Secondary Teacher Preparation Policy
Informational Texts: New York's preparation standards and tests for all middle and 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.
Literacy Skills: Only the test framework for New York's secondary social studies test requires teachers to be able to incorporate literacy skills and use text to build
content knowledge.
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.
New York 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.
To
ensure that middle and secondary school students are capable of accessing varied
information about the world around them, New York should also include
literacy skills and using text to build content knowledge in
history/social studies, science, technical subjects and the arts. New York is on the right track with the secondary social studies test
framework that includes literacy skills and using text to build content
knowledge. The state should strengthen this policy and—either through
new testing frameworks or teacher standards—include literacy skills and
using text to build content knowledge in science, technical subjects
and the arts.
New York stated that adolescence education candidates are required to complete at least six semester hours in language acquisition and literacy development by native English speakers and students who are English language learners, and developing the listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills of all students. In addition, the state noted that programs must prepare candidates with a knowledge base for assisting students in grades 7-12 in meeting New York's student learning standards. The State learning standards include the NYS P-12 Common Core Learning Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy; NYS P-12 Common Core State Learning Standards (CCLS) English Language Arts & Literacy
in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects; NYS P-12 Common Core Learning Standards for Mathematics; NYS P-12 Science Learning Standards (adopted December 2016); as well as all content specific learning standards.
The NYS CCLS for English Language Arts and Literacy, including the NYS CCLS English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects and NYS CCLS in Mathematics, include the instructional shifts associated with college- and career-readiness standards toward building content knowledge and vocabulary through the development of various literacy skills, such as careful reading of informational and literary texts in each content area. These standards address literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects, and practitioners are expected to address the incorporation of literacy skills across core content areas.
New York also noted that Middle School Generalist candidates must pass the Multi-Subject: Teachers of Middle Childhood (grades 5-9) Test. The state referenced the following component from this test:
The test standards in the middle school generalist test referred to in New York's response is for the state's generalist license. The generalist license is only for teachers teaching in departmentalized K-8 schools, therefore it is not a test required of all middle school teachers.
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,
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.