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State "clarifies" middle school ceritification rules

This is an alert to teachers in the middle school grades who teach in a single content area.

Department of Education Commissioner David Driscoll has told the MTA he intends to inform superintendents this summer that the only appropriate license for an individual who teaches in a single content area at the middle school grades is a license in that content area. A "generalist" license, such as Middle School Teacher 5-8 or 5-9, or Elementary 1-6, is not acceptable for content teachers. The exception is that middle school teachers holding a K-8 certificate issued by the DOE are not subject to this rule; they may teach in one content area or in mulitple content areas.

The background: The DOE contends that this is not a new policy, but instead clarification of an old policy. The MTA has argued that this policy does not appear in writing in a public forum and was never clearly and broadly articulated to teachers or schools of education; therefore, many administrators and middle school teachers understandably believed these teachers could teach either in one content area or in multiple areas with a generalists' license. We have urged DOE to change the policy or "grandfather" teachers who have been teaching in a single content area prior to this "clarification." Unfortunately, those recommendations have been rejected. However, the commissioner has agreed to give teachers at least until September 2005 to comply.

How to comply: 

• Teach in a self-contained classroom (the elementary model) -- these individuals may continue to teach under a generalist license.
• Teach in more than one content area -- these individuals may continue to teach under a generalist license.
• Activate an inactive or invalid K-8 license.
• Obtain a new license in a single content area by taking and passing the appropriate state content licensing test (the Massachusetts Test for Educator Licensure, or MTEL). There will be multiple opportunities to take the test, and test score results are confidential.

Next steps: If you are in this situation, it could affect your employment in the future. At this time you might choose to:

• Wait until fall to see exactly what the DOE requires.
• Take steps to reactivate your K-8 license, if you hold one.
• Apply to DOE to add the required content area license and register for an upcoming administration of an MTEL subject test. (You will not have to take the communications and literacy test, just the content test.) Test information and deadlines are at www.doe.mass.edu/mtel/.

For updates: Send your home e-mail address to us at licensure@massteacher.org. Enter "Middle School Teacher" in the subject line. Do not use this address to ask questions, as its only purpose is to create a contact list. We will also post any additional explanation or information here as soon as it is available.