Oklahoma’s public schools are edging toward 2,900 nonaccredited teachers working in classrooms with emergency certifications from the state.
The slate of items the Oklahoma State Board of Education approved Tuesday morning included 36 such emergency certifications.
This growing reliance by school districts on these new hires who have not yet completed the state’s requirements for either traditional or alternative certification is one of the strongest indicators that the statewide teacher shortage has not yet reached bottom.
Oklahoma broke last year’s record-setting number in the first three months of hiring for the 2018-19 academic year.
In June, July and August, the state board approved 2,153 emergency certifications. By comparison, 1,975 were approved in all 12 months of 2017-18.
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Applications for emergency certifications used to be a rarity. For example, in 2011-12, Oklahoma issued just 32 emergency teaching certificates in a single year.
The certificates allow individuals to be employed as teachers before they complete the education or training requirements for regular or alternative certification. Some are certified teachers who lack certification in the subject matter or grade level in which they are needed to teach, but the vast majority are newcomers to education.
School superintendents have to certify to the state that no certified candidates were available to fill a position they wish to fill with someone who needs an emergency certificate.
Because of the teacher shortage, state law was changed two years ago to allow people to teach for two academic years with emergency certification.
