Secondary Teacher Preparation in Social
Studies: Kansas

Analysis of Kansas's policies

The only certification available to secondary social studies teachers is "History and Government." Candidates are required to pass the Praxis II "Social Studies" content test. Teachers with this license are not limited to teaching general social studies but rather can teach any of the topical areas.

Middle school social studies teachers in Kansas must earn a history (comprehensive) endorsement. Commendably, candidates are required to pass the Praxis II "Middle School Social Studies" test. 

Citation

Regulations and Standards for Kansas Educators, 91-1-202 Praxis Testing Requirements www.ets.org

Recommendations for Kansas

Require secondary social studies teachers to pass tests of content knowledge for each social studies discipline they intend to teach.
States that allow general social studies certifications—and only require a general knowledge social studies exam—are not ensuring that these secondary teachers possess adequate subject-specific content knowledge. Kansas's required assessment combines all subject areas (e.g., history, geography, economics) and does not report separate scores for each subject area. Therefore, candidates could answer many history questions, for example, incorrectly, yet still be licensed to teach history to high school students.

State response to our analysis

Kansas had no comment on this goal.