Licensure Deficiencies: Rhode Island
Elementary Teacher Preparation Policy
Analysis of Rhode Island's policies
Content Test Requirements: Rhode Island's early childhood education teachers, who are licensed to teach through grade 2, have two options for fulfilling content test requirements. The first option requires candidates to pass the Praxis Early Childhood Education (5025) test, which does not report separate subscores in the core content areas of language arts, math, science, or social studies, and the Education of Young Children (5024) test, which is not a content test. The second option requires candidates to pass the Elementary Education:
Multiple Subjects (5001) test and the Principles of Learning: K-6 pedagogy test. Only the Multiple Subjects 5001 test reports separate subscores in the core content areas of language arts, math, science, and social studies.
Scientifically Based Reading Instruction: As a condition of initial licensure, Rhode Island does not require its early childhood candidates to pass a reading test addressing the five instructional components of scientifically based reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.
Informational Texts: Rhode Island's early childhood test options incorporate some of the instructional shifts in the use of text
associated with the state's college- and career-readiness standards for
students. For example, the Early Childhood Education test addresses both the use of informational texts and text complexity.
With regard to the incorporation of informational text of increasing complexity, teachers are required to know how to: "explain factors that contribute to text complexity (e.g., vocabulary, sentence complexity, images) [and] select appropriate texts for readers at various levels."
Literacy Skills: The Education of Young Children test also vaguely addresses literacy skills in other core areas by requiring a teacher to know "strategies to integrate literacy into
the content areas (e.g., mathematics, social studies, science, and the
arts)."
Struggling Readers: Rhode Island's standards require teachers to be able to "make appropriate accommodations and modifications for individual students who have identified learning differences or needs in a ... Personal Literacy Plan." However, these standards do not go far enough to ensure that teachers are fully prepared to identify and support struggling readers.
Recommendations for Rhode Island
Ensure that early childhood education teachers are adequately prepared to teach at the
elementary level.
Rhode Island should require all early childhood education teacher candidates, who are
licensed to teach elementary grades, to pass an elementary content test
appropriately aligned with its college- and career-readiness standards. By offering early education childhood candidates the option of taking either the
Elementary Education Multiple Subjects test or the Early Childhood
Education test, which does not require separate passing scores for
each subject area, Rhode Island does not ensure that these candidates will be
prepared to teach all the required content of the elementary grades they
are licensed to teach. Rhode Island should strengthen its policy and hold all early childhood education
candidates to appropriate content standards, either by requiring the
same test as required for other elementary teachers or a comparably
rigorous one specific to early childhood teachers.
Require all teacher candidates who teach elementary grades to pass a rigorous assessment in the science of reading instruction.
Rhode Island should require a rigorous reading assessment tool to ensure that its early childhood candidates are adequately prepared in the science of reading instruction before entering the classroom. The assessment should clearly test knowledge and skills related to the science of reading and address all five instructional components of scientifically based reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. If the test is combined with an assessment that also tests general pedagogy or elementary content, it should report a subscore for the science of reading specifically. Early childhood teachers who do not possess the minimum knowledge in this area should not be eligible for licensure.
Ensure that early childhood 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.
Only one of Rhode Island's test options fully captures all the major instructional
shifts of college- and career-readiness standards. The state is therefore encouraged to strengthen its teacher preparation requirements and ensure that all early childhood education teacher candidates, who are licensed to teach elementary grades, have the ability to adequately incorporate complex informational text into classroom instruction.
Incorporate literacy skills as an integral part of every subject.
To ensure that elementary students are capable of accessing varied information about the world around them, Rhode Island should more specifically include literacy skills and using text to build content knowledge in all core subjects. This could be accomplished either through testing frameworks or teacher standards.
Support struggling readers.
Rhode Island should articulate more specific requirements to ensure that all candidates who teach elementary grades are prepared to intervene and support students who are struggling. The early elementary grades are an especially important time to address reading deficiencies before students fall behind.
State response to our analysis
Rhode Island recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis, however this analysis was update subsequent to the state's review.
Updated: May 2019
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Rhode Island
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Early Childhood Preparation
How we graded
2D: Elementary Licensure Deficiencies
- Adequate Content Knowledge: The state should ensure that all new elementary teacher candidates teaching under an early childhood license possess sufficient elementary content knowledge in all core subjects, including mathematics.
- Scientifically Based Reading Instruction: The state should ensure that all new elementary teacher candidates teaching under an early childhood license are required to pass a rigorous test of scientifically based reading instruction. The design of the test should ensure that prospective teachers cannot pass without knowing the five scientifically based components of early reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
- College- and Career-Readiness Standards: The state should ensure that all new elementary teachers teaching under an early childhood license are sufficiently prepared for the ways that college- and career-readiness standards affect instruction in all subject areas. Specifically,
- The state should ensure that these early childhood education teachers are prepared to incorporate informational texts of increasing complexity into instruction.
- The state should ensure that these early childhood education teachers are prepared to incorporate literacy skills as an integral part of every subject.
- The state should ensure that these early childhood education teachers are prepared to identify and support struggling readers.
One-half of the total goal score is earned based on the following:
- One-half credit: The state will earn one-half of a point if it requires early childhood teachers to pass the same individually scored content tests as elementary teachers.
- One-quarter credit: The state will earn one-quarter of a point if it requires early childhood teachers to pass the same content tests as elementary teachers, but the content tests are not individually scored.
One-quarter of the total goal score is earned based on the following:
- One-quarter credit: The state will earn one-quarter of a point if it requires all new early childhood teachers to pass a rigorous test of scientifically based reading instruction. The design of the test must ensure that all prospective teachers are competent in the five research-based components of early reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
One-quarter of the total goal score is earned based on the following:
- One-quarter credit: The state will earn one-quarter of a point if its elementary teacher preparation tests or standards address the three components of college- and career-readiness standards. To earn credit, states must have at least one component "fully addressed" and two "partially addressed."
Research rationale
Early childhood teachers who teach elementary grades must be ready for the demands of the elementary classroom. Many states have early childhood licenses that include some elementary classroom grades, usually up to grade three.[1] Because teachers with this early childhood license can still teach many elementary grades, they should not be held to a lower bar for subject-matter knowledge than if they held more standard elementary licenses. Given the focus on building students' content knowledge and vocabulary in college- and career-readiness standards,[2] states would put students at risk by not holding all elementary teachers to equivalent standards.[3] That is not to say the license requirements must be identical; there are certainly different focuses in terms of child development and pedagogy. But the idea that content knowledge is only needed by upper-grade elementary teachers is clearly false.
Focus on reading instruction is especially critical for early childhood teachers. Although some states do not ensure that any elementary teachers know the science of how to teach young children to read, in the states where this is a priority, it is inexcusable to hold elementary teachers on an early childhood license to a lower standard. Research is clear that the best defense against reading failure is effective early reading instruction.[4] Therefore, if such licenses are neglecting to meet the needs of the early elementary classroom, of which learning to read is paramount, they are failing to meet one of their most fundamental purposes.
[1] National Council on Teacher Quality. (2016, June). Some assembly required: Piecing together the preparation preschool teachers need. Retrieved from http://www.nctq.org/dmsView/Preschool
[2] Student Achievement Partners. (2015). Research supporting the Common Core ELA/literacy shifts and standards. Retrieved from https://achievethecore.org/content/upload/Research%20Supporting%20the%20ELA%20Standards%20and%20Shifts%20Final.pdf
[3] Numerous research studies have established the strong relationship between teachers' vocabulary (a proxy for being broadly educated) and student achievement. For example: Wayne, A. J., & Youngs, P. (2003). Teacher characteristics and student achievement gains: A review. Review of Educational Research, 73(1), 89-122.; See also: Whitehurst, G. J. (2002, March). Scientifically based research on teacher quality: Research on teacher preparation and professional development. In White House Conference on Preparing Tomorrow's Teacher.; Ehrenberg, R. G., & Brewer, D. J. (1995). Did teachers' verbal ability and race matter in the 1960s? Coleman revisited. Economics of Education Review, 14(1), 1-21.; Research also connects individual content knowledge with increased reading comprehension, making the capacity of the teacher to infuse all instruction with content of particular importance for student achievement.; Willingham, D. T. (2006). How knowledge helps: It speeds and strengthens reading comprehension, learning, and thinking. American Educator, 30(1), 30. Retrieved from https://www.aft.org/periodical/american-educator/spring-2006/how-knowledge-helps
[4] Torgesen, J.K. (November 2005). Preventing reading disabilities in young children: Requirements at the classroom and school level. Presented at the Western North Carolina LD/ADD Symposium.; Walsh, K., Glaser, D., & Wilcox, D. D. (2006). What education schools aren't teaching about reading and what elementary teachers aren't learning. National Council on Teacher Quality. Retrieved from http://www.nctq.org/nctq/images/nctq_reading_study_app.pdf