Political Science, Economics, Geography, and
Behavioral Sciences.
3E: Secondary Licensure Requirements
Specialized science teachers are not interchangeable. Based on their high school science licensure requirements, many states seem to presume that it is all the same to teach anatomy, electrical currents, and Newtonian physics. Most states allow teachers to obtain general science or combination licenses across multiple science disciplines, and, in most cases, these teachers need only pass a general knowledge science exam that does not ensure subject-specific content knowledge.[1] This means that a teacher with a background in biology could be fully certified to teach advanced physics having passed only a general science test—and perhaps answering most of the physics questions incorrectly.[2]
There is no doubt that districts appreciate the flexibility that these broad field licenses offer, especially given the very real shortage of teachers of many science disciplines. But the all-purpose science teacher not only masks but perpetuates the STEM crisis—and does so at the expense of students.[3] States need to either make sure that general science teachers are indeed prepared to teach any of the subjects covered under that license or allow only single-subject science certifications. In either case, states need to consider strategies to improve the pipeline of science teachers, including the use of technology, distance learning and alternate routes into STEM fields.
Similarly, most states offer a general social studies license at the secondary level.[4] For this certification, teachers can have a background in a wide variety of fields, ranging from history and political science to anthropology or psychology and may only be required to pass a general social studies test. Under such a license a teacher who majored in psychology could be licensed to teach secondary history having passed only a general knowledge test and answering most—and perhaps all—history questions incorrectly.