Teacher of Record for Special Education Educators

SPECIAL EDUCATION EDUCATORS

A licensed special education teacher must demonstrate competency in specific content areas if they are the teacher who provides the core instruction for that content (the “teacher of record”). If the SPED teacher’s role is one of a consultant to the content teacher in assisting the students learning in that particular content they do not have to demonstrate competency in the specific content.
A licensed special education teacher may demonstrate competency in a teaching content by submitting a passing score on an approved Praxis exam for that particular content area.
A licensed special education teacher is considered the teacher of record of all content for students who Individualized Education Plans (IEP’s) requiring instruction based on the “Alternative Standards” – this is the case for students identified as cognitively disabled.
A licensed special education teacher may only teach students on an IEP. For, example, if a SPED teacher is the teacher of record in math, they are only certified to teach math to students with an IEP. The only exception for them to teach Math to students who do not have an IEP is if they also hold an endorsement in Math.