Hiring Policy
Emergency License(s) Availability: Missouri will issue a Temporary Authorization Certificate (TAC) to teacher candidates who have a bachelor's degree in their intended field or in a closely related field and who graduated with at least a 2.5 GPA. Candidates are not required to pass a certification test to receive this credential.
Missouri may also issue a provisional certificate to individuals who have either completed or are close to completing the academic coursework needed for licensure but who have not necessarily passed their licensure tests.
Emergency License Validity Period: Missouri's Temporary Authorization Certificate is valid for one year and can be renewed if the teacher receives positive evaluations, takes the required subject-matter exams, and completes
professional education coursework. The provisional certificate is valid for two years and and may be extended "upon a showing of good cause."
Ensure that all teachers pass required subject-matter licensing tests before they enter the classroom.
All students are entitled to teachers who know the subject matter they are teaching.
Permitting individuals who have not yet passed state licensing tests to teach
neglects the needs of students, because it enables adults who may not
be able to meet minimal state standards to earn teaching licenses. Missouri should
ensure that all teachers are required to pass licensing tests — an important
minimum benchmark for entering the profession —before entering the classroom as
the teacher of record.
Limit exceptions to one year.
Although suboptimal, there may be limited and exceptional circumstances under which
conditional or emergency licenses are necessary. In these instances, it is
reasonable for a state to give teachers up to one year to pass required
licensing tests. Missouri's current policy puts students at risk by allowing teachers to teach on a Temporary Authorization certificate indefinitely without passing required licensing tests, as well as by allowing teachers to teach for two years on a provisional certificate without passing required licensing tests.
Missouri was helpful in providing NCTQ with facts that enhanced this analysis.
6B: Provisional and Emergency Licensure
Teachers who have not passed content licensing tests place students at risk. While states may need a regulatory basis for filling classroom positions with a few people who do not hold full teaching credentials, many of the regulations permitting this put the instructional needs of children at risk, often year after year.[1] For example, schools can make liberal use of provisional certificates or waivers provided by the state if they fill classroom positions with instructors who have completed a teacher preparation program but have not passed their state licensing tests. These allowances are permitted for up to three years in some states. The unfortunate consequence is that students' needs are neglected in an effort to extend personal consideration to adults who cannot meet minimum state standards.[2]
While some flexibility may be necessary because licensing tests are not always administered with the needed frequency, making provisional certificates and waivers available year after year could signal that the state does not put much value on its licensing standards or what they represent. States accordingly need to ensure that all persons given full charge of children's learning are required to pass the relevant licensing tests in their first year of teaching, ideally before they enter the classroom. Licensing tests are an important minimum benchmark in the profession, and states that allow teachers to postpone passing these tests are abandoning one of the basic responsibilities of licensure.