Secondary Teacher Preparation in Social
Studies: Vermont

Analysis of Vermont's policies

Vermont offers secondary certification in general social studies. Candidates are required to pass either the Praxis II "Social Studies" content test or the "Social Studies: Interpretation of Materials" test. Teachers may teach all history and social science courses in grades 7-12.

Middle school social studies teachers in Vermont must earn a middle grades endorsement. Candidates are required to earn a minor in the content area and, commendably, must also pass the Praxis II "Middle School Social Studies" content test.

Citation

Supplement A (5440) to the Vermont Standards Board for Professional Education Manual of Rules, 5445(13) Praxis Testing Requirements www.ets.org

Recommendations for Vermont

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 their secondary teachers possess adequate subject-specific content knowledge. Vermont'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—perhaps all—history questions, for example, incorrectly, yet still be licensed to teach history to high school students.

State response to our analysis

Vermont recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis.