The novel coronavirus outbreak is impacting new teachers’ ability to get licensed in Montana. More than 200 educators with provisional licenses may not be able to teach next fall.
A provisional teaching license allows degree-holders who meet most of the educational requirements to become a teacher to provide classroom instruction for three years as a student teacher while they complete the additional college courses they need to get a traditional teaching license.
In order to do so, they also need what’s called a Praxis test, administered by the nonprofit Educational Testing Service.
"And, of course, with the COVID-19, they had to begin closing down their testing locations, somewhere in the timeframe of mid to late-March," says Montana Office of Public Instruction Educator License Manager Kristine Thatcher.
She says about 230 student teachers in the state hold provisional licenses that are set to expire in June. Without taking the Praxis Test, districts could lose those educators in the fall.
"The 230 is not a big number, but it’s not minuscule either," Thatcher says.
Montana licenses roughly 1,600 educators every year, but provisional license holders are still important in the state, which has had longstanding issues attracting and retaining qualified teachers.
The Montana Office of Public Instruction plans to ask the state Board of Education in May to give student teachers another year to complete their Praxis test. The board is likely to vote on the waiver in July.
