Who's Teaching Our Children with Disabilities? Part 3

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National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities

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State Licensure and Its Role in the Education and Practice of Special Educators

Most colleges and universities prepare students to meet the requirements established by their state for a teaching license. Therefore, their curriculum will include and sometimes reflect the standards established by the state. State licensure requirements are set by standards boards. Most state standards boards have members who are appointed by the governor and who serve in an advisory capacity to the state department of education. However, some standards boards are independent of departments of education and are accountable to the state legislatures (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, 1994).

Categorical vs. Noncategorical Licensure

There is a great deal of variation among the requirements and standards states use to license special education teachers. Some states have "categorical" licensure, which means that the state licenses a teacher to teach students in a particular disability category, such as those with hearing impairments, physical disabilities, or mental retardation. States that have "noncategorical" or a generic licensure give teachers a general license to teach any child with a disability.

Most states have a blend of categorical or noncategorical licensure, giving licenses for some disabilities and blending several disabilities into one licensure category (such as mild disabilities). Some states have categories related to severity ofthe disability; for example, Arkansas's licensure titles include "teacher of the mildly disabled" (all age groups), "teacher of the deaf or hard-of-hearing," and "teacher of the seriously emotionally disturbed" (all age groups). Other states have titles related to the age of the child. For example, Maryland has titles for generic infant primary, generic elementary/middle, generic secondary/adult, as well as titles for teacher of those with hearing impairments, teacher of those with severe/profound disabilities, and teacher of those with visual impairments.

Not only are there differences between categorical and noncategorical licensure, but there is also a wide variety of terminology used to describe disabilities or to describe categories. There are over 100 different titles used to describe disabilities among all the state requirements (Andrews, 1996). For example, acoustically disabled, deaf/hard-of-hearing, hearing impaired, aurally disabled, and communications disabled are all titles different states use to describe licensure for teachers of children who have hearing impairments.

This great variety among state special education teacher licensures becomes a particularly difficult issue when fully certified special education teachers move from state to state. A person who has a license to teach in New Mexico (which issues only a generic special education license for all children in grades K-12) may have a difficult time if he or she moves to Nevada, which has 12 different categorical titles. Most states have dealt with this issue by providing a teacher who is fully licensed in another state with an initial, temporary, or provisional license that allows the teacher to teach while he or she takes the university course work necessary to meet the new state's requirements. Although this does work in practice, it is an obstacle for recruiting teachers and can be very frustrating for a qualified experienced teacher to be told he or she isn't "qualified enough" for a particular state.

Reciprocity

Over 30 states have signed the Interstate Certification Agreement (ICA), which makes it somewhat easier for a teacher moving from one state to another to receive a license when both states have signed the ICA (Andrews, 1996). These states are said to have "reciprocity"-- that is, they will honor licenses from the other states. However, this does not mean that the teacher automatically receives a full license in the new state. The agreement means that teachers can receive another state's initial license, which permits them to teach. Any of that state's other standard requirements to maintain or renew the license must be met, as well as any "non-educational" requirements (e.g., fingerprinting, background checks). Although reciprocity agreements have made the process a bit easier, in practice, there is no such thing as full reciprocity. There are almost always state-specific requirements that must be met before a full teaching license is granted.

Professional Standards

For entry-level special education teachers, the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) has developed standards that are parallel to their accreditation guidelines (Council for Exceptional Children, 1996). CEC is advocating that states align state licensure standards with CEC standards, thus making it easier for a fully licensed special education teacher in one state to be issued a full license by another state.

While CEC is working on establishing entry-level guidelines, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), a national organization whose mission is to establish rigorous standards for what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do, is in the process of developing standards for exemplary-level special education teachers (NBPTS, 1995). Just as a "board-certified" physician is a doctor who has mastered and demonstrated a high level of expertise (beyond entry level), a special education teacher who has met the high standards and received certification from the NBPTS can be considered a "master teacher."

To earn NBPTS certification, teachers must demonstrate their knowledge and skills through an intensive year-long series of assessments that include portfolios of student work, written reflection, videotapes of classroom sessions, and demanding analyses of classroom teaching. Teachers also must complete a day-long series of assessment exercises that include essays that probe the depth of their knowledge and thinking (NBPTS, 1995).

Continuing Education

A teacher's education does not end at graduation. Most states require that teachers continue to take some form of course work, experience, training, or renewal activity to improve their skills, increase their knowledge, and maintain the validity of their license (Andrews, 1996). Each state has different regulations on how to meet this requirement, but usually it can be met through additional university course work, special training activities developed by the school district or state agency, participation in professional conferences, and so on.

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