Hiring Policy
Emergency License(s) Availability: In New Hampshire, emergency licenses are identified as "Permission to Employ." If a school district declares an emergency exists, the local superintendent can request a Permission to Employ (PTE) for a particular person to fill the vacancy. There do not appear to be any specific academic or professional requirements necessary for the person for which a local superintendent is seeking permission to employ. A permission to employ is granted to the local superintendent, not the individual teacher.
Emergency License Validity Period: New Hampshire's PTE is valid for one year, and is nonrenewable.
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. New Hampshire 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.
New Hampshire was helpful in providing NCTQ with facts necessary for 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.