Secondary Teacher Preparation Policy
Content Test Requirements: West Virginia requires a grades 5-9 middle-level endorsement for middle school teachers. All new middle school teachers are also required to pass a Praxis middle school single-subject content test to attain licensure.
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 content tests adequately measure sufficient knowledge in all subjects.
West Virginia should ensure that its subject-matter tests for
middle school teacher candidates is sufficiently rigorous. The state
should ensure that the required passing scores on each test reflect high
levels of performance. Doing so will help to ensure that every student
is taught by a teacher with adequate subject-matter knowledge.
West Virginia recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis.
3A: Middle School Content Knowledge
Middle school grades are critical years of schooling. It is in these years that far too many students fall through the cracks. However, requirements for the preparation and licensure of middle school teachers can be especially problematic. States need to distinguish the knowledge and skills needed by middle school teachers from those needed by an elementary teacher. Whether teaching a single subject in a departmentalized setting or teaching multiple subjects in a self-contained setting, middle school teachers must be able to teach significantly more advanced content than elementary teachers. In order to do so, middle school teachers must be deeply knowledgeable about every subject they will be licensed to teach, and able to pass a licensing test in every core subject to demonstrate this knowledge.[1] The notion that someone should be identically prepared to teach first grade or eighth grade mathematics seems ridiculous, but states that license teachers on a K-8 generalist certificate essentially endorse this idea.