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What Pandemic-Era Waivers Tell Us about Teacher Licensure Tests: Evidence from Five States. CALDER Research Brief No. 39-0825

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Title: What Pandemic-Era Waivers Tell Us about Teacher Licensure Tests: Evidence from Five States. CALDER Research Brief No. 39-0825
Language: English
Authors: Ben Backes, James Cowan, Michael DeArmond, Dan Goldhaber, Stephanie Liddle, Rafia Nisat, National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) at American Institutes for Research (AIR)
Source: National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER). 2025.
Availability: National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research. American Institutes for Research, 1000 Thomas Jefferson Street NW, Washington, DC 20007. Tel: 202-403-5796; Fax: 202-403-6783; e-mail: info@caldercenter.org; Web site: https://caldercenter.org
Peer Reviewed: N
Page Count: 7
Publication Date: 2025
Sponsoring Agency: Joyce Foundation
Document Type: Reports - Research
Descriptors: Licensing Examinations (Professions), Alternative Teacher Certification, COVID-19, Pandemics, Emergency Programs, Beginning Teachers, Teacher Supply and Demand, Diversity (Faculty), Underserved Students, Teacher Effectiveness
Geographic Terms: Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, Washington
Abstract: Most states require prospective teachers to pass basic skills and subject-matter tests to become licensed. The COVID-19 pandemic created an unexpected opportunity to explore whether licensure exams uphold standards that improve teaching quality, or risk limiting prospective teacher supply and excluding capable candidates. This brief describes how emergency licenses helped shape the teacher workforce during the pandemic. Using administrative data from five states--Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, and Washington state--the authors track who received emergency teaching licenses as a first teaching license during the pandemic and where they taught. Key findings show new teachers with pandemic-era emergency licenses were generally more racially diverse, more likely to work in schools serving Black, Hispanic, and low-income students than recently licensed teachers from other pathways, and performed comparably to them early in the pandemic. On balance, the states' experiences with pandemic-era waivers suggest that loosening licensure can help maintain teacher supply in times of crisis. But on its own, lowering barriers to entry is, at best, an incomplete strategy for diversifying and improving the quality of the teacher workforce.
Abstractor: ERIC
Entry Date: 2025
Accession Number: ED677269
Database: ERIC
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22National+Center+for+Analysis+of+Longitudinal+Data+in+Education+Research+%28CALDER%29%22"><i>National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER)</i></searchLink>. 2025.
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  Data: National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research. American Institutes for Research, 1000 Thomas Jefferson Street NW, Washington, DC 20007. Tel: 202-403-5796; Fax: 202-403-6783; e-mail: info@caldercenter.org; Web site: https://caldercenter.org
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Licensing+Examinations+%28Professions%29%22">Licensing Examinations (Professions)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Alternative+Teacher+Certification%22">Alternative Teacher Certification</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22COVID-19%22">COVID-19</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Pandemics%22">Pandemics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Emergency+Programs%22">Emergency Programs</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Beginning+Teachers%22">Beginning Teachers</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Teacher+Supply+and+Demand%22">Teacher Supply and Demand</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Diversity+%28Faculty%29%22">Diversity (Faculty)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Underserved+Students%22">Underserved Students</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Teacher+Effectiveness%22">Teacher Effectiveness</searchLink>
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  Label: Geographic Terms
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Maryland%22">Maryland</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Massachusetts%22">Massachusetts</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22New+Jersey%22">New Jersey</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Ohio%22">Ohio</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Washington%22">Washington</searchLink>
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  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: Most states require prospective teachers to pass basic skills and subject-matter tests to become licensed. The COVID-19 pandemic created an unexpected opportunity to explore whether licensure exams uphold standards that improve teaching quality, or risk limiting prospective teacher supply and excluding capable candidates. This brief describes how emergency licenses helped shape the teacher workforce during the pandemic. Using administrative data from five states--Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, and Washington state--the authors track who received emergency teaching licenses as a first teaching license during the pandemic and where they taught. Key findings show new teachers with pandemic-era emergency licenses were generally more racially diverse, more likely to work in schools serving Black, Hispanic, and low-income students than recently licensed teachers from other pathways, and performed comparably to them early in the pandemic. On balance, the states' experiences with pandemic-era waivers suggest that loosening licensure can help maintain teacher supply in times of crisis. But on its own, lowering barriers to entry is, at best, an incomplete strategy for diversifying and improving the quality of the teacher workforce.
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  Data: 2025
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      – Text: English
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        PageCount: 7
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Licensing Examinations (Professions)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Alternative Teacher Certification
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: COVID-19
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      – SubjectFull: Pandemics
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      – SubjectFull: Emergency Programs
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      – SubjectFull: Beginning Teachers
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      – SubjectFull: Teacher Supply and Demand
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      – SubjectFull: Diversity (Faculty)
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      – SubjectFull: Underserved Students
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      – SubjectFull: Teacher Effectiveness
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Maryland
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Massachusetts
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      – SubjectFull: New Jersey
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      – SubjectFull: Ohio
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      – SubjectFull: Washington
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      – TitleFull: What Pandemic-Era Waivers Tell Us about Teacher Licensure Tests: Evidence from Five States. CALDER Research Brief No. 39-0825
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