The Costs of Emergency Certification: A Solution or Dilemma for School Leaders?

Abstract

When there are teacher shortages, emergency certification allows individuals with a bachelor’s degree to enter the profession without having undergone formal education training or preservice preparation. Despite its widespread use in the United States, emergency certification is a poorly understood human resource process. Little is known about how principals perceive and assign meaning to the credential, how they engage with emergency credentialed teachers during the hiring phase, and, in turn, how they incorporate these teachers into the school environment after hire. This study draws on credential theory and uses qualitative methods to investigate school leaders’ perceptions of emergency-certified teachers in Oklahoma. Findings from this study shed new light on the use of emergency credentialing by highlighting school leaders’ mixed feelings about the policy and the challenges and limitations of providing necessary support systems for emergency-certified teachers. By illuminating the costs of emergency certification, findings offer implications for policy and practice.