Secondary Teacher Preparation in Science and
Social Studies: Wisconsin

Analysis of Wisconsin's policies

Although Wisconsin requires that its secondary teacher candidates pass a Praxis II content test to teach any core secondary subjects, the state permits a significant loophole to this important policy by allowing both general science and general social studies licenses, without requiring subject-matter testing for each subject area within these disciplines.

Wisconsin offers a broad-field science license for secondary teachers. Regardless of the science license (broad field, biology, chemistry, earth and space science, life and environmental science, physics or physical science), the state only requires candidates to pass the Praxis II General Science content assessment. Teachers with this license are not limited to teaching general science but rather can teach any of the topical areas.

All candidates, regardless of whether they are applying for the broad-field license or a specific concentration, are only required to pass the Praxis II Social Studies content test.

Citation

Praxis Testing Requirements www.ets.org Subject Assessment Test Guidelines http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/tepdl/prax2subjguide.html

Recommendations for Wisconsin

Require secondary teachers with umbrella certifications to pass a content test for each discipline they are licensed to teach.
By allowing general social studies and general science certifications—and only requiring general knowledge exams for each—Wisconsin is not ensuring that these secondary teachers possess adequate subject-specific content knowledge. The state's required general social studies assessment combines all topical areas (e.g., history, geography, economics), and its required general science assessment combines subject areas that include biology, chemistry and physics. Neither assessment reports separate scores for each area. Therefore, candidates could answer many—perhaps all—chemistry questions, for example, incorrectly, yet still be licensed to teach chemistry to high school students. Wisconsin should also require specific content tests for its subject certifications, such as history and geography. The state's requirement of a general content test even for its subject-specific certifications undermines its apparent effort to ensure content knowledge in each area of social studies.

State response to our analysis

Wisconsin indicated that while the state does use a broad field science and broad field social studies content test, a candidate is also required to complete a major/minor in the discrete subject areas. Since a major/minor is required for each of the discrete licensure areas, the broad field test has alleviated excessive testing costs and testing time for candidates prepared in multiple science or social studies licenses. The broad field science and broad field social studies licenses can only be obtained by completing a major.

Wisconsin asserted that the only subject a teacher can teach with the broad field license is entry level high school general science or general social studies. These broad field licenses are not available through the license based on a content test pathway for additional licensure. Secondary teachers who teach upper-level courses must have a discrete subject-area license.  

Wisconsin noted that when the state begins the revision process of the content guidelines (preparation program standards) for Science and Social Studies licensure, it will include a set of preparation competencies. Once this is complete, the state will review the content test selection against the competencies and determine  the next steps.