Methodology: Midde school preparation
In Illinois, teachers who wish to teach middle school must add an endorsement to their elementary or secondary certification. For elementary teachers, the endorsement allows them to teach in grades 5 to 8, whereas for secondary teachers, the endorsement allows them to teach in grades 6 to 8.
Because secondary teacher candidates typically have a major in their subject, the only coursework entailed for the middle school endorsement is methods coursework. For elementary teachers, however, additional subject area coursework is required because endorsements require a minimum of 18 semester hours in the endorsement area.1 The coursework requirements for a middle school endorsement in elementary programs in four core areas were examined: English, mathematics, science and social studies and awarded points as follows for majors (30 semester hours) and minors (15 semester hours):
Because all four types of endorsements are not offered at all Illinois programs, scores are scaled by summing the points awarded to each endorsement, dividing the result by the number of endorsements offered and multiplying the quotient by four. For example, a school that requires a minor for English and mathematics' middle grades candidates and requires a minor in general social science or science for middle grades candidates receiving endorsements in any social science or science would receive one point: a half point each in English and math, and no points for their generalist degrees (which do not provide the equivalent of a minor in history, biology, chemistry or physics, or a minor in history, geography, history, government or political science, respectively). Scaling this score by the number of endorsements offered (four), the institution would receive a score of "1" on the standard, which translates to a rating of "meets only a small part of standard."
In order to include in the rating some consideration of the rigor of coursework, the score is reduced by one point if one or more of the endorsement areas offered by the institution does not require any upper-level, general-audience coursework.
