Middle School Teacher Preparation: Tennessee

Analysis of Tennessee's policies

Tennessee offers middle grades certification (grades 6-8) for all middle school teachers. Certification consists of one of the following: an interdisciplinary major that includes study in English, mathematics, science and social studies; an interdisciplinary major in two disciplines from the arts and sciences; or a major in a single discipline from the arts and sciences with an area of emphasis on at least one additional discipline outside the major.

All new middle school teachers in Tennessee will be required to pass a Praxis II subject-matter content test to attain licensure. However, new legislation allows teachers to delay passage of content and pedagogy tests if they possess a bachelor's degree in a core content area.

Commendably, Tennessee does not offer a K-8 generalist license.

Tennessee addresses some of the instructional shifts toward building content knowledge and vocabulary through careful reading of informational and literary texts associated with the state's college- and career-readiness standards for students through its required assessment for middle school English teachers, the Praxis II Middle School English Language Arts (5047) test.

Tennessee also requires middle school teachers to pass the Praxis Teaching Reading: Elementary Education test, which, under the heading "reading comprehension strategies across text types," requires teachers to know "how to select and use a variety of informational, descriptive, and persuasive materials at appropriate reading levels to promote students' comprehension of nonfiction, including content-area texts."

Neither teacher standards nor testing frameworks for other content areas address incorporating literacy skills.

Tennessee addresses the needs of struggling readers in its reading test. In addition, teacher preparation standards require candidates to be able to "differentiate good readers from poor readers in light of those characteristics and apply that knowledge to effective intervention strategies for all readers."

The state has also passed legislation defining dyslexia as a "specific learning disability" and requiring K-12 educators to receive training for teaching students with dyslexia "using appropriate scientific research and brain-based multisensory intervention methods and strategies."

Citation

Praxis Test Requirement www.ets.org Board of Education Policy 5.502 Appendix A http://www.tn.gov/sbe/Policies/5.502_Educator_Licensure_Policy_7-25-14.pdf Test Requirements http://www.tn.gov/sbe/Policies/5.105_Professional_Assessments_for_Tennessee_Educators_4-11-14.pdf Tennessee Educator Preparation Policy http://tn.gov/assets/entities/education/attachments/epp_policy.pdf Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-6-3004(c)(1)

Recommendations for Tennessee

Differentiate between single- and multiple-subject middle school teachers.
Tennessee may want to consider requiring only two minors for middle school teachers who intend to teach multiple subjects, rather than two majors, or a major and a minor.

Eliminate the test exemption.
While a degree may be generally indicative of background in a particular subject area, only a subject-matter test ensures that teachers know the specific content they will need to teach.

State response to our analysis

Tennessee stated that the new Educator Licensure Policy shifts middle-grades licensure from an interdisciplinary 4-8 to a single discipline endorsement area (6-8) in either English, mathematics, science or social studies. In addition, preparation providers are required to submit proposals for new middle-grades subject-specific licensure programs. They must align with the standards outlined in the new Educator Preparation Policy.