Content Knowledge: Iowa
Special Education Teacher Preparation Policy
Analysis of Iowa's policies
Content Test Requirements: Teacher candidates in Iowa applying for either the stand alone K-8 or the 5-12 certificate are required to pass the Praxis II Fundamental Subjects: Content Knowledge (5511) test and the Special Education: Core Knowledge and Mild to Moderate Applications (5543) test. Candidates also have the option of passing the edTPA exam. Neither the Mild to Moderate Applications nor edTPA is a content test. While the Fundamental Subjects test includes subtests in English language arts, math, citizenship and social science, and science, it does not require that subtest scores are reported. This test is also not the one required of Iowa's general education elementary teacher candidates—a requirement the state had implemented in the past.
Recommendations for Iowa
Require that elementary special education candidates pass a content test that reports separate passing scores as a condition of initial licensure.
Iowa should require all elementary special education teacher candidates,
who are
licensed to teach elementary grades, to pass an elementary content test
appropriately aligned with its college- and career-readiness standards.
None of the options offered to special education candidates is an adequate
measure of content knowledge. The Praxis II Fundamental Subjects test is on
the right track but does not require separate, meaningful passing
scores for each core subject covered on the test, including
reading/language arts, math, science and social studies. The other two
options are not measures of subject-matter knowledge. The Special Education Core Knowledge test is an assessment of
professional knowledge. While performance assessments such as the edTPA
provide an opportunity for teacher candidates to demonstrate their
knowledge and skills in sample lessons, they are not designed to measure
the depth and breadth of knowledge and skills needed in a single area.
Secondary special education teachers are frequently generalists who teach many core subject areas. Iowa's current policy of requiring a general content test or the edTPA will not help special education students to meet rigorous learning standards. Iowa should consider a distinct route for secondary special education teacher certification that allows candidates to demonstrate requisite content knowledge in the classroom through a combination of testing and coursework.
State response to our analysis
Iowa recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis.
Updated: December 2017
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How we graded
4A: Special Education Content Knowledge
- Elementary Content Knowledge: The state should require that all new elementary special education candidates pass a licensure test across all elementary subject areas that is no less rigorous than the test required of general education candidates.
- Secondary Content Knowledge: The state should require that all new secondary special education candidates possess adequate content knowledge.
One-half of the total goal score is earned based on the following:
- One-half credit: The state will earn one-half of a point if it requires all new elementary special education candidates to pass an elementary content knowledge test that is no less rigorous than the test required of general education candidates.
- One-quarter credit: The state will earn one-quarter of a point if it requires elementary licenses in conjunction with special education licenses but does not offer special education elementary licenses.
One-half of the total goal score is earned based on the following:
- One-half credit: The state will earn one-half of a point if it requires all new secondary special education candidates to pass a special education licensure test across all secondary subject areas that is no less rigorous than the test required of general education candidates.
- One-quarter credit: The state will earn one-quarter of a point if it requires secondary licenses in conjunction with special education licenses but does not offer special education secondary licenses.
Research rationale
Generic K-12 special education licenses are inappropriate for teachers of high-incidence special education students. Too many states do not distinguish between elementary and secondary special education teachers, certifying all such teachers under a generic K-12 special education license. While this broad umbrella may be appropriate for teachers of low-incidence special education students, such as those with severe cognitive disabilities, it is deeply problematic for high-incidence special education students, who are expected to learn grade-level content.[1] And because the overwhelming majority of special education students are in the high-incidence category, the result is a fundamentally broken system.
Special education teachers teach content and therefore must know content.[2] While special educators should be valued for their critical role in working with students with disabilities and special needs, each state identifies them not as "special education assistants" but as "special education teachers," presumably because it expects them to provide instruction. Inclusion models, where special education students receive instruction from a general education teacher paired with a special education teacher to provide instructional support, do not mitigate the need for special education teachers to know content.[3] Providing instruction to children who have special needs requires knowledge of both effective learning strategies and the subject matter at hand.[4] Failure to ensure that teachers are well trained in content areas—presumably through subject matter licensing tests—deprives special education students of the opportunity to reach their academic potential.
[1] Levenson, N. (2011). Something has got to change: Rethinking special education (Working Paper 2011-01). American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED521782
[2] For an analysis of the importance of special educator content knowledge, see: Levenson, N. (2011). Something has got to change: Rethinking special education. American Enterprise Institute (Working paper 2011-01, 1-20).; For information on teacher licensing tests, see: Gitomer, D. H., & Latham, A. S. (1999). The academic quality of prospective teachers: The impact of admissions and licensure testing. Educational Testing Service. Retrieved from http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/RR-03-35.pdf; For a study on teacher testing scores and student achievement, see: Ladd, H. F., Clotfelter, C. T., & Vigdor, J. L. (2007). How and why do teacher credentials matter for student achievement (NBER Working Paper, 142786). Retrieved from http://www.caldercenter.org/sites/default/files/1001058_Teacher_Credentials.pdf
[3] Feng, L., & Sass, T. R. (2010). What makes special education teachers special? Teacher training and achievement of students with disabilities (Working Paper 49). National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research. Retrieved from http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/1001435-what-makes-special.pdf; Monk, D. H. (1994). Subject area preparation of secondary mathematics and science teachers and student achievement. Economics of Education Review, 13(2), 125-145.
[4] For research on the importance of teachers' content knowledge, see: Boyd, D. J., Grossman, P. L., Lankford, H., Loeb, S., & Wyckoff, J. (2009). Teacher preparation and student achievement. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 31(4), 416-440; Willingham, D. T. (2006). How knowledge helps: It speeds and strengthens comprehension, learning—and thinking. American Educator, 30(1), 30-37.