Adolescent Literacy: Michigan
Secondary Teacher Preparation Policy
Analysis of Michigan's policies
Informational Texts: Michigan's preparation standards and tests for all secondary school teachers do not address the instructional shifts associated with
college- and career-readiness standards toward building content
knowledge and vocabulary through careful reading of informational and
literary texts. See Goal 2-C: Elementary Reading, for a discussion of college- and career-readiness requirements for teachers teaching middle grades on Michigan's elementary license.
Literacy Skills: Michigan requires 3 credit hours in literacy instruction "appropriate to the discipline area." Michigan's reading standards for secondary teachers require that teachers can "demonstrate understanding of the integrated nature of the English language arts across all content areas." The standards also articulate that teachers must "understand the characteristics of texts and how textual aids enhance comprehension," with further clarification that teachers must "recognize elements of fiction and non-fiction, including imaginative, narrative, and expository texts." However, these standards do not go far enough to ensure that teachers include literacy skills across the core content areas.
See Goal 2-C: Elementary Reading, for a discussion of literacy requirements for teachers teaching middle grades on
Michigan's elementary license.
Recommendations for Michigan
Ensure that middle and secondary 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.
Michigan should specifically address the instructional shifts toward building content knowledge and vocabulary through increasingly complex informational texts and careful reading of informational and literary texts associated with the state's college- and career-readiness standards for students. The state may consider addressing these shifts either through testing frameworks in tests taken by all middle or secondary teachers regardless of subject area (such as a teaching methods tests), or through teacher preparation standards.
Incorporate literacy skills as an integral part of every subject.
Michigan should ensure that teacher preparation standards include literacy skills and use text to build content knowledge in history/social studies, science, technical subjects, and the arts to ensure that middle and secondary school students are capable of accessing varied information about the world around them.
State response to our analysis
Michigan recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis. The state also referenced its comments in Goal 2-C: Elementary Reading regarding the proposed revision to Michigan's teaching certificate structure. The state is proposing a grades 5-9 certificate, with narrower content area authorizations than the current elementary generalist certificate carries. It is envisioned that each content area carried on this certificate will have its own licensure assessment in order to assure depth of content knowledge appropriate to teaching at the middle school level. Michigan noted that accompanying these revisions to the certificate structure will be a rewriting of the Standards in Reading for All Secondary Preparation Programs. This work has not yet begun, but in a similar manner as the ongoing early literacy teacher preparation standards rewrite (discussed in the comments for Goal 2-C: Elementary Reading), foundational documents will include Michigan's current K-12 college- and career-ready standards, as well as two key documents in a series of "Essentials" documents. This will be developed by a comprehensive cross-section of Michigan educators (and with significant state agency involvement).
Updated: December 2017
Last word
NCTQ looks forward to reviewing the state's progress in future editions of the Yearbook.
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Michigan
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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
3C: Adolescent Literary
The state should ensure that all middle and secondary teachers are sufficiently prepared for the ways that college- and career-readiness standards affect instruction in all subject areas. Specifically,
- Middle School Preparation: The state should ensure that all new middle and secondary teachers are prepared to incorporate informational texts of increasing complexity into instruction.
- Secondary Preparation: The state should ensure that all new middle and secondary teachers are prepared to incorporate literacy skills as an integral part of every subject.
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 at least one of the two components is "fully addressed" and one is "partially addressed."
- One-quarter credit: The state will earn one-quarter of a point if one of the two components is "fully addressed" or two are "partially addressed."
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 at least one of the two components is "fully addressed" and one is "partially addressed."
- One-quarter credit: The state will earn one-quarter of a point if one of the two components is "fully addressed" or two are "partially addressed."
Research rationale
States must ensure that middle school and secondary teacher preparation programs prepare teachers to incorporate complex text into instruction and student practice. These are critical years of schooling when far too many students fall through the cracks.
With that said, college- and career-readiness standards are influencing significant shifts in literacy instruction.
College- and career-readiness standards for K-12 students adopted by nearly all states require from teachers a different focus on literacy integrated into all subject areas.[1] The standards demand that teachers are prepared to bring complex text and academic language into regular use, emphasize the use of evidence from informational and literary texts, and build knowledge and vocabulary through content-rich texts. While most states have not ignored teachers' need for training and professional development related to these instructional shifts, states must also attend to the parallel need to align teacher competencies and requirements for teacher preparation so that new teachers will enter the classroom ready to help students meet the expectations of these standards.
[1] Student Achievement Partners. (2015). Research supporting the Common Core ELA/literacy shifts and standards. Retrieved from https://achievethecore.org/content/upload/Research%20Supporting%20the%20ELA%20Standards%20and%20Shifts%20Final.pdf