Special Education Teacher Preparation Policy
Content Test Requirements: North Carolina only requires special education candidates to pass the math subtest of the Pearson General Curriculum test or the Praxis Elementary
Education: Content Knowledge for Teaching 7803 or 7813 math subtest.
New legislation in North Carolina extends the amount of time teachers have to pass these subtests from two to three years if they
attempt to pass the test during their first year of teaching.
Provisional and Emergency Licensure: Because provisional and emergency licensure requirements are scored in Provisional and Emergency Licensure, only the test requirements for the state's initial license are considered as part of this goal.
Ensure that secondary high-incidence special education teachers possess adequate content knowledge.
Secondary high-incidence special education teachers are frequently generalists who teach many core subject areas. North Carolina's current policy of only requiring an elementary-level content is problematic because it fails to ensure that all secondary special education teachers are adequately prepared to help their students meet rigorous learning standards. North Carolina should consider a distinct route for secondary high-incidence special education teacher certification that allows candidates to demonstrate requisite content knowledge in the classroom through a combination of testing and coursework.
North Carolina indicated that in addition to the math subtest options above, special education candidates are also required to pass the Special Education: Core Knowledge and Mild to Moderate Applications (5543) and the Pearson Foundations of Reading (090) tests.
4A: Special Education Content Knowledge
Generic K-12 special education licenses are inappropriate for teachers of high-incidence special education students. Too many states do not distinguish between elementary and secondary special education teachers, certifying all such teachers under a generic K-12 special education license. While this broad umbrella may be appropriate for teachers of low-incidence special education students, such as those with severe cognitive disabilities, it is deeply problematic for high-incidence special education students, who are expected to learn grade-level content.[1] And because the overwhelming majority of special education students are in the high-incidence category, the result is a fundamentally broken system.
Special education teachers teach content and therefore must know content.[2] While special educators should be valued for their critical role in working with students with disabilities and special needs, each state identifies them not as "special education assistants" but as "special education teachers," presumably because it expects them to provide instruction. Inclusion models, where special education students receive instruction from a general education teacher paired with a special education teacher to provide instructional support, do not mitigate the need for special education teachers to know content.[3] Providing instruction to children who have special needs requires knowledge of both effective learning strategies and the subject matter at hand.[4] Failure to ensure that teachers are well trained in content areas—presumably through subject matter licensing tests—deprives special education students of the opportunity to reach their academic potential.