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.

Maine offers middle-grades endorsements that require passing scores on single-subject assessments. However, because teachers may also teach on a generalist K-8 license, the state cannot ensure that all middle school teachers possess the knowledge outlined in the Praxis II Middle School English Language Arts (5047) test, which includes some of the instructional shifts toward building content knowledge and vocabulary through careful reading of informational and literary texts associated with the state's college- and career-readiness standards for students.

Neither teacher standards nor middle school tests in other content areas address incorporating literacy skills.

Regarding struggling readers, Maine's middle school English content test requires that a teacher be able to group students and differentiate instruction. However, it does not specifically address the ability either to identify struggling readers or provide appropriate intervention.

Citation

Praxis Test Requirements www.ets.org Rule 05-071 Chapter 13, and 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.

Ensure that middle school 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 Maine's English language arts content test for the middle school endorsement addresses informational texts, the state should ensure that all middle school teachers possess this knowledge and are further able to challenge students with texts of increasing complexity.

Incorporate literacy skills as an integral part of every subject. To ensure that middle school students are capable of accessing varied information about the world around them, Maine should also—either through testing frameworks or teacher standards—include literacy skills and using text to build content knowledge in history/social studies, science, technical subjects and the arts.

Support struggling readers. Maine should articulate more specific requirements ensuring that middle school teachers are prepared to intervene and support students who are struggling. While college- and career-readiness standards will increase the need for all middle school teachers to be able to help struggling readers to comprehend grade-level material, training for English language arts teachers in particular must emphasize identification and remediation of reading deficiencies.

State response to our analysis

Maine recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis. The state added that its statutes and regulations are currently under review and NCTQ's recommendations for this goal will be considered.