Elementary Teacher Preparation Policy
Content Test Requirements: Utah's early childhood education teachers, who are licensed to teach through grade 3,
have two options for fulfilling content test requirements. Candidates have the option of taking the Praxis Elementary Education:
Multiple Subjects (5001) test, which reports separate subscores in the core content areas of language arts, math, science, or social studies, or the Praxis Early Childhood
Education (5025) test, which only reports a composite score in the core content areas.
Scientifically Based Reading Instruction: Beginning September 1, 2022, Utah will require its early
childhood candidates to pass the Foundations of Reading (190) test. This test addresses the five
instructional components of scientifically based reading instruction:
phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. However, Utah's early childhood preparation standards address scientifically based reading instruction.
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 early childhood education teachers are adequately prepared to teach at the elementary level.
Utah should require all early childhood education teacher
candidates, who are
licensed to teach elementary grades, to pass a core content test.
By offering early education childhood candidates the option of taking
either the
Elementary Education Multiple Subjects test or the Early Childhood
Education test, which does not require separate passing scores for
each subject area, Utah does not ensure that these candidates
will be
prepared to teach all the required content of the elementary grades they
are licensed to teach. Utah should strengthen its policy and
hold all early childhood education
candidates to appropriate content standards, either by requiring the
same test as required for other elementary teachers or a comparably
rigorous one specific to early childhood teachers.
Utah recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis, however this analysis was updated subsequent to the state's review.
2D: Elementary Licensure Requirements
Early childhood teachers who teach elementary grades must be ready for the demands of the elementary classroom. Many states have early childhood licenses that include some elementary classroom grades, usually up to grade three.[1] Because teachers with this early childhood license can still teach many elementary grades, they should not be held to a lower bar for subject-matter knowledge than if they held more standard elementary licenses. Given the focus on building students' content knowledge and vocabulary in college- and career-readiness standards,[2] states would put students at risk by not holding all elementary teachers to equivalent standards.[3] That is not to say the license requirements must be identical; there are certainly different focuses in terms of child development and pedagogy. But the idea that content knowledge is only needed by upper-grade elementary teachers is clearly false.
Focus on reading instruction is especially critical for early childhood teachers. Although some states do not ensure that any elementary teachers know the science of how to teach young children to read, in the states where this is a priority, it is inexcusable to hold elementary teachers on an early childhood license to a lower standard. Research is clear that the best defense against reading failure is effective early reading instruction.[4] Therefore, if such licenses are neglecting to meet the needs of the early elementary classroom, of which learning to read is paramount, they are failing to meet one of their most fundamental purposes.