Middle School Teacher Preparation: Minnesota

Analysis of Minnesota's policies

Although Minnesota's elementary license is typically valid for grades K-6, teacher candidates may teach grades 7 and 8 if they are in self-contained classrooms. Teachers with secondary certificates may teach grades 7 and 8 in those subjects for which valid licensure is held. 

Minnesota also offers the following middle-level endorsements to teach grades 5-8 for: communication arts and literature, mathematics, social studies and general science. Candidates must complete the equivalent of a minor in each subject area of licensure. 

All new teachers in Minnesota are also required to pass the Minnesota subject-matter test to attain licensure. However, only secondary and middle-level candidates are required to pass single-subject content tests to attain licensure. Those seeking the elementary license are only required to pass the general content test for elementary education, in which subscores are not provided; therefore, there is no assurance that these middle school teachers will have sufficient knowledge about each subject they teach.

The MTLE Middle Level Communication Arts/Literature assessment includes some of the instructional shifts toward building content knowledge and vocabulary through careful reading of informational and literary texts associated with college- and career-readiness standards for students.

MTLE middle school tests in other content areas address literacy skills. The Middle Level Social Studies test requires teachers to "understand the content and methods for developing students' content-area reading skills to support their reading and learning in the social studies." Similar requirements are also outlined in the state's science assessment. 

Regarding struggling readers, the Middle Level Communication Arts/Literature assessment requires the following:

• Ability to differentiate reading instruction and materials selection to meet the needs of students at various reading proficiency levels and with various linguistic and cultural backgrounds
• Ability to scaffold reading tasks for students who experience comprehension difficulties.

In addition, Minnesota's teacher preparation standards require "Comprehensive, scientifically based reading instruction [that] also includes and integrates instructional strategies for continuously assessing, evaluating, and communicating the student's reading progress and needs in order to design and implement ongoing interventions so that students of all ages and proficiency levels can read and comprehend text, write, and apply higher level thinking skills."

Citation

Test Requirement www.mtle.nesinc.com Minnesota Administrative Rules 8710.0300, Subpart 8 and 8710.3310, .3320, .3330, .3340 Minnesota Statutes 122A.06 and 122A.18

Recommendations for Minnesota

Require content testing in all core areas.
Minnesota should require subject-matter testing for all middle school teacher candidates in every core academic area they intend to teach as a condition of initial licensure. To ensure meaningful middle school content tests, the state should set its passing scores to reflect high levels of performance.

Prepare middle school teachers to teach middle school. 
Minnesota should not allow middle school teachers to teach on a generalist license that does not differentiate between the preparation of middle school teachers and that of elementary teachers. These teachers are less likely to be adequately prepared to teach core academic areas at the middle school level because their preparation requirements are not specific to the middle or secondary levels, and they need not pass a subject-matter test in each subject they teach. Minnesota should ensure that students in grades 7 and 8 have teachers who are appropriately prepared to teach grade-level content, which is different and more advanced than what elementary teachers teach.  

Strengthen middle school teachers' subject-matter preparation. 
Minnesota should encourage middle school teachers who plan to teach multiple subjects to earn two minors in two core academic areas. Middle school candidates who intend to teach a single subject should earn a major in that area.

Ensure that middle school teachers are prepared to meet the instructional requirements of college- and career-readiness standards for students.
Incorporate informational text of increasing complexity into classroom instruction. 
Although Minnesota's testing framework is commendable, the state should strengthen its policy and ensure that teachers are able to challenge students with texts of increasing complexity.

State response to our analysis

Minnesota was helpful in providing NCTQ with facts that enhanced this analysis.

Minnesota also stated that subscores on the elementary content exam are available to determine subject-area performance of a K-6 licensed teacher who may be teaching in a self-contained classroom. According to the state, a very small percentage of classrooms exist within the self-contained structure today meaning that the vast majority of middle-level teachers hold middle-level licensure specific to their content area with middle-level specific pedagogy training.