Licensure Deficiencies: District of Columbia

Analysis of District of Columbia's policies

Content Test Requirements: The District of Columbia's early childhood education teachers are only required to pass the Praxis II Early Childhood Education (5025) test. This test does not report separate subscores in the core content areas of language arts, math, science, or social studies.

The District of Columbia requires enrollment in, but not completion of, a teacher preparation program. While this initial license is non-renewable, it is valid for three years. Teachers must complete a teacher preparation program and complete other requirements, including passage of a basic skills test and a pedagogy test, in order to obtain a standard license.

Scientifically Based Reading Instruction—Tests and Standards: The District of Columbia does not require early childhood education candidates, who can teach up through grade three, to pass a test of scientifically based reading instruction or address it in their preparation standards.

Informational Texts: The Early Childhood Education (5025) test addresses both the use of informational texts and text complexity. With regard to the incorporation of informational text of increasing complexity, teachers are required to know how to: "explain factors that contribute to text complexity (e.g., vocabulary, sentence complexity, images) [and] select appropriate texts for readers at various levels."

Literacy Skills: The District of Columbia has no requirements for the preparation of early childhood education teachers that address the incorporation of literacy skills into the core content areas.

Struggling Readers: The District of Columbia has no requirements for the preparation of early childhood education teachers that address the needs of struggling readers.

Citation

Praxis Test Requirement www.ets.org DCMR 5-A 1601 and 1602 Educator Testing Flyer https://osse.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/osse/publication/attachments/Educator%20Testing%20Flyer%20as%20of%20March%2027%202017.pdf

Recommendations for District of Columbia

Require all early childhood candidates who are eligible to teach elementary grades to pass a subject-matter test designed to ensure sufficient content knowledge of all subjects.
The District of Columbia should require all early childhood education teacher candidates who teach elementary grades to pass an elementary content test appropriately aligned with its college- and career-readiness standards. Although requiring a content test is a step in the right direction, the District should require separate, meaningful passing scores for each core subject covered on the test, including reading/language arts, mathematics, science and social studies. The District's current practice of using a composite passing score offers no assurance of adequate knowledge in each subject area and therefore fails to ensure that a candidate who achieves a passing score has the necessary subject-matter knowledge to teach a particular subject area.

Require all teacher candidates who teach elementary grades to pass a rigorous assessment in the science of reading instruction.
The District of Columbia should require a rigorous reading assessment tool to ensure that its early childhood candidates are adequately prepared in the science of reading instruction before entering the classroom. The assessment should clearly test knowledge and skills related to the science of reading and address all five instructional components of scientifically based reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. If the test is combined with an assessment that also tests general pedagogy or elementary content, it should report a subscore for the science of reading specifically. Early childhood teachers who do not possess the minimum knowledge in this area should not be eligible for licensure.

Ensure that early childhood teachers are prepared to meet the instructional requirements of college- and career-readiness standards for students.
Incorporate informational text of increasing complexity into classroom instruction.
The District of Columbia's early childhood test does not adequately capture all the major instructional shifts of college- and career-readiness standards. The District of Columbia is therefore encouraged to strengthen its teacher preparation requirements and ensure that all candidates who teach the elementary grades have the ability to address the use of informational texts as well as to incorporate complex informational texts into classroom instruction.

Incorporate literacy skills as an integral part of every subject.
To ensure that elementary students are capable of accessing varied information about the world around them, The District of Columbia should also—either through testing frameworks or teacher standards—include literacy skills and using text to build content knowledge in history/social studies, science, technical subjects and the arts.

Support struggling readers.
The District of Columbia should articulate more specific requirements ensuring that all candidates who teach elementary grades are prepared to intervene and support students who are struggling. The early elementary grades are an especially important time to address reading deficiencies before students fall behind.

State response to our analysis

With regard to subject matter concerning scientifically based reading instruction, the District of Columbia stated that it requires early childhood education candidates, who are prepared to teach preK-3 through grade 2 (3 to 8 years old), to pass a test of scientifically based reading instruction or address it in their preparation standards. The District then cited its Organizational Standards for Educator Preparation programs, which includes some competencies for candidates in fostering oral language and communication skills as well as linking children's language and culture to the early childhood program curriculum.

The District stated that the Praxis II Early Childhood Education (5025) test addresses both the use of informational texts and text complexity. With regard to the incorporation of informational text of increasing complexity, the District of Columbia noted that teachers are required to know how to: "explain factors that contribute to text complexity (e.g., vocabulary, sentence complexity, images) [and] select appropriate texts for readers at various levels."

The District also stated that teachers who hold and early childhood credential for levels preK-3rd grade must pass the elementary Praxis II content knowledge exam for placement in grades 1-3. This state policy follows the former NCLB HQT rules. An OSSE LEA assignment table crosswalk with educator licensure is recommended for use by all LEAs in staffing.

With regard to the incorporation of literacy skills across core content areas, the District stated that specifically the Organizational Standards for Educator Preparation programs provide candidates with multiple, developmental opportunities to gain essential knowledge and skill in each content area: language and literacy.

With regard to struggling readers, the District of Columbia indicated that these competencies are addressed in the elementary grades and standards.

Updated: December 2017

Last word

By tying requirements to highly qualified status, it appears that the state is putting the burden on districts to ensure that teachers have passed tests for the grades and subjects they teach. A license should mean that a teacher is prepared to teach any subjects or grades covered under that certificate.