Middle School Teacher Preparation : Oklahoma

Analysis of Oklahoma's policies

Oklahoma requires a secondary certification for middle school teachers; candidates must earn a major in a content-related area. Regrettably, the state also allows middle school teachers to teach, with the exception of mathematics, on a generalist K-8 license.

All new middle school teachers in Oklahoma are required to pass an Oklahoma Subject Area Test to attain licensure. However, only secondary and middle school candidates are required to pass a single-subject content test. Those seeking the elementary license are only required to pass the general content test for elementary education; therefore, there is no assurance that these middle school teachers will have sufficient knowledge in each subject they teach.

Citation

Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education Academic Affairs Procedure Handbook 3.22.4 http://www.okhighered.org/state-system/policy-procedures/part3.shtml http://www.ceoe.nesinc.com/CE13_overview.asp

Recommendations for Oklahoma

Eliminate K-8 generalist license.
Oklahoma should not allow middle school teachers to teach on a generalist license that does not differentiate between the preparation of middle school teachers and that of elementary teachers. These teachers are less likely to be adequately prepared to teach core academic areas at the middle school level because their preparation requirements are not specific to the middle or secondary levels and they need not pass a subject-matter test in each subject they teach. Adopting middle school teacher preparation policies for all such teachers will help ensure that students in grades 7 and 8 have teachers who are appropriately prepared to teach grade level content, which is different and more advanced than what elementary teachers teach.  

Strengthen middle school teachers' subject-matter preparation.
Oklahoma should encourage middle school teachers who plan to teach multiple subjects to earn two minors in two core academic areas, rather than a single major. However, the state should retain its requirement for a subject-area major for middle school candidates who intend to teach a single subject.

Require subject-matter testing for middle school teacher candidates.
Oklahoma should require subject-matter testing for all middle school teacher candidates in every core academic area they intend to teach as a condition of initial licensure.

State response to our analysis

Oklahoma asserted that middle-level educators are required to meet the "highly qualified" criterion as defined by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Teachers of a single subject in grades 5-8 must pass the appropriate subject-area test or meet the requirements for building a HOUSSE.