Middle School Teacher Preparation: Maine

Analysis of Maine's policies

Maine offers a middle-level certificate (grades 5-8) for middle school teachers, and it allows teachers with secondary certificates to teach single subjects in middle school. For these two certificates, only out-of-state teachers are required to complete 24 semester hours in an area relevant to the endorsement. Regrettably, the state also allows middle school teachers to teach on a generalist K-8 license. These candidates must only 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.

All new middle school teachers in Maine are also required to pass a Praxis II subject-matter test to attain licensure. However, only candidates who opt for a middle-level or secondary endorsement are required to take subject-specific assessments. Candidates who plan to teach middle school on the generalist license are only required to pass the general elementary content test. Although subscores are provided, this assessment does not adequately assess the content knowledge required of middle school teachers. Therefore, there is no assurance that all middle school teachers will have sufficient knowledge in each subject they teach.

Citation

Praxis Test Requirements www.ets.org Rule 05-071 Chapter 115, Part II, Sections 1.2 and 1.3

Recommendations for Maine

Require content testing in all core areas.
Maine 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. To ensure meaningful middle school content tests, the state should set its passing scores to reflect high levels of performance.

Eliminate the generalist license. 
Maine 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.  

Encourage middle school teachers licensed to teach multiple subjects to earn two subject-matter minors. 
This would allow candidates to gain sufficient knowledge to pass state licensing tests, and it would increase schools' staffing flexibility. However, middle school candidates in Maine who intend to teach a single subject should earn a major in that area.

State response to our analysis

Maine asserted that beginning in August 2015, all elementary teacher candidates will be required to pass the Praxis II "Elementary Education: Multiple Subjects" test. The state added that even though one holds a general elementary certificate to teach in some Maine middle schools, these teachers must also demonstrate that they are highly qualified teachers in their content area in order to meet federal requirements. This, among other ways, may be demonstrated by passing an additional content knowledge exam, documenting 24 or more credits in their content, or holding National Board Certification in their content area. 

Last word

The only way to ensure adequate subject-matter knowledge for the middle school classroom is to require a rigorous content test in every core area that candidates are licensed to teach. While a degree in a subject area is certainly indicative of knowledge of that, it offers no assurance that an individual has studied the specific content he or she will be required to teach.