Elementary Teacher Preparation Policy
Content Test Requirements: Missouri only requires its early childhood education teacher candidates, who are licensed to teach elementary grades through grade 3, to pass the Missouri Educator Gateway Assessments (MEGA) Early
Childhood Education test. This test may assess pedagogy but is not an adequate measure of subject-matter knowledge.
Scientifically Based Reading Instruction:
While the early childhood test addresses the science of reading, because the reading questions are combined with other topics without a specific reading subscore, it does not amount to a stand-alone reading test.
Informational Texts: Missouri's required Early Childhood Education test requires teachers to "apply
knowledge of strategies for promoting children's
developing understanding and analysis of key ideas and details, craft
and structure in literature and informational texts and their skill
in integrating knowledge and ideas in texts." However, this standard does not ensure that teachers are adequately prepared for 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.
Literacy Skills: Missouri has no requirements for the preparation of early childhood education teachers that address the incorporation of literacy skills into the core content areas.
Struggling Readers: Missouri has no requirements for the preparation of early childhood education teachers that address the needs of struggling readers.
Require early childhood teacher candidates to pass a subject-matter test designed to ensure sufficient content knowledge of all subjects.
Missouri should require all early childhood teacher candidates who teach the elementary grades to pass a content test with separate passing scores for each of the core subject areas, including reading/language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. Although the state requires appropriate testing for elementary teachers teaching on an elementary certificate, Missouri creates a significant loophole by not holding early childhood teachers who teach elementary grades to the same requirements. The state's current practice of allowing teachers up through grade 3 to teach without ever having passed a content test is particularly worrisome and should be amended.
Require all teacher candidates who teach elementary grades to pass a rigorous assessment in the science of reading instruction.
Missouri should require a rigorous reading assessment tool to ensure that its early childhood candidates are adequately prepared in the science of reading instruction before entering the classroom. The assessment should clearly test knowledge and skills related to the science of reading and address all five instructional components of scientifically based reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. If the test is combined with an assessment that also tests general pedagogy or elementary content, it should report a subscore for the science of reading specifically. Early childhood teachers who do not possess the minimum knowledge in this area should not be eligible for licensure.
Ensure that early childhood 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.
Missouri's early
childhood test does not adequately capture all the major instructional
shifts of college- and career-readiness standards. Missouri is therefore
encouraged to strengthen its teacher preparation requirements and ensure that
all candidates who teach the elementary grades have the ability to address the
use of informational texts as well as to incorporate complex informational texts
into classroom instruction.
Incorporate literacy skills as an integral part of every subject.
To ensure that elementary students are capable of accessing varied information about the world around them, Missouri should also—either through testing frameworks or teacher standards—include literacy skills and use text to build content knowledge in history/social studies, science, technical subjects, and the arts.
Support struggling readers.
Missouri should articulate more specific requirements ensuring that all candidates who teach elementary grades are prepared to intervene and support students who are struggling. The early elementary grades are an especially important time to address reading deficiencies before students fall behind.
Missouri stated that it does require early childhood and elementary teachers to complete coursework that incorporates literary skills in the content areas. As part of the Missouri Pre-service Teaching Assessment (MoPTA), elementary candidates are required to complete Task 2 as a measure of reading/literacy competency.
2D: Elementary Licensure Deficiencies
Early childhood teachers who teach elementary grades must be ready for the demands of the elementary classroom. Many states have early childhood licenses that include some elementary classroom grades, usually up to grade three.[1] Because teachers with this early childhood license can still teach many elementary grades, they should not be held to a lower bar for subject-matter knowledge than if they held more standard elementary licenses. Given the focus on building students' content knowledge and vocabulary in college- and career-readiness standards,[2] states would put students at risk by not holding all elementary teachers to equivalent standards.[3] That is not to say the license requirements must be identical; there are certainly different focuses in terms of child development and pedagogy. But the idea that content knowledge is only needed by upper-grade elementary teachers is clearly false.
Focus on reading instruction is especially critical for early childhood teachers. Although some states do not ensure that any elementary teachers know the science of how to teach young children to read, in the states where this is a priority, it is inexcusable to hold elementary teachers on an early childhood license to a lower standard. Research is clear that the best defense against reading failure is effective early reading instruction.[4] Therefore, if such licenses are neglecting to meet the needs of the early elementary classroom, of which learning to read is paramount, they are failing to meet one of their most fundamental purposes.