1998 NCTE Annual Business Meeting in Nashville, Tennessee

Background

In 1985 the National Council of Teachers of English passed a resolution urging local, state, and national school boards and agencies to require that all English language arts teachers be appropriately prepared in accordance with NCTE’s Guidelines for the Preparation of Teachers of English Language Arts. Eleven years later NCTE passed a resolution that incorporated an awareness of the dual problem of teacher shortages and unmanageable class size which contributes to the practice of hiring non-licensed/certified teachers. At all grade levels this alarming practice continues today. Be it therefore

Resolution

Resolved, that the National Council of Teachers of English continue to oppose the hiring or assigning of teachers to teach English language arts who have not fulfilled the recognized guidelines for teacher preparation in English language arts as specified by the licensing/credentialing requirements of their states;

that NCTE urge districts now employing non-licensed/certified teachers to facilitate teacher-preparation programs leading to state licensure/certification for those teachers;

that NCTE recognize and promote efforts that recruit teachers (such as the NCTE program Teachers for the Dream and the CALTEACH program in California);

that NCTE recognize and promote efforts that specifically recruit non-licensed/certified teachers into state-licensure/certification programs; and

that NCTE and its affiliates continue to educate legislators, school officials, and the public about the complexities of teaching English language arts and the importance of professional preparation for English language arts teachers.

This position statement may be printed, copied, and disseminated without permission from NCTE.