Hiring Policy
Emergency License(s) Availability: Utah requires all licensure candidates to submit passing scores on designated content tests to be eligible for initial licensure. However, the state also allows alternate route teachers to teach on a temporary license.
Emergency License Validity Period: Utah's temporary license is valid for up to one year while teachers fulfill licensure requirements, including passing subject-matter tests.
Ensure that all teachers pass required subject-matter licensing tests before they enter the classroom.
NCTQ commends Utah for requiring that all licensure candidates pass designated
content tests for initial licensure. However, the state continues to permit
teachers on alternate route licenses to teach in classrooms for three years
before passing required subject-matter tests. While the state may find it
appropriate to delay pedagogy assessments for these teachers, alternate route
teachers—like all teachers—should have sufficient and appropriate content
knowledge when they begin teaching. Utah should strengthen its policy by
requiring all teachers to meet subject-matter licensure requirements prior to
entering the classroom as the teacher of record.
Utah 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.