1999 Supply and Demand Ch. 3

Highlights of Findings
Background
Special Education

---

Highlights of Findings

• More emergency licenses continued to be issued in the fields of emotional disturbance and learning disabilities than any other areas.
  
  
• After increasing steadily since 1985-86, the number of emergency licenses issued in special education reached a high of 1167 in 1991-92. Since then it has steadily declined to this year's total of 869.
  
  
• The continued large number of emergency licenses in special education is, in part, related to the large number of special education teachers who transfer to general education.
  
  
• The larger number of emergency licenses issued in general education tend to be in the fields of reading, English as a second language, and unique specialty programs in elementary education.
  
  
• Most emergency licenses in secondary general education fields are issued due to part-time assignments. For example, a licensed biology teacher may be assigned to teach one section of chemistry.
  
  

Background

Table 12 presents the total number of teachers teaching with emergency licenses in Wisconsin Public schools from 1990 through 1999. The total number was derived by adding the number of one-year permits to the number of one-year special licenses. Permits are issued to individuals who possess a degree outside the field of education. An emergency-licensed teacher (ELT) receives licensure from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) at the request of a school district. The district must provide evidence that a fully licensed educator was not available for the position. In most cases the department issues emergency licenses for a one-year period. During that one-year period, the ELT must complete six credits from an approved preparation program in the field of the emergency license.

In some instances, the DPI issues emergency licenses in areas when personnel are available in a field but due to the circumstances described by the district, the exception is considered justifiable. For example, at the elementary level, specialized programs such as bilingual education, foreign language immersion schools, and public Montessori schools may require elementary education emergency licenses issued beyond the specialty training that the program requires. At the secondary level most emergency licenses in general education authorize teachers to teach one or more classes outside of their licensure area and do not typically represent full-time teaching assignments.

Reading and English as a second language (ESL) are the areas in which the greatest number of emergency licenses are issued in general education. Requirements for licensed reading teachers in Title I programs exacerbate the shortages in reading. Increased student diversity requires more licensed ESL and bilingual teachers.

Special Education

In special education most emergency licenses are granted for programs for students with emotional disturbance and learning disabilities. In addition to factors affecting all license areas, certain special education fields face the impact of either program growth or higher attrition, either of which creates a greater demand for emergency licenses. A small number of emergency licenses are issued to individuals who teach in private or in residential schools serving students with disabilities.

A DPI project concluded in 1998, Special Education Licensure for Emergency Certified Teachers (SELECT), was designed to reduce the number of emergency licenses for educators working with students with learning disabilities and emotional disturbance. The impact of SELECT and similar federally funded projects is difficult to assess since many factors impact on the shortage of teachers. The decrease, developed again this year, in emergency licenses and the lower attrition rate in these fields are positive. The large proportion of special education teachers who transfer to general education remains a significant contributor to the number of emergency licenses in special education (Table 7.3).

The data in Table 12 presents the total number of special education teachers on emergency licenses in public schools over a 10-year time span. Interpreting the percentage increases and decreases in emergency licenses is complicated for several reasons, including administrative policy decisions regarding the issuance of emergency licenses, fluctuations in the numbers and sizes of special education programs, flexibility due to cross-categorical programming in special education and changes in the supply of teachers for various subject areas.

Previous editions of this report documented what was evident again in this 1999 analysis: that the majority of special education teachers with emergency licenses come from those fields of general education with the largest surplus of teachers.

For questions about this information, contact Paul Trilling (608) 266-0933

Last updated on 12/6/2010 1:31:41 PM