Middle School Teacher Preparation : Nevada

Analysis of Nevada's policies

Nevada offers a middle school license for middle school teachers; candidates must earn 24 semester hours in a major field of endorsement or area of concentration. Teachers with secondary certificates are allowed to teach single subjects in middle school. Those candidates must complete either a major (36 credit hours) or a minor (24 credit hours) in their intended teaching field. Regrettably, Nevada also allows middle school teachers to teach on a generalist K-8 license.

All new middle school teachers in Nevada are also required to pass a Praxis II subject-matter test to attain licensure. However, only secondary and middle school candidates are required to pass a single-subject Praxis II content test 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 in each subject they teach.

Citation

Nevada Administrative Code 391.090, -111, -120 www.ets.org/praxis

Recommendations for Nevada

Prepare middle school teachers to teach middle school.
Nevada 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. Adopting middle school teacher preparation policies for all such teachers will help 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.
Nevada should encourage middle school teachers who plan to teach multiple subjects to earn two minors in two core academic areas, rather than a single major. However, the state should retain its requirement for a subject-area major for middle school candidates who intend to teach a single subject.

Require subject-matter testing for middle school teacher candidates.
Nevada 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.

State response to our analysis

Nevada asserted that although the K-8 license allows teachers to teach in grades 7-8 in middle school, the NCLB "highly qualified" requirements mandate that these teachers must demonstrate competency in all subjects by either passing the Praxis II subject assessment or completing an academic major in the subject. 

Last word

Nevada should ensure that all middle school teachers possess adequate subject-matter knowledge as a condition of initial licensure.