Hiring Policy
Emergency Licenses Availability: Oregon allows new teachers who have not met licensure requirements to teach under the Restricted Teaching License. Eligibility requirements include a bachelor's degree and "have substantial preparation in the subject matter endorsements on the license," as well as a letter from the employing district describing a particular need for the applicant's teacher qualifications. Upon expiration of the certificate, applicants are expected to meet the requirements of an initial license.
Rules regarding the state's Emergency Teaching License allow this license to be granted "…at the discretion of the Executive Director, or the Director of Licensure, for any length of time deemed necessary to protect the district's programs or students."
Emergency License Validity Period: The Restricted Teaching license is valid for one year and may be renewed twice. Although an Emergency Teaching License can't be renewed, it can be extended, "…at the discretion of the Executive Director after considering all extenuating
circumstances."
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. Oregon 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. Oregon's current policy puts students at risk by allowing teachers to teach on a Restricted License for up to two years without passing required subject-matter tests.
Oregon recognized the factual accuracy of 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.