Secondary Teacher Preparation in Science:
Texas

Analysis of Texas's policies

Texas offers a secondary certificate in general science. Teachers with this license are not limited to teaching general science but rather can teach any of the topical areas. Candidates are only required to pass the state's TExES content test in science, which combines all areas of science and does not report results in each specific subject area. 

Texas also offers a secondary certificate in physical science, which allows teachers to teach both physics and chemistry. These candidates must only pass the combination physical science assessment. 

Middle school science teachers in Texas may teach on either a generalist (4-8) or a subject-specific (4-8) endorsement. Candidates must earn either an academic discipline major or an interdisciplinary academic major. In addition to the six semester hours of science required by the state's core curriculum guidelines, degree programs leading to 4-8 certification must include another six to nine semester hours of coursework in science (physical science, life science or a combination of the two).

Middle school candidates must also pass a subject-matter test. Those seeking the subject-specific endorsement must take a single-subject test; however, those teaching under the generalist license only have to pass the generalist exam, in which science accounts for just 23 percent of the test, and subscores are not reported.

Citation

Texas Administrative Code 19.7.233.4 Testing Requirements www.texes.ets.org

Recommendations for Texas

Require secondary science teachers to pass tests of content knowledge for each science discipline they intend to teach.
States that allow general science certifications or combination licenses across multiple science disciplines—and only require a general knowledge science exam—are not ensuring that these secondary teachers possess adequate subject-specific content knowledge. Texas's required general assessments combine subject areas (e.g., biology, chemistry, physics) and do not report separate scores for each subject area. Therefore, candidates could answer many—perhaps all—chemistry questions, for example, incorrectly, yet still be licensed to teach chemistry to high school students. 

Require middle school science teachers to pass a test of content knowledge that ensures sufficient knowledge of science.
Although the state's testing requirements for its subject-specific endorsements ensure adequate subject matter knowledge, Texas should require that even its middle school science teachers teaching on the generalist 4-8 certificate have the requisite knowledge in the specific content. The state's current policy of only requiring a general exam falls short of guaranteeing adequate subject matter knowledge for these teachers. 

State response to our analysis

Texas recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis. The state added that as part of its current testing contract RFP (Request for Proposal), it is considering the elimination of the generalist 4-8 examination, which may then realign the subject-area examinations to grades 7-12.