Middle School Content Knowledge: Tennessee

Analysis of Tennessee's policies

Content Test Requirements: Tennessee offers middle grades certification (grades 6-8) for all middle school teachers. All new middle school teachers in Tennessee are required to pass a Praxis II subject-matter content test to attain licensure.

However, the state allows teachers to delay passage of content and pedagogy tests if they possess a bachelor's degree in a core content area.

Academic Requirements: Middle school 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.

Citation

Praxis Test Requirement www.ets.org Tennessee State Board of Education Policy 5.105; 5.502 Appendix A and Policy 5.504 Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-6-3004(c)(1)

Recommendations for Tennessee

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.

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.

State response to our analysis

Tennessee noted that it will continue to issue the 4-8 generalist license until 9/1/18 for candidates who have already begun a generalist program. The state also provided additional clarification about Tennessee's test exemption policy, which asserts that educators who enroll in a post-baccalaureate program may be recommended for a license if their content knowledge is verified based on a bachelor's degree in the core content area.

Updated: December 2017