The increase in emergency teaching licenses was higher in extracurricular subjects. For example, from 2022 to 2024, emergency licenses in Spanish grew by 49 percent. Physical education grew by 96 percent.
The three subject areas with the most emergency licenses were special education, regular education and elementary/middle education. These grew by a collective 10.9 percent over the last year, according to the report.
Concerns raised
The National Council on Teacher Quality has raised concerns about emergency teaching licenses.
Heather Peske, president of the organization, says it is a mistake to give “unqualified, emergency-licensed teachers responsibility over student learning.”
“These teachers go into classrooms without the content knowledge and skills they need to be successful with students,” Peske said in a statement. “They are less effective. And they teach the most vulnerable students at higher rates.”
The Policy Forum report found the statewide rate for emergency licenses among educators was 3.6 percent. But that rate is not uniform across districts.
