Educator licensure overlap in the early grades: Why it occurs, why it matters, and what to do about it

Early childhood is widely recognized as a distinct phase of human development, extending from birth through age eight, during which children develop important physical, social-emotional, and cognitive skills (Allen & Kelly, 2015). To date, 48 states (including the District of Columbia) have recognized the educational importance of the early years by awarding stand-alone early childhood education (ECE) licenses that require specialized training in teaching young children. Yet, at the same time, teachers with elementary education (ELED) licenses are allowed to teach kindergarten in 34 states and 1st through 3rd grade in more than 45 states. This means that many teachers are licensed to teach young children without having received specialized early childhood training. In fact, recent research suggests that this is the case for just over half of U.S. kindergarten teachers and nearly 30% of 1st-grade teachers (Hooper, 2018).  

Overlap in ECE/ELED licensure occurs in 47 of the 48 states that award both types of licenses, most often in grades K-3 (in 25 states), followed by 1-3 (in eight states), and 1-2 (in three states). A 25-state study found that in states where the ECE and ELED licenses overlap, more than three-quarters of kindergarten, 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-grade teachers hold an ELED license only— that is, they teach young children, but they do not hold an early childhood credential (Fowler, in press).  

Why do so many more teachers have the ELED license only? One factor is elementary principals’ purported preference for hiring teachers who are able to teach multiple grades (Bredekamp & Goffin, 2012). For example, one participant in a national focus group of elementary principals stated: “If I have two candidates and one has a preK-3 [license] and one has a K-6, I would probably hire the K-6 because you have the most flexibility” (Cook, 2016, p. 3).