Secondary Teacher Preparation: Oklahoma

Analysis of Oklahoma's policies

Oklahoma offers single-subject secondary licenses to teach grades 7-12 or 9-12. The state requires that its secondary teacher candidates pass a content test to teach any core secondary subjects. 

Unfortunately, Oklahoma permits a significant loophole to this important policy by allowing combination social studies licenses without requiring subject-matter testing for each subject area within this discipline (see "Secondary Teacher Preparation in Science and Social Studies" analysis and recommendations).

Further, to add an additional field to a secondary license, teachers must also pass a content test. However, as stated above, Oklahoma cannot guarantee content knowledge in each specific subject for secondary teachers who add combination social studies endorsements. 

The state's competencies for secondary English teachers mention that a teacher "understands and teaches strategies appropriate to a variety of forms (genres), text organizations, and structures, including functional print and informational print." According to the competencies, "informational print" includes reference materials, telephone books, almanacs and dictionaries.

Unfortunately, neither the state's competencies nor the CEOE English test required of secondary teachers goes far enough to ensure that teachers are adequately prepared for the instructional shifts toward building content knowledge and vocabulary through increasingly complex informational texts associated with the state's college- and career-readiness standards for students.

Neither the secondary tests nor the competencies in other content areas address incorporating literacy skills.

Regarding struggling readers, the secondary English competencies require teachers to use "a variety of assessment strategies to evaluate student proficiencies in the language arts and to modify instruction appropriately." However these competencies do not specifically address the ability to either identify struggling readers or to provide appropriate intervention.

Citation

Certification Examinations for Oklahoma Educators www.ceoe.nesinc.com Certification Guide www.ok.gov/sde/documents/2012-02-02/certification-guide-school-staff-assignments Full (Subject Matter) Competencies for Licensure and Certification http://sde.state.ok.us/teacher/profstand/pdf/Competencies.pdf

Recommendations for Oklahoma

Ensure that secondary 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.
Either through testing frameworks or teacher standards, Oklahoma 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 college- and career-readiness standards for students.

Incorporate literacy skills as an integral part of every subject.
To ensure that secondary students are capable of accessing varied information about the world around them, Oklahoma should also include specific requirements regarding literacy skills and using text as a means to build content knowledge in history/social studies, science, technical subjects and the arts.

Support struggling readers.
Oklahoma should articulate more specific requirements ensuring that secondary teachers are prepared to intervene and support students who are struggling. While college- and career-readiness standards will increase the need for all secondary teachers to be able to help struggling readers to comprehend grade-level material, training for English language arts teachers in particular must emphasize identification and remediation of reading deficiencies.

Require subject-matter testing for all secondary teacher candidates. 
Oklahoma wisely requires subject-matter tests for most secondary teachers but should address any loopholes that undermine this policy (see "Secondary Teacher Preparation in Science and Social Studies" analysis and recommendations). This applies to the addition of endorsements as well.

State response to our analysis

Oklahoma was helpful in providing NCTQ with facts that enhanced this analysis.

In addition, Oklahoma asserted that the state does not have a general/umbrella social studies exam for secondary educators. In order to teach in a social studies field, candidates must pass the social studies exam that assesses their knowledge in the area of teaching. There are three such exams:1) World History/Geography, 2) Psychology/Sociology and 3) U.S. History/Government/OK History and Economics. (see Goal 1-H).